Which network audio player?

[chebby]

I have two seperate iTunes 'repositories'.

One is all music and all ALAC (lossless) rips from CDs on an iMac.

The other iTunes - on my laptop - is all documentary, drama, comedy, history and all ripped from CD @320k AAC (error correction and VBR enabled). This is the one I sync my iPhone to hence 320k AAC.

I stream from both 'sources' (iMac and iPhone) using AirPlay and both sound excellent.

I have experimented in the past with 256K AAC, 320K AAC and ALAC rips from speech and music CDs (all from the iMac and connected with optical to a DAC and a Naim system back when I had one).

In my opinion 256K AAC was just a tad on the thin side (but still far better ripped from CD than any equivalent 256K iTunes download of the same track).

320K AAC seemed to be the 'magic number' where it became, to me, practically indistinguishable from ALAC.

From that point on I have kept all music 'mastered' in ALAC and everything else in 320K AAC VBR (mostly to make the best of the room on my 32GB iPhone and to leave enough space for more as I go along).

I won't say that someone with 'trained' ears (or 'golden ears'?) couldn't tell a difference with my files playing through much better system, but that's not my concern really. It all sounds great to me.

But then what do I know? I love using AirPlay for almost everything I play (except an occasional CD or a bit of FM now and then) so that makes me a 'Pariah' anyway.*

* AirPlay, iTunes, my iPhone, my iMac and even my AirPort Extreme have put me so far beyond The Pale that I'm positively bright again

 

[amcluesent]

>The wife would also be very happy to replace 3 (if not 4) seperates with just one - depending on whether I kept my CD player, for the time being.<

2nd hand Naimuniti?

 

[Dutus]

I have also been thinking about a Network Audio Player and have been looking at various players, including the Pioneer N-50 and the Marantz NA-7004. Regrettably the Naim offerings are way beyond budget. The ability to play Spotify is vital, as is gapless playback (Spotify now has that as an option, thank goodness!).

Currently I listen to Spotify via my laptop which is hooked up to my Cyrus II (+ PSX) via a Tascam US-144 MkII usb audio interface. This is a relatively cheap way of getting good quality off your computer (in my bedroom, the computer is hooked up to a Musical Fidelity V-DAC which feeds a V-CAN II headphone amp, one of the outputs of which goes to an ancient Altec Lansing set up comprising a subwoofer and two satellites - sounds far better than I expected it to - one of these days I'll treat the two MF units to a V-PSU!). I subscribe to Spotify Premium which has the double benefits of 320kps and offline mode, so you can avoid breaks in the internet.

As regards ripping CDs, I saw DB Poweramp mentioned in one of the posts. I can heartily recommend this as it gives lots of ripping options including checking your CD for errors. I think FLAC is the only way to go.

As regards the ability to hear differences between different formats etc, everyone has his own opinion. I recently did a test comparing a 2008 Ondine CD/SACD release of Sibelius's "Kullervo Symphony" played on my Pioneer DV-LX50 with a 1971 recording of the same symphony on an EMI pre-recorded tape played on my Nakamichi Dragon.

The tape was more musical and more involving. In short, it sounded better...

 

[Kelvin1969]

Hello. I am going to give you a completely different solution. Put the qnap on the hi fi (if you use wired network there will not be no difference). Buy a good dac and hook it to one usb of the qnap (check compatibility list) load audiostation software from the qnap site and use it with a smartphone/tablet. It can manage radio, any music and also serve net player in other rooms! ( i have a sinology that is similar to the qnap)

With half of the money that you want to spend you are going to have a better result.

Note: i have a marantz na7004. It is a good player but it is not supported anymore by marantz (no gapeless no alac ecc ..i have called them and they said me that in their planning there are no na7004 firmware updates) so i think that it is not a good choice.

Bye

alex

 

[ebr9999]

In my opinion, ripping 350 CDs implies storing of large quantity of info, which for easier listening needs some categorization and multimedia support (i.e. sorting by tags and navigation by covers). If I am not wrong, of the players mentioned in this thread only Sonos has these capabilities. I see these features are present in Multimedia player, so I would not exclude them from the games, provided that a good DAC is used as entry point to the WiFi system and these players are noiseless and support gapless. As acceptable ones I see Popcorn, NTV550 (even if EOL and with many flaws). Many are asking for other players like WD live stream to support for gapless.

 

[csaboo]

Hi Guys,

A new topic for this question seemed unnecessary, so I ask it here:

Sonos Connect, or Teufel Raumfeld Connector 2?

Which one would you recommend? I have a NAD C316BEE amp with a pair of Monitor Audio Bronze BX2s, and currently using a WD TV Live as source, which is obviously the weekest link in the chain. A lot of people have suggested that I should get a Sonos Connect, but I'm not sure about it...Teufel's solution is cheaper, and I've heard good things about the SQ of the DAC inside. I'm sure that the app to control the Raumfeld isn't as sophisticated as the one Sonos has, but I really don't care, if the sound quality is better.

So what do you guys suggest? Does anyone have experiences with the Raumfeld Connector 2? If you have, please share it, and of course I'm interested in other alternatives as well!

Thanks in advance! :rockout:

 

[Tacty]

Hello. I am going to give you a completely different solution. Put the qnap on the hi fi (if you use wired network there will not be no difference). Buy a good dac and hook it to one usb of the qnap (check compatibility list) load audiostation software from the qnap site and use it with a smartphone/tablet. It can manage radio, any music and also serve net player in other rooms! ( i have a sinology that is similar to the qnap)

With half of the money that you want to spend you are going to have a better result.

Note: i have a marantz na7004. It is a good player but it is not supported anymore by marantz (no gapeless no alac ecc ..i have called them and they said me that in their planning there are no na7004 firmware updates) so i think that it is not a good choice.

Bye

alex

similiar maybe but i'm not sure it is possible with qnap nas as well...i've seen though how some people succeed in connecting qnap nas directly into some usb sound card, but i cant find anywhere compatibility list which one will be working with qnap...any idea where to look for?

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_928770520498054]

If you use an industry PC board, Alix from PC Engins you can get a good and covevient network player.

Alix board is a industry PC board with cheap price and with low noise. If it meets EasyMPD, a network music play and server OS for Alix, it will be a suprised network music solution.

EasyMPD has most features for network player and server, MPD Player, UPnP renderer, UPnP Server, Airplay and NAS. It provides web user interface so you can install and setup it easily.

You can get more inforamtion at EasyMPD homepage, http://www.easympd.com/en.

 

[Dummpysmate]

I've had one for a couple of years, it's very unpredictable, files keep disappearing the wireless capability is so poor I had to hard wire it into my net work , stay clear

 

[taylornewtonfarm]

Hello,

Could you please give me a few pointers about how to set up Media Go to record FLAC to my NAS and AIC to my iPod. I am new to all this digital stuff!

Thanks

Bill