Boulder has a product similar to the Memory Player called the 1021 but it does not store music. The key is playback from solid-state or "flash" memory and DSP/Upsampling in the software domain.
The advantage of these types of devices over a Squeezebox as a transport setup is, I would imagine, audiophile build quality and power supplies. Discrete power circuity and a better power supply, audiophile grade wiring and digital outputs are what will distinguish really good server transports from true audiophile grade devices.
Theoretically you could build your own "server" using a home theater PC chasis. You could build a music server PC in a home theater profile for under $1000. But, the problem is, you have cooling fans, 7200RPM hard drives spinning, powerful multicore processors and graphics processing units, and a whole host of motherboard chipset devices humming away in the same chasis as your digital outputs. The potential for interference and noise is horrifying.
In my view, the ideal device is a very simple Squeezebox type device with no onboard DAC that can handle 96khz files, accepts an external word clock and has the component build quality of an audiophile CD transport. The Transporter does not quite fit the bill although it is very close.
The advantage of these types of devices over a Squeezebox as a transport setup is, I would imagine, audiophile build quality and power supplies. Discrete power circuity and a better power supply, audiophile grade wiring and digital outputs are what will distinguish really good server transports from true audiophile grade devices.
Theoretically you could build your own "server" using a home theater PC chasis. You could build a music server PC in a home theater profile for under $1000. But, the problem is, you have cooling fans, 7200RPM hard drives spinning, powerful multicore processors and graphics processing units, and a whole host of motherboard chipset devices humming away in the same chasis as your digital outputs. The potential for interference and noise is horrifying.
In my view, the ideal device is a very simple Squeezebox type device with no onboard DAC that can handle 96khz files, accepts an external word clock and has the component build quality of an audiophile CD transport. The Transporter does not quite fit the bill although it is very close.