[dmcdayton]

Is there a receiver that offers a front end and interface to manage and play music files stored on a USB (or Firewire, Cat5) external hard drive.

 

[rwm2j99]

Yamaha RX-N600 and RX-V2700 two I know off the top of my head.

 

[SiriuslyCold]

some JVC and Onkyo (look for NetTune) receivers too

 

[dmcdayton]

thanks I'll check these out. I was looking at the Denon 4306, it *looks* like it might do it...but the manual is not real clear.

 

[SiriuslyCold]

a Squeezebox might be a better option, at least you can get the receiver you like the sound of without having to worry if it has a network interface.

 

[dmcdayton]

Squeezebox looks really intriguing....they offer package with NAS (1TB) which looks like exactly what I need but more than I want to spend for now...maybe.


I like that the device has huge readout, I was wondering how it would look on a receiver, this would solve that problem. I suppose it will work with any NAS...

 

[EdS]

The Denon 4306 definitely supports this, I've had my 4306 connected via USB to an external 200GB drive. Only problem is that the 4306 (and perhaps the other receivers discused here) has a relatively crude interface to find your music.

 

[dmcdayton]

What's crude about the 4306 interface? Would the squeezebox have an advantage in that regard?

 

[EdS]

I've never used a squeezebox, but I believe their UI is more flexibile. The 4306 (and most other receivers) basically let you sort music by ALL, ARTIST, ALBUM, etc., then present you with an alphabetically sorted list to select from. I think you can also set up playlists, haven't played with that feature yet. The 4306 also lets you connect to your PC and play your music over a network connection, as well as Internet Radio access. Not a bad feature package at all, just not a great user interface to go with the features.