2. pc-audio
  3. 149254-99253

Hardware/Software To Manage Multi-format, File-Based Audio Playback

Hi All,

I have thousands of mixed-format audio files on a server and duplicate instances of a lot of those tracks living in an iTunes library.

What hardware/software options do I have that can read, organize and playback multiple file formats (dsd, dsf, AAC, flac, mp3) from a network server (or be localized to an internal hard drive) and that will also have solid smart phone/tablet support so they can be used as a remote control? Streaming via wifi or wired is possible.

If there is not a dedicated hardware/software solution, what software only solution would work with either a 2006 mac mini, or a tiny Lenovo PC from 2014?

Thank you all for your learned suggestions.


128x128brettmcee
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brettmcee's avatar
brettmcee OP
218 posts
 
Thanks much maxwave!  That looks like a great solution.
jim204
881 posts
 
Have you ever thought of Roon it will handle any format thown at it. I tried it last year and was instanly converted.It was also the most transparent of all the music players I tried.
glupson
7,842 posts
 
Separate music player is a convenient option. There are many out there. I cannot be happier with SONY HAP-Z1ES. Once the files are in, and it digests them, it cannot get any simpler. You control it via the phone and it works. Like a really big CD-changer and has USB out (including DoP) in case you want to use different DAC. It is older model now, but still has all you asked for.
lewinskih01
907 posts
 
I used to use JRiver to excellent results. Later moved to Roon because of it integration with Tidal. Both sound excellent, can be used with a phone as remote. Roon has the added advantage of being able to stream to multiple devices on your network. Put all your music files on a hard drive in your server running Roon or JRiver and you are good to go.
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