Ive been perusing the posts in this forum for a week or so now and to be honest, I havent been able to find exactly what Im looking for.

I have a home theater system consisting of typical components. Several of the components are connected to the my home network via ethernet (hardwired) so using my network for data storage (I have network storate devices) is an option but I would prefer to have a stand alone unit/storage.

Im looking for a device that will store uncompressed audiofile quality digital audio (my CDs) and digital photos (no video storage). I would like the unit to have either a huge internal storage disk or have the ability to connect via firewire or USB an external storage device(s). The device also needs to fully operate via IR remote.

The device would also need to have video output to connect to my TV for the interface only. A very flexible and programmable interface would be best. Essentially I want to sit in front of my TV and access all my music and photos through the TV which I initially thought would be relatively easy.

I read that modified XBoxes can do this but I was hoping that there is a plug&play device out there.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I know I said I didnt want to store video but if there is a unit that can store DVD-A and SACD also, that would be absolutely perfect!

Thanks

John

Anyone?

You might want to look into the apple tv coming out at the end of the month.

It can play the Apple Lossless Audio files and can sync with itunes to download all the photos and music you have stored on your computer.

Its essentially a ipod for your tv.

There are no known devices that will rip SACD unless you want to physically modify a current player.

The SACD option would be nice but isnt necessary. Either is the DVD-A.

I just want something that will access wav files over the network or with an epandable internal storage device that will provide audiophile quality music and jpeg support. I do not want to stream video. Just music and pictures.

Other requirements:

IR Remote
Video out interface

Thanks

I have a DLink DSM520 'Media Lounge' that does what you are talking about. I have had it a year -- and it works pretty well. The output to my HDTV is HDMI (component, S-vid, and composite are also available), the audio is Optical Digital (analog stereo also).

Microsoft .wav files do not play -- so I converted my music files to 320k MP3 files which are essentially CD quality. I have a USB hard drive hooked directly to the DSM 520 and also have a Network file server on my LAN to store files and photos.

This thing is also wireless if you have a wireless LAN. It will also receive internet music sources such as Rapsody.

All of that is the good news. This thing is probably a dedicated Linux computer, albeit in a component sized case. Boot-up takes 20 seconds or so, and if you try to access anything during that time -- it tends to crash. It has also taken many, many hours to rip, convert, and set up my music files to have it play what I want -- Windows Playlists don't seem to work. In a lot of ways this thing is a serious PITA-- but, now that I have endured the pain, it's nice to have any or all of my collection on a remote.

Hope this helps.

It sounds like a good match except for the its inability to play .wav files.

I want to avoid compressing the audio.

Thanks for the information.

Johnny,

I was recently looking for an audiophile device with requirements almost exactly the same as yours. I looked at the Squeezebox, Roku, Sonos, and a few of the media boxes from the network vendors (Linksys, D-Link, etc.) I also considered using my laptop and a USB DAC, but I don't really want anything with a fan in my listening room. Eventually, I decided to go with an audio/video streamer, because it was about the same price. Further, I was just getting started with media streaming. I still have to rip all my CDs, figure out internet radio, add a NAS, etc. I figure if the AV streamer isn't high enough fidelity for me, I will upgrade later as the technology matures, add an outboard DAC, or modify the unit.

I had two additional requirements to yours. It had to support FLAC encoding (not too difficult) and it had to support at least 24/96 resolution. That's tough because the audiophile market is small and the mass market seems very happy with CD at 16/44.1. I wanted the 24/96 because I think/hope that I will be able to download that resolution soon. There is one company already selling high resolution downloads (musicgiants<dot>com) and I am sure there will be more. I might also be able to rip DVD-A (PCM technology at 24/96 or 24/192), but not SACD (DSD DAC required).

You will have a tough time finding SACD and DVD-A in a media streamer. These technologies have hardware licensing costs, require a DVD drive in the unit (more cost), software is limited and expensive, they are difficult/illegal to rip, and don't support digital out (no upgraded DAC). SACD requires a DSD converter (more cost). SACD and DVD-A haven't been very successful in the marketplace and DVD-HD and BluRay are now being introduced. appear to be dying out I decided to forgo SACD and DVD-A.

