Starting from scratch... overwhelmed

[paulsim]

I have begun researching what it will take to get at least a mid range stereo system in my living room. I have nothing in there but a TV at the moment. My computer room is filled with instruments and recording gear and sometimes I just want the music in the living room as opposed to turning up all my studio gear loud enough to hear throught the house. Neighbors don't like my tast in music I suppose.

I have somewhere around 140 GB of songs on my PC in an array of formats but have just begun buying FLAC files so that is likely to increase quickly. After spending three days reading up on the lastest tech I feel a little overwhelmed, and I have not even begun to consider the amp/speaker combination. My thought was to purchase a player (a nice looking, non-portable type) that could store my music and serve as an all-in-one unit save for an amp and speakers but I do not see a lot that out there that is a player and a storage device. The Sony HAPZ1ES and HAPS1 look about right to me but I haven't found much other than those.

It appears that streaming from a NAS device (which I am not real clear on) is how it is done and affords the ability to be somewhat modular. Does one just go out and get some kind of storage device, format it, put some songs on it, and plug it into the streamer? Researching all these products has kind of exhausted me and I don't even know exactly how it's done or what exactly I may need.

Any basic info or specifice product recommendations would be much appreciated!

 

[Superaintit]

I have begun researching what it will take to get at least a mid range stereo system in my living room. I have nothing in there but a TV at the moment. My computer room is filled with instruments and recording gear and sometimes I just want the music in the living room as opposed to turning up all my studio gear loud enough to hear throught the house. Neighbors don't like my tast in music I suppose.

I have somewhere around 140 GB of songs on my PC in an array of formats but have just begun buying FLAC files so that is likely to increase quickly. After spending three days reading up on the lastest tech I feel a little overwhelmed, and I have not even begun to consider the amp/speaker combination. My thought was to purchase a player (a nice looking, non-portable type) that could store my music and serve as an all-in-one unit save for an amp and speakers but I do not see a lot that out there that is a player and a storage device. The Sony HAPZ1ES and HAPS1 look about right to me but I haven't found much other than those.

It appears that streaming from a NAS device (which I am not real clear on) is how it is done and affords the ability to be somewhat modular. Does one just go out and get some kind of storage device, format it, put some songs on it, and plug it into the streamer? Researching all these products has kind of exhausted me and I don't even know exactly how it's done or what exactly I may need.

Any basic info or specifice product recommendations would be much appreciated!

Hi there,
You're more on the right path than you might think, so no need to be confused or overwhelmed.
Although there are all in one streamer solutions (ie with hard drives build in) available I hesitate to recommend them . The reason is that they are inflexible in adjusting to more space or different formats. A nas is the way to go. (It is in fact a very simple computer that you can leave on all the time.) I'd estimate that you can have a good one for about 300.
As with all things hifi I would recommend you to start with speakers you like the sound of, find an amplifier that works well with them and only then listen to a streamer.

 

[Superaintit]

As a guideline I would use 60 to 70 percent on speakers plus amp and 30-40 percent on a streamer/dac.
I'd heartily recommend you first go out and listen. That will give you enough feedback to know what you want. In my opinion a streamers quality is very much determined by the dac. Even very cheap streamer solutions appear to work fine. To give you an indication: I spent 5% of the total amount on a streamer!

 

[paulsim]

Starting with speakers and amp seems like the best advice yet. I may have just got too enamored with the Sony. Been searching for speakers to match its 40W 4ohm spec but I think I am going about this backwards. I just see some of these amp prices and it freaks me out. I need to back up, set a budget and do more research on an amp and speaker combo.

Thank you both for your help.

 

[paulsim]

Just wanted to share what I did as few of my friends are interested in this sort of thing and my excitement makes me want to tell someone.

I bought a pair oh Wharfedale 10.7s and the Sony HAP-S1 along with some Blue Jean 14 gauge. All told, $1480. To my surprise setup was a snap. Transferring via wifi took about 13 hours. Speakers and amp still sound like they could use some break in time but to my relatively untrained ear it sounds good. The Sony app is wonderful which is great because the remote is a sad little stick of a thing. The Warfedales look lovely and I believe are a great fit for the room.

Overall I am very happy with my starter setup. Thanks to all who maintain and participate in this site. A wealthh of knowledge to the uninitiated.