Let's get digital

Except thatyou can't at present unless the law changes. Plus being cynical I guess the record companies will see this as a new format to exploit us with.

 

tom,
i can, it's just that i'm then classed as a pirate (harrrrr). still it makes the musical experience all the sweeter. i doubt i'd be prosecuted though as i'm not sharing or distributing my copies and i have all the originals in boxes in a wardrobe so the arteestas and record execs will be able to afford their new blingtleys.
cheers


julian

 

Ok, I'm with you now. The DAC comes after the squeezebox? And the squeezebox controls the playlists? So is there a soundcard in the PC or does the squeezebox do that too?

 

no, no soundcard necessary the pc just streams a wav or mp3 over a tcp/ip network (or wireless or a crossover cable) - if you are using another compression system like flac the server transcodes the flac to either wav or mp3 (at your choice) and streams that.
the squeezebox recieves the stream and can either perform digital to analogue conversion and output an analogue signal to your preamp or it can output a standard spdif signal to an external dac. the squeezebox has a simple remote control interface allowing you to play albums / playlists / individual songs and browse / search your music library in a variety of ways.
cheers


julian

 

Well the idea's crystallising. A Shuttle or Carillion pc, a Lacie 1tb external HDD, a Squeezebox seem cheap and straightforward. So the only two remaining questions are which DAC, which cables and how do I finance this?

 

One other question. Does Squeezebox allow complex playlists to be built up. Or could I create a playlist fromMusic Collector, Winamp , CDplayer.ini etc and feed that into Squeezebox. The proprietory lists looked too basic for my needs.

 

This is looking more possible by the minute. As the whole thing is modular I can slot in the bits as and when I can afford or need them.

 

tom,
playlists can be built pretty simply either by hitting the + key on the remote or via the web browser interface. i'm not sure aboout importing playlists from other places but i suspect you can (i'm fairly sure you can use itunes to do this and slim server will integrate with i tunes) or you could try moodlogic which will try to match music from your collection with your mood.
to be honest i've laid out my directory structure with artist -> album -> tracks so i can play that artists entire repotoire, a particular album or a particular track with a few button presses. i don;t think i've ever used playlists.
i'd not go with the carillion pc as it seems very over specced for what you are doing. another thought would be one of the new network enabled drives. some are capable of running the slimserver software.
as for the dac - i'd try one of the current forum darling NOS dacs and take a listen to an audio synthesis dax 2 or decade. also the cec dx-71 is nice too and the msb platinum should be stunning but at the end of the day it's going to be up to you as these things are very personal.
cheers

julian.

 

I was hoping to build playlists by genre or year or possible by mixed works. I think the whole point is total flexibility. Otherwise I might as well do the job by hand using my existing CDS2

Is there a way I can do without the PC altogether. If I have the HDD and the squeeze box then all I need is some kind of glorified iPod to stream the data?

 

Tom, First I will start by stating that I work for Seagate - thats the forum rules IIRC - so I do have a bias......Before you consider a LaCie external drive I would look at the alternatives offered by the major drive manufacturers (not just Seagate). LaCie dont design or make drives. Thus I recommend you look at something external from a drive manufacturer (usual suspects...Seagate, Maxtor etc) These guys know all there is to know about drives - very important when you are trying to produce a quality external drive. Any questions on capacity, models etc, just PM me.

Have you considered something from the Imerge or Revox or ANOther audio server folks? Could be another avenue to consider.

Maybe even Digital Fidelity (www.digitalfidelity.com) or something of this ilk (Ive seen some pretty funky control options - like PDA driven GUI browse CD art+titles etc all linked to gracenote database (iirc a few of the audio server guys do this too).

Sounds like a cool project.

 

tom,
you can browse by genre, artist and albums and build up playlists that way - have a mooch about the slim devices site and see if there is a list of compatible playlist formats it's not something i've looked into so cant say for sure. there is an active squeezebox forum / mailing list you may want to check out too.

the network enabled drive is basically a big hdd with an os running on a simple processor see here - http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10156.
cheers


julian

 

lAmBoY

Don't fret. I am quoting mainly as examples. That was the largest HDD I could find on the Dabs site. I was suprised I didn't see a Seagate version but the point was illustrative.

The one thing I have is time to get this right. I have absolutely no need to change my system, nor the money but I am curious as to what to do next if and when the opportunity presents

Oh, I see Julian's just suggested a Lacie network enabled drive

 

Ok, the wine is kicking in and my mind loosening it's grip but it's just occured to me that I could use one of my existing PCs and just add an external HDD to it and feed the lot to the Squeezebox or whatever.

 

That would be the way to start.

An experiment with something like this between a laptop and your main system might be cheap and interesting.

Paul

 

Tom,

Exactly that. All you need is a new hard drive, the squeezebox, a networking card (wireless or ethernet) and a DAC. If some of the hyperbole is to believed elsewhere on the forum you could get a NOS DAC for £100 and a couple of cables and bobs your uncle.

You should be able to do it for under £500. The results will be worthwhile I am sure. CDS2 quality? I dont know, but it won't be a million miles away.

 

Tom,
I'd like to thank both you and all who have contributed to this thread as ihmo this thread must be a contender for "thread of the year" contest. The questions you have raised and the quality of the answers offered have gone a long way towards helping me get my thoughts into in some sort order and given me some idea as to what needs to be considered when thinking of taking the leap into the world of HDD libraries.


I see that you have looked at Shuttle kit, did you consider a Zen? It is small, cool and quite quiet with an external power supply, a load of ports and takes a wide range of procressors plus it should not look too out of place in a family room.

 

grrr just lost my update.
first i'll start by saying i am "rocket systems" in my spare time, building and supplying shuttle pc's.
sn45g is the way forward, avoid sk43g. simple spec, "slowest" sempron processor, dvd / cd drive, biggest baddest hard drive u fancy etc. that'll be perfect.
(assuming u dont go the 2nd hand pc route).
then a squeezebox and dac.
sorted.

 

Tom, another alternative for you, received this press release from Cyrus on Friday:

 

How much

 

The story so far

I'm turning tightwad here (but having absolutely no income I feel justified)

The basic idea was that given a CDS3 budget of £9k could I build an HDD front end.

Convert my existing PC into music server. (actually it will have to serve as both PC and music store until I can buy a new PC for everyday use)

• £243 Seagate Bararcuda 7200.8 NCQ 400GB SATA150 7200rpm 8MB I might need more but you get the gist
• £29 Linksys 10/100 5-Port Desktop Switch I could go wi-fi but I prefer hardwire , less rfi?[i/]

Device for streaming

£120 Squeezebox (ethernet version)​

As the total to here is £372 and my original budget was £9k you will see I have a lot of flexibility with which DAC to get DAC

A big thank you to all who've made suggestions and especially to julian