Hi, it’s a bit of an essay below, apologies, but I wanted to lay out the different angles I’ve been coming at this from. Any ideas or pointers welcome.
I am looking for ways to make my computer based music more flexible and adaptive, whilst maintaining a decent level of quality.
I currently have all my music ripped to FLAC on my laptop. I use a Music Streamer II DAC fed in to my amp and get my music through that. It’s a decent enough system, but lacks flexibility. I don’t yet have a NAS, so only I can access my music, and only from my laptop, not multiple users or multiple devices. I also currently have a 10m USB running around the outside of the lounge to get the plug to my listening position, which in itself is more of a pain than it sounds. I also don’t like having to sit with my laptop burning a whole in my legs whilst trying to relax and listen to some music of an evening.
Ultimately I’d like to improve my system to: provide access to my music collection anywhere in the house (easy enough with a NAS I guess); do away with the need for a massive USB snake in the lounge (it doesn’t sound much, but looking for the end of the cable behind the sofa every time I want to listen to something is annoying); find a smaller, less obtrusive means of delivering the music without the need for a big old laptop plonked lap-centre all evening.
I’m a real newby in this area, and don’t have a smartphone, but I wondered if they might hold the key. I wondered if I could put my collection on a NAS, and use a smartphone to control it and stream it to an airplay device for example. However, from some of what I’ve read, it doesn’t sound like it’s possible to browse and access music stored on a NAS using an iPhone, and stream it on using Airplay. (I know I’d have to convert everything from FLAC if going down the Apple route.) There are increasing numbers of Airplay docks out there, and even the odd amp appearing with Airplay, which got me thinking, but if I can’t access the files on the NAS simply and easily, then there isn’t a lot of point. What I like about this idea is that the iPhone would be the means of playing and controlling my music collection, and obviously it’s small, unobtrusive, and flexible.
Another option that occurred would be to just buy a super cheap nettop running Windows, and a bluetooth keyboard to go with it. Then I could position the nettop over by my amp, hard wire it in to the Music Streamer as with my laptop, and use Windows to simply access my FLAC files on a NAS. I could use the wireless keyboard as the means of control from the sofa. Obviously this is pretty simple, but also kind of overkill, and not particularly future proof. Do I need a whole new computer just to stream music and deliver it to a DAC? Seems excessive, but like the smartphone option, at least the bluetooth keyboard would be small and unobtrusive.
I also like the Arcam options. Either an rDAC over with my amp and an rWave to stream from my laptop, or just an rCube in the corner somewhere. Obviously the rCube would be a wrench, because it would be a move away from traditional hi-fi, but with a young family and a baby in the house, it has certain space / convenience / no trailing wires / no speakers to pull over advantages. I also like the fact that if I then succumbed to an iPhone down the line, I could use the rWand to stream from this too, so the Arcam options embrace both Apple and Windows-based environments, which many others don’t seem to. No harm in getting an rDAC in the lounge, and rCube elsewhere either I guess, although the budget won’t stretch in the first instance.
I don’t know if there are any other angles I haven’t thought of. I’m most interested in the Smartphone angle, and to what extent this is viable. I like the fact that the smartphone is a compact and convenient means of controlling my music without the need for a big old laptop, but if the iPhone can’t stream from a NAS with ease, then that’s a bit self defeating. I don’t know if Android is more at ease interacting with music stored on a NAS, but then there aren’t as many options for streaming from an Android device to a amp or dock as far as I am aware.
What also puts me off Apple is the thought of iTunes. Again it’s something I’m admittedly ignorant of, but at the moment, I just like accessing my music through Windows Explorer, where it’s saved in it’s folder and files. I don’t use a library feature in a third party software application. I just find the folder for the album I want on my hard drive, and right click to load it via my application of choice. That’s how I like things with my electronic music, fairly simple. I view my folders as CD’s stored electronically for ease, not as a massive and undifferentiated pile of tracks. To that end, I don’t really do playlists either.
Anyway, this has gone on long enough, but interested in any thoughts / experiences / advice others may have who have gone further in to this area. As an aside, I’m not fussed about Sonus, and don’t really want to go down that route.
