Any high quality music servers out there?

From what I have seen the dedicated music servers are very expensive (too
expensive at this point). I strongly recommend a laptop (running iTunes), an
external hardrive, and a USB converter of some sort (check out the threads on
the PC audio forum for many discussions and recommendations on this. It is
cheaper, does the same thing, and I think, sounds as good (if not better) than
many of the expensive dedicated servers.

There are some very good USB DAC's being made as well (many threads on
this also--one USB DAC was reviewed in Stereophile a couple months ago).

If you must have a one box server, made by an audio company, Yamaha
makes a nice one (HD 1500?, I think) and I would not spend more than that at
this point on such a unit.

I speak from some limited experience as I experimented with a few different
USB DAC's and currently have a G4 laptop, 2 hardrives and a Wavetermial U24
as my digtial front end. Bested my Sony XA777 (redbook playbac) and MAC
changer.

My opinion of course.

A very cost effective way with alleged excelent sonics, is going with the Slim Devices Squeeze Box II modified by either Red Wine Audio or Bolder Cable. This gadget would render your PC as the music server with the added beneffit of having the computer located in a different room since the Sqeeze box is a wireless receiver controlled by remote. The guys in the link below claim that this little device repalaced highly regarded transports and DACs.

I know I 'll be giving it a shot soon. At this price, even by including the mods the risk is minimal

http://audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=21981&sid=60021a080616886ba7689dd801e0de5f

I'm experimenting with an Apple Airport express. I'm trying out my buddy's airport express and connected it directly to my pre-amp, streamed the music via Itunes from my PC upstairs and I was very impressed with how it sounded as compared to some other units I've owned before such as the Turtle Beach Audiotron. My next step is try using a digital out into an external DAC. The deal breaker, at least right now is I would get significant drops in the audio over the wireless network. This type of solution is what will get me to seriously consider a hard drive based music store. I don't want a PC, no matter how you wrap it, sitting in the rack with all of my audio gear. I'm going to upgrade my network from 10Mb/s to 54Mb/s and see if that clears up the audio hiccups. I agree with Pardales that spending multiple thousands on a audio branded music server is not worth it at this point. My biggest concern about any of those type of machines is one of growth. Is there room for additional drives, etc. What happens when you burn through the 300 GB?