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Best standalone music server?

So I am considering dipping my toes into the full digital world and was wondering what people here may consider as the best standalone music server, and here I am going to be specific.
I do not want to consider a home pc or mac based type of system at all!
Looking at adding one of the standalone models like for example the Wyred4sound ms1 or cocktail audio.
High on my list is ability to rip my cds directly at the unit itself, access to internet radio and other music apps (Pandora etc). High quality built in dac would be nice but if not then high quality digital out to run to an external dac. I will not be needing to access music files stored on another pc as my home pc is pretty old but fully functional for my simple needs. The only music looking to access from it right now are ripped cds and internet available music in whatever form.
So if it worked out well, yes it may be a replacement even for a cd player completely

Thank you
128x128uberwaltz
f1a
198 posts
 
Antipodes have it all, including Ruin...
randyhat
156 posts
 
Regarding "best" standalone server.  I too am looking for something with an integrated DAC, storage and ability to stream Tidal.  I am thinking about ripping all my CDs (about 1000...sigh).  I considered the Bluesound Vault.  It certainly is inexpensive and appears easy to use...however I am concerned about sound quality.  The only reason I would go to the trouble to rip my CDs would be for convenience AND sound quality.  If my ripped CDs don't sound as good as they do on my CD player I doubt I will listen to them very much.  I want a streamer/DAC that will sound AT LEAST as good as my CD player if not better. A product like the Aurender A10 looks appealing as a higher end alternative to the Bluesound.

 I have a Sony 5400ES SACD player and a Meridian 805.24 CD player.  I realize neither of these players are anywhere near state of the art so maybe it will not so difficult to equal or surpass there performance.  My other option is to abandon the Music Server idea altogether and replace my two disc players with one high end player like the Esoteric and use it's DAC with an inexpensive streamer for online content.  Any opinions?  or alternatives?
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
@randyhat 
in all honesty the rca outputs of the vault are a little soso, i thought the bass was overcooked
however using the digital coax out i think i prefer the sound to the original cd played through my esoteric sa50!
and yes prior to the vault i was using the esoteric to stream simple stuff like pandora and spotify through and it did sound good, but the vault sounds a lot better.
of course there are pc based systems that will sound better but i am very satisfied with the results
so much so that i have put my esoteric up for sale right here on agon!
mostly listening to tidal right now...yes you lot were right!
jond's avatar
jond
5,899 posts
 
@uberwaltz let me say sir you are very graceful in defeat! :-) Seriously glad to hear you're enjoying Tidal it is a really amazing service! Happy listening!
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
@jond
Bit of a dinosaur at times I am afraid but when I checked and saw a free 30 day trial, what was there to lose!
Now I have been listening to stuff from my youth I would most likely never buy but nice to have an option to stream it!
Stuff like Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Rick Wakeman, Wishbone Ash etc.
I really do like the fact that Tidal can be run inside the Bluos app as I did see that the standalone Tidal app on my droid phone was quite a bit of a memory hog, nearly as bad as Farcebook....both of which have now been forced into stop mode...lol.
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