Hi all
I am out of storage space for my CD's. Luckily this appears to have coincided with computing technology finally allowing me to put them into storage if I can set up a wireless system. Question is what should I buy?
I currently have an arcam alpha 8 pre/power and cd. Nothing ridiculously high end but good enough for me. The amp has no digital inputs so RCA only to connect new sources.
I would like to transfer approx. 1000 cd's to file and store them, using my cd player for latest purchases, however I also have a lot of digital files (some mp3 and some ogg vorbis)
I have a laptop but it is getting on and so I am in a position to build the system from scratch.
I am strongly tempted to go for an imac or macbook and couple it with the new Time Capsule wifi router/hard drive combo (500gb or 1 tb) and use airport express to link them wirelessly with the stereo.
Advantages are that the macbook and time capsule use the latest n series wifi protocol (although airport express is g at present) They look great, build quality is good (according to mac using friends) and the os is stable. I also like the itunes interface, and the apple remote control through itunes is also good.
Disadvantages are the fact that I will need to power a laptop/imac, the router/hard drive and the airport connection. Anyone know how power hungry this is likely to prove?
Am I likely to get a good sound from this setup? (I'll probably encode in apple lossless) The weakpoint to me seems to be the connection between the airport and amp which will use a 3.5mm jack to RCA cable. What are the best cables to buy?
I like the apple setup due to it's aesthetics, ease of setup and functionality. Are there any good alternatives? Especially any that do not require a pc or laptop to be switched on in order to access your tunes through an interface and that can cope with tens of thousands of files?
Thanks in advance,
Ant
I am out of storage space for my CD's. Luckily this appears to have coincided with computing technology finally allowing me to put them into storage if I can set up a wireless system. Question is what should I buy?
I currently have an arcam alpha 8 pre/power and cd. Nothing ridiculously high end but good enough for me. The amp has no digital inputs so RCA only to connect new sources.
I would like to transfer approx. 1000 cd's to file and store them, using my cd player for latest purchases, however I also have a lot of digital files (some mp3 and some ogg vorbis)
I have a laptop but it is getting on and so I am in a position to build the system from scratch.
I am strongly tempted to go for an imac or macbook and couple it with the new Time Capsule wifi router/hard drive combo (500gb or 1 tb) and use airport express to link them wirelessly with the stereo.
Advantages are that the macbook and time capsule use the latest n series wifi protocol (although airport express is g at present) They look great, build quality is good (according to mac using friends) and the os is stable. I also like the itunes interface, and the apple remote control through itunes is also good.
Disadvantages are the fact that I will need to power a laptop/imac, the router/hard drive and the airport connection. Anyone know how power hungry this is likely to prove?
Am I likely to get a good sound from this setup? (I'll probably encode in apple lossless) The weakpoint to me seems to be the connection between the airport and amp which will use a 3.5mm jack to RCA cable. What are the best cables to buy?
I like the apple setup due to it's aesthetics, ease of setup and functionality. Are there any good alternatives? Especially any that do not require a pc or laptop to be switched on in order to access your tunes through an interface and that can cope with tens of thousands of files?
Thanks in advance,
Ant