PC as a high quality digital transport

[MajorFubar]

Oh agreed. It's just that you shouldn't baseline everything on the cr*pest denominator. I did finish by saying there must be some good, quiet, well built PCs, just that I haven't owned one. It's not about PC vs Mac, it's about rubbish computers vs a good one, in terms of being suitable as an AV streamer. And a Mac Mini is a good one by default (well it's quiet anyway).

 

[bigblue235]

I'm currently trying to persuade my girlfriend that we need an iMac in the living room, but she's not having it. Looks like we'll be getting a Mac Mini instead. I'm happy with either of those as my main music device, based purely on the UI/experience.

I'm not really a fan of much media player software. A lot of the popular ones aren't very polished. I actually *gasp* prefer iTunes.

 

[Overdose]

Apple are no doubt good but in UK overpriced, about same in £s as USA price in $s but less options. Also extras like RAM are so much more like £160 v £20 for PC. My PC was £900 for a Mac with similar but lower spec would have been over £2,000.

I don't know where you buy your RAM, but it should cost the same for either platform.

 

[Overdose]

I'm currently trying to persuade my girlfriend that we need an iMac in the living room, but she's not having it. Looks like we'll be getting a Mac Mini instead. I'm happy with either of those as my main music device, based purely on the UI/experience.

I'm not really a fan of much media player software. A lot of the popular ones aren't very polished. I actually *gasp* prefer iTunes.

Before forking out for a Mac mini, what do you want to get out of it? I'm only asking, as to buy a Mac is a bit overkill for music playback only.

 

[BigH]

Apple are no doubt good but in UK overpriced, about same in £s as USA price in $s but less options. Also extras like RAM are so much more like £160 v £20 for PC. My PC was £900 for a Mac with similar but lower spec would have been over £2,000.

I don't know where you buy your RAM, but it should cost the same for either platform.

That was on the Mac site and came with the computer v the PC I bought, it is the upgrade RAM price.

 

[Midisurf]

I use a bitfenix prodigy case ITX system build, I love listening to music with my PC as I use foobar2000 and I couldn't live without it. So many ways to listen to my library and it's all there ready at a click. Filters are awesome, filtering by year, genre, play count, rating or combining them for example "%date% GREATER 1989 AND %date% LESS 2000 AND %rating% GREATER 3" get me all my favourite 90s music. It's fully customizable too, here is my layout I've made and currently using.

Also with external DACs you can get that hifi source, although I've done tests and DACs all sound the same unless coloured. My £400 DacMagic Plus soudned the same as my onboard audio, I did an A/B test using foobar to change source and my amp, it was instant a/b and no diffrence at all, that was with Mpnitor Audio RX1 speakers and Sennhieser HD650 headphones.

,

 

[expat_mike]

Hello All,

This is my first post, so I hope not to offend anyone.

I am in the early stages of trying something similar (but not the same), to enhance my smart TV use. Myself and a few colleagues were frustrated because some of the apps on our smart TVs, are not all that smart. By this I mean that apps for browsers, skype etc etc were cut down versions of the PC based apps, and were slow to use, when you have to type in search words or web addresses, digit by digit using a TV remote.

So we are experimenting with using the following Android based smart PC,

http://www.justop.com/catalog/audio-and-video/media-players-en/justop-k9b-mk809-ii-android-4.1-smart-tv-dongle-mini-pc.html

Once a wired or wireless keyboard is added, the dongle plugs into the TV HDMI port, and you use the TV as the monitor. An external drive can be linked in to the dongle via USB.

The aspect that relates this experiment to this forum post, is that I am beginning to consider whether I can use the dongle as a music streamer, and plug it into a HDMI port of an AV receiver - in order to get good audio quality. The dongle cooling is passive, so no issues re fan noise, and the power use is minimal, plus the dongle does not have a large ugly form factor to worry about.

The biggest unknown for me is the quality of Android streaming apps - are there any with the same functionality and ease of use, as those available for Apple and Pc. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[bigblue235]

Before forking out for a Mac mini, what do you want to get out of it? I'm only asking, as to buy a Mac is a bit overkill for music playback only.

Whilst it will be my main music source, music playback won't be its main use. I have ATV at the mo, and would like a bit more functionality.

 

[Overdose]

Before forking out for a Mac mini, what do you want to get out of it? I'm only asking, as to buy a Mac is a bit overkill for music playback only.

Whilst it will be my main music source, music playback won't be its main use. I have ATV at the mo, and would like a bit more functionality.

Ah ok. In that case look no further.

 

[Native_bon]

If you really want relable & qiuet PC, I say go for scan computers. Quality & very silent.

 

[pauln]

If you want a silent PC, go fanless with ssd's. There are a number of cases available with integral heat sinks for the cpu - have a look on Kustom PC's website - and a lot of them look like hifi components. Build your own, it's easy enough.

 

[MajorFubar]

Build your own, it's easy enough.

To be fair, for a lot of people, it isn't, either because they just cba or they have a lack of confidence in that area, and that's why PC World and pre-made PCs exist.

 

[steve_1979]

If you really want relable & qiuet PC, I say go for scan computers. Quality & very silent.

+1

I've been using Scan for years for both PC components and fully built computers and they've always seemed good.

 

[steve_1979]

Build your own, it's easy enough.

To be fair, for a lot of people, it isn't, either because they just cba or they have a lack of confidence in that area, and that's why PC World and pre-made PCs exist.

It's easier than you'd imagine. I built and overclocked my first PC with no previous knowledge or experience just by following the steps in a computer magazine.

But having said that my current PC was custom built by Scan to my own specification because I couldn't be arsed to do it myself. They did a good job and it didn't cost much extra.

 

[BigH]

Yes I have Scan also, very quiet. You can build your own and get built by Scan, much better value than some of the big names.

 

[pauln]

It's easier than you'd imagine. I built my first PC with no previous knowledge or experience just by following the steps in a computer magazine.

Exactly what I did the first time. I set out to build a near silent PC using recommended components on SPCR website. This was before the current low thermal power cpus that make fanless builds feasible were around

I do fancy building a completely silent, no moving parts, SSD music player. It would of course also do everything else a computer can do except for gaming. Probably cost around £600 with good quality components. Load it up with Exact Audio Copy and Foobar 2000 (both open source and free) and off you go.