I bought the Helios X5000, which is billed as an "audiophile" streamer with lots of upgraded parts. I published a review here on AVS. They also have an X3000 which does SACD and DVD-A, but doesn't have the audiophile parts. Have a look at these two at neodigits<dot>com.

A few model specific comments:

SlimDevices: The best audio only solution, but resolution on the Squeezebox is only 24/48. Vendor support is outstanding, firmware is solid, lots of user forums, proven product. Sound quality is good, an updraded DAC can be added, and there a few modders out there as well. They also have a high res audiophile version called the Transporter, but it's $2K.

Roku: Similar to the Squeezebox, but not as good IMO. I don't think it supports FLAC. Not positioned as an audiophile product, but it has some fans on the forums.

Sonos: The best user interface with a nifty LCD controller and built-in power amps. Expensive.

The networking boxes: Do you think you can get "audiophile" equipment from Linksys, D-Link, or Netgear? That said, Netgear will soon release the AVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD which will have HD video standards. It might be good with an outboard audiophile DAC.

USB DACs: There are a few of them out there, but the majority only support 24/48 max. Something to do with the USB receiver chip. Of course, this approach requires a PC as the user interface. Check out empiricalaudio<dot>com for the best in computer audio. There is some great info there about ripping and PC playback as well.

Good luck.

It sounds like a good match except for the its inability to play .wav files.

I want to avoid compressing the audio.

Thanks for the information.

Just to let you know the Apple TV will play Apple Losless files (mp4a). Same quality (bit for bit the same quality) as WAV for half the space (I repeat NO loss in quality). Might be worth converting them as there are a lot of great tools for doing it. Not to mention you can store album art and artist info inside the mp4a files. Its even easier if you let itunes rip them to apple losless files strait from the cd.

Seems like the Apple TV does everything you want and is simple to set up ... just sync with itunes and it will do the rest. Any photo's/ music you have in itunes will appear on your apple tv.

It also has a simple IR remote and component /hdmi out. I don't think your going to get a much simpler / cleaner device for what you want to do.

I spent several months researching these streamers, hoping to find one that would, essentially, replace our CD changer, while giving me video streaming as a bonus. Unfortunately, from the models I looked at, only the Zensonic (Ziova) Z500 and Helios X series were reasonably good for music playback. AFAIK, and this may have changed, the Z500 is one of the only Sigma 8620 chipset based players that allowed browsing the catalog during playback. I didn't focus on photo display, but it appears that virtually every single one has long delays between photos, that, IIRC, involves a blank screen with an hour glass. I almost ordered a Z500, but continued reports of stability problems, even with the recent new firmware, raised concerns; the wife isn't going to have as much patience as me, in this regard.

Unfortunately, a modded Xbox or Apple TV truely fit your criteria the best, of the units I'm familiar with. Personally, I really did not want to have the TV on for music sessions. For me, it's a waste of power and another source of noise. I gave in, and got the Squeezebox, since I knew that would fullfill every music criteria for me, and I'll either getting another streamer for video, or a HTPC, later. The Apple TV is a nice prospect, but there wasn't much info on it when I was shopping. However, I don't like the idea of being tied to iTunes, and the 40GB drive isn't going to hold much. I've re-ripped 120 of our CDs to FLAC so far, and just that takes up well over 40GB; external storage, whether a PC, NAS, or USB attached device, would be needed.

I would definately recommend going with a lossless compression codec... Apple lossles, FLAC, or WMA lossless. Besides conserving storage space, this also gives you tagging ability, which you do not have with WAVs.

You will have a tough time finding SACD and DVD-A in a media streamer.
AFAIK, you will not find SACD in a streamer. It has not been cracked (correct if wrong--please!), so you can't rip SACDs.

if you have the cash, the absolute best audi oonly machine is the slim devices transporter. it truly is an audiophile component with a reputation that none other touches.

AFAIK, you will not find SACD in a streamer. It has not been cracked (correct if wrong--please!), so you can't rip SACDs.

