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Simple Digital Music Server - Opinions Please

Six months ago, I added an Audio Mirror DAC to my system and use my Marantz SA14 SACD player as a redbook transport. I’ve thought about replacing my Marantz and getting a stand alone transport. While doing some research, I’ve stumbled on some very interesting information on hard drive based digital playback systems. I’m thinking about giving one a try. I read numerous posts here on Audiogon, and I think for a modest sum of money, one can achieve superior results with a hard drive playback system.

I’ve stumbled onto a product that will bridge the music from a PC to your DAC. It’s manufactured by a company called Roku and they have a few variations that will do what I’m looking for. The line of product is called the SoundBridge Network Music Player. http://www.rokulabs.com

Here is what I’m thinking of doing and I would like to get some feedback for those who have heard music from hard drive based play back system.

Using my existing PC in another room (having the PC in a different room eliminates PC fan noise); I plan to add a 400GB external USB hard drive. (600-650 music CD’s) I plan to rip all my CD’s into wave or Apple Lossless files. Apple Lossless with give one double capacity without any sound quality loss. Please give me some feedback here if you have experienced differently. I will run an Ethernet cable from the PC to the Roku device in my sound room. The Roku will then connect to my external DAC via coax cable and DAC to my preamp.

Here is what I’m hoping to achieve with my project:

• Superior redbook playback compared to my current setup.
• The convenience of have all CD’s accessed from my listening chair via the Roku remote.
• Added bonus of digital internet radio
• File sharing possibilities with others
• Selling my SACD player and having a few hundred dollars left over for added music after funding my project

I’m estimating that my total investment will be:

• Roku Soundbridge $499
• Ethernet Cable $50
• 400GB external hard drive $300

• Total investment $850
islandflyfisher
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,234 posts
 
If you go to iTune preferences you can play with the cross fade setting to tie songs together without a gap. It may effect sound quality.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
drubin
3,274 posts
 
But that applies to the entire playlist, right?
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,234 posts
 
It would apply to your entire iTunes library, but it can be toggled on/off as you see fit.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Not being a 'computer guy' myself, I must admit a lot of the above is Greek to me. But when I got my Alesis MasterLink CD-R recorder that has a built-in hard drive, I was curious to hear how the sound compared. This unit, for those who don't know it, is widely considered to be of professional mastering quality, and is of course a dedicated component designed just for audio. (Although it's capable of recording and playing back at higher than CD-resolution, I'm only discussing uncompressed 16/44 here.)

Well, using my external Theta DAC, the MasterLink does give superior sound playing from its hard drive, ripped at 4X speed, than it does playing the same CD live in real time. But, both options still can't compare to playing the same CD live on my Theta Pearl transport (not that this method sounds like there's no room for improvement to me, but it clearly delivers significantly more information to the DAC than the MasterLink can). I'm not talking about preference here -- on some disks, I actually preferred listening to the lower-fidelity rendition provided by the MasterLink, as it could occasionally be easier on the ears -- but rather things like spatial delineation and ambience, transient attack and decay, fine microdynamic and harmonic detail, stuff that represents true transparency which is simply being attenuated via the MasterLink used as a transport/server vs. the Pearl (which employs the Pioneer Stable Platter drive mechanism).

These results would seem to indicate that merely using a hard drive to store and retrieve the bits is not a panacea all by itself as far as sonics go. (FWIW, all signals fed to the DAC were jitter-reduced through a Monarchy DIP 24/96, all digital separates were fed balanced, isolated, and voltage/waveform-corrected AC, identical powercords and digital IC's were used, and one digital source was turned off while the other one was in use -- yes, the sound is better that way.)
edesilva
768 posts
 
Zaikesman--the Masterlink is a single box unit with no control over how ripping/storage/playback is performed, and is vastly different from, say, my PC system which uses EAC, foobar/iTunes, and an external USB-based audio device. I'm sure you heard what you heard, and I agree that hard drives are not a panacea, but I'm not sure the results of your listening test can be extrapolated to all use of hard drives v. transports...
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