2. pc-audio
  3. 1133743568

High End User Interface for PC Audio

In the future, I am sure high end manufactuers will give us the same tweaky, visual and tactile happiness that we enjoy with exotic digital and analogue source devices.

In the meantime, however, one of the things that really disappoints me about PC audio is the cheesey, plasticky feel of surfing through iTunes on a computer, with my Tympanis, ARC and Mark Levinson eyeing me suspiciously from the background.

Indeed, there are times when I almost feel guilty, as if I were pouring cheap wine into a beautiful glass.

So I am wondering: using technology available TODAY, what would you use to upgrade the look and the feel of a hard drive based system, using UNCOMPRESSED files, delivered to the DAC of your choice?

A metal keyboard? laser mouse?

A sexy, HD capable monitor sitting on a coffee table to surf through your digital library?

Wireless technology to increase the - wow this is cool -factor for PC based audio?

Apple Mac G5? (Not a good answer IMO.)

Airport type wireless device? Or USB based device?

Thank you for your ideas.
cwlondon
edesilva
768 posts
 
You really like the gyration thing? Problem is... Don't ya still need to be able to read the monitor and focus on small lines to select items to play? Having a w/less keyboard and mouse work at 100' is great only if you have a Jumbotron to see it on. I've got a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and this doesn't seem that different, other than the funky motion sensor. I can't believe its all that good for fine control, though. Frankly, what is really needed is a good wireless trackball.

I still think touchscreen is the way to go. "Mouse" cursor goes to where ever you touch, double tap selects. Works great for iTunes. I can set the resolution/text size up so its easy to operate, even after fine motor skills are, er, slightly impaired.

I've also got Squeezebox 3s in some rooms, although I haven't really thought of it as an audiophile device. Is the digital feed out of the SB3 coax as good as, say, coax out of a Waveterminal U24? Gotta say, the SB3 has a display that is actually legible across the room...
kenn39
75 posts
 
When it comes to the digital output, Squeezebox is an audiophile device. It claims an output jitter of less than 50ps.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
SB can get a lot better, no matter what they claim. Start by using a battery supply.
cwlondon OP
1,210 posts
 
Maybe I had too much champagne last night, but I am a litte fuzzy on how the sqeezebox works.

Can someone please explain the basics?
Can it be used with iTunes?
edesilva
768 posts
 
The Squeezebox is a thin client. It interacts with a server program running on another network machine. Simplistically, the SB3 is a remote control front end that displays stuff as told by the server program, manages commands (like add this song to the current playlist), and is set up to receive music files and output those files through a coax digital port or analog L/R jacks. Its a non-functioning lump without a program running on another machine to support it, but... One server program can support multiple SB3s, and the "program" supporting them runs in the background.

So, I've got the server program (slimserver) running in the background on my XP machine in my study. The SB3 in my bedroom wakes up, sees that program, and starts interacting with it.

Theoretically it can interface with iTunes in the sense that you can tell the server program to look for an iTunes library file to manage the library. That means changes in the iTunes library are recognized by the slimserver program. I say theoretically because I'm spending my morning trying to make that work. There seem to be some issues with finding files over a network... Aie.
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