Since no SACD player for the pc exists, The closest you will get is this link (http://www.dvdupgrades.ch/product/Modification/SPDIF/Output/Six_channel_S_P_DIF_output_board/24308.html) . It outputs unencrypted digital signal for SACDS (via a hardware mod of certain players). However it downsamples the signal from 192 to 176; Still better then a cd though.

I've also been looking for a good audio-only device for a while now, without success. My central goals are:

1. easily rip my music cds into a lossless format so I never have to rip them again.
2. easily detect and repair the oh-too-frequent database errors that occur while ripping
3. easily play back my music on my audio receiver w/o using a pc
(ideally it would be so easy my 4yr old son could do it.)

The first step was to rip my cd collection to my pc. I tried all three main lossless audio formats that support tags: WMA Lossless (WMAL), Apple Lossless (ALAC), and FLAC. I also tried the three main ripping programs: Microsoft's WMP11 for WMA Lossless, Apple's iTunes for Apple Lossless, and EAC with FLAC. Each had advantages and disadvantages. Overall I found WMP11 by far the easiest to use because it made it easiest to find the correct CD in their database and fix the inevitable errors that would occur. EAC w/ FLAC required the most user intervention during the ripping process and took the longest to set up and was the hardest to maintain. While I was experimenting with EAC, a new version of FLAC was released and it was a royal PITA to convert my old FLAC files to the new format. IMO, EAC+FLAC is only for hobbyists who really enjoy fiddling with their computers. I disliked Apple iTunes the most because it asks you to chooose the album information at the start of a rip based solely on a title, and it is infuriatingly difficult to change the album information when you make the wrong choice, as you invariably will. If multiple users use iTunes to access a shared music folder, and one user changes a file name, the change will not be automatically reflected to the other users, rendering their music usable. The iTunes software put the most load on my computer and was the least responsive. The iTunes software exists primarily to sell you tracks from the iTunes store and anything outside that is cumbersome and unpleasant. So now I have a disk full of WMA Lossless files, with great tags and good-looking album art.

Now I am working on goal 3 and it is a real stumbling block because so few devices will play back WMA Lossless. Microsoft's own products (eg., Zune) don't even support it! The only playback devices that I found for WMAL are (a) the discontinued Toshiba Gigabeat S portable audio player and (b) the not-available-here Hyundai NH-260 portable media player. None of the cheap media extenders support it; nor does Sonos or Squeezbox or Slingbox or Soundbridge. So as far as playback support goes, WMA Lossless is by far the worst of the three main lossless formats. Fortunately it is easy to convert WMAL into other formats.... You can use WMP11 to convert WMAL into MP3 or WMA lossy, and you can use Apple iTunes to easily convert WMAL into Apple Lossless.

Some possibilities for step 3 are: use WMP11 to put a high-bitrate lossy copy of my WMAL music onto a cheap media extender (eg., mediagate, tivx) connected to my TV or onto a portable audio device (eg., zune) connected to my receiver, or use iTunes to put a lossless copy of my WMAL music onto an iPod+dock or an Apple TV. (As much as I hate iTunes, Apple has put together a compelling end-to-end offering due to their support for Apple Lossless.)

FYI, the Roku Soundbridge now plays Apple lossless directly and WMA lossless via transcoding to wav. It appears that the Firefly server can do the transcoding. I use a Soundbridge and the Firefly server running an older Buffalo Linkstation NAS. I don't use lossless formats but I am very pleased with the setup. I have access to all my music without having to have a PC on. The Buffalo NAS is about the size of a external drive enclosure. The Soundbridge is a pretty good product IMO. Good luck.

Jay

I'm going to put in another word for the Roku Soundbridge. I've had mine for almost two years and the only reason it is moving out of my home theater rack is because and Xbox with XBMC is taking over that place.

The soundbridge is a very good option for an audio only device - it has very good fidelity and it can playback a variety of lossless codecs with the Firefly server software.

Personally, I used WMA lossless with Windows Media Connect.

The Roku isn't being retired though... it is being moved from the home theater to the office, where it will continute with its effective, if minimal interface.

I can also testify for Roku, being the owner of 2 M1001 and 1 R1001 ... I also can preach for Firefly which is a gem software wise. I run it on my slug and it's been great, it's fast and just works.
Patrick S.