Cheers.
I am looking for ways to make my computer based music more flexible and adaptive, whilst maintaining a decent level of quality.
I currently have all my music ripped to FLAC on my laptop. I use a Music Streamer II DAC fed in to my amp and get my music through that. It’s a decent enough system, but lacks flexibility. I don’t yet have a NAS, so only I can access my music, and only from my laptop, not multiple users or multiple devices. I also currently have a 10m USB running around the outside of the lounge to get the plug to my listening position, which in itself is more of a pain than it sounds. I also don’t like having to sit with my laptop burning a whole in my legs whilst trying to relax and listen to some music of an evening.
Ultimately I’d like to improve my system to: provide access to my music collection anywhere in the house (easy enough with a NAS I guess); do away with the need for a massive USB snake in the lounge (it doesn’t sound much, but looking for the end of the cable behind the sofa every time I want to listen to something is annoying); find a smaller, less obtrusive means of delivering the music without the need for a big old laptop plonked lap-centre all evening.
I’m a real newby in this area, and don’t have a smartphone, but I wondered if they might hold the key. I wondered if I could put my collection on a NAS, and use a smartphone to control it and stream it to an airplay device for example. However, from some of what I’ve read, it doesn’t sound like it’s possible to browse and access music stored on a NAS using an iPhone, and stream it on using Airplay. (I know I’d have to convert everything from FLAC if going down the Apple route.) There are increasing numbers of Airplay docks out there, and even the odd amp appearing with Airplay, which got me thinking, but if I can’t access the files on the NAS simply and easily, then there isn’t a lot of point. What I like about this idea is that the iPhone would be the means of playing and controlling my music collection, and obviously it’s small, unobtrusive, and flexible.
Another option that occurred would be to just buy a super cheap nettop running Windows, and a bluetooth keyboard to go with it. Then I could position the nettop over by my amp, hard wire it in to the Music Streamer as with my laptop, and use Windows to simply access my FLAC files on a NAS. I could use the wireless keyboard as the means of control from the sofa. Obviously this is pretty simple, but also kind of overkill, and not particularly future proof. Do I need a whole new computer just to stream music and deliver it to a DAC? Seems excessive, but like the smartphone option, at least the bluetooth keyboard would be small and unobtrusive.
I also like the Arcam options. Either an rDAC over with my amp and an rWave to stream from my laptop, or just an rCube in the corner somewhere. Obviously the rCube would be a wrench, because it would be a move away from traditional hi-fi, but with a young family and a baby in the house, it has certain space / convenience / no trailing wires / no speakers to pull over advantages. I also like the fact that if I then succumbed to an iPhone down the line, I could use the rWand to stream from this too, so the Arcam options embrace both Apple and Windows-based environments, which many others don’t seem to. No harm in getting an rDAC in the lounge, and rCube elsewhere either I guess, although the budget won’t stretch in the first instance.
I don’t know if there are any other angles I haven’t thought of. I’m most interested in the Smartphone angle, and to what extent this is viable. I like the fact that the smartphone is a compact and convenient means of controlling my music without the need for a big old laptop, but if the iPhone can’t stream from a NAS with ease, then that’s a bit self defeating. I don’t know if Android is more at ease interacting with music stored on a NAS, but then there aren’t as many options for streaming from an Android device to a amp or dock as far as I am aware.
What also puts me off Apple is the thought of iTunes. Again it’s something I’m admittedly ignorant of, but at the moment, I just like accessing my music through Windows Explorer, where it’s saved in it’s folder and files. I don’t use a library feature in a third party software application. I just find the folder for the album I want on my hard drive, and right click to load it via my application of choice. That’s how I like things with my electronic music, fairly simple. I view my folders as CD’s stored electronically for ease, not as a massive and undifferentiated pile of tracks. To that end, I don’t really do playlists either.
Anyway, this has gone on long enough, but interested in any thoughts / experiences / advice others may have who have gone further in to this area. As an aside, I’m not fussed about Sonus, and don’t really want to go down that route.
Cheers.
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