So I am a software guy during the day, living in a small NYC apartment. I struggled and struggled to resolve my internal conflict between the usefulness of MP3s and the obvious sound quality issues. So I decided to go with a PC-sourced system and the FLAC comrpession format because the benefits of being able to use a software jukebox are, in the end, huge. I also managed to get a lot of funtionality that you would normally have to pay a custom installer tons of cash for. The computerized parts of the system:
Big file server, about 600G of storage, running Linux. This is in my office, always on, and runs Samba to expose some Windows-accessible file shares.
LAN (wired as well as WiFi) throughout the listening area as well as the entire home.
The audio server contains all of my CDs encoded to FLAC files (lossless compression). It took a while to rip everything (months), but I used Exact Audio Copy and the FLAC tools and I have pretty excellent source material at this point.
Main system is fronted by a laptop connected via USB to a MAudio Audiophile unit with coax digital outs. The digital out runs into the Perpetual DAC, and from there through the rest of the analog gear. The laptops run DbPowerAMp, a Winamp-like player that has great native FLAC support. I chose this because it has a library component that is much better than any I've used (musicmatch, winamp, windows media player, etc.), and it supports FLAC tags natively.
So the benefits of this system, in my opinion, are:
- sound quality, using a good encoding package, a lossless format like FLAC, and a pure digital out from the PC, are as good as anything I've ever heard from a CD transport. I don't have the tools to measure jitter but in my opinion this is a great digital source.
- for folks with a lot of music, as most of us, the ability to point and click and listen to things you haven't pulled out in years is amazing. You can also do all the cool stuff like randomly play from your collection, play specific genres, etc. -- the FLAC tagging is just like MP3 tagging in terms of features.
- the analog side of the equation is nice enough for me
- of course you can play internet radio and stuff as well, if you want
So at this point I'll never go back to a non-digital sourcing option. I've since put all my CDs in storage (still have a rack for those I've bought since the encoding, and will send to storage in buckets). I have also built some otehr software tools to browse my collection via the web and dynam,ically transcode FLAC to MP3s that I can listen to from the office. I'm now working on getting an old laptop wired into my car system as well.
Things I am in the market for:
- any kind of cool software to support systems like this
- some speaker cable (using DHLabs now, thinking of AnalysisPlus Oval 9)
- front-end options like some of the new tablet PCs
I'm interested in any opinions from others who have done stuff with software front-ends, played with different lossless compressions, or used other variations ont eh home theatre PC theme (my interests primarily being in space/noise pollution, which is why I'm using a quiet micro laptop).
I realize the stand and positioning situation is not ideal, c'est la vie, I'd rather be married.
A far simpler and cost effective approach is to use a Slim Devices Squeezebox. It has hardware support for Flac and S/PDIF outputs for using a high end D/A. Then all your hardware can be away from the listening environment. You can build a very large file server with 500-600 Gigs of space or add some drives to an existing PC for less than $1000.
Why didn't you opt for Windows Media Player Codec 9 Lossless encoding?
I like the 10 Foot GUI of Windows XP MCE 2004 (Media Center Edition) a lot. I can use the MCE remote to control Music, Live TV, Record,pause,rew/ff, live TV, Tivo-Like Record capabilities all from 10 FT away, hence the term 10 Foot GUI.
I currently have 2 Custom built Media PC's networked together wired/wireless 802.11A 108mps Super Atheros (I can stream TV/DVD wirelessly!)
I have now just had built a silent version with no fans at all. My last system that I had built I was able to get rid of some fans (not the PS, or main Exhaust), used ZALMAN coolers, & VGA cooler, but this was not good enough.
My latest & greatest HTPC XP MCE 2004 machine is a 40lbs Heatsink Case that eliminates all fans & I run SP/DIF into a benchmark DAC1 which will eliminate jitter well nigh perfectly regardless of how much there is from HD to mobo digital out. I had used a Lynx 2 B card originally in my 1st iteration which for what it is was perfect, but lacked weight when running source direct. After trying several pre-amps I found the Bryston to be a perfect match. I stumbled on the DAC1 from Benchmark and it is so damn good and has so much gain that I finally can run source direct eliminating my Bryston which is being auctioned off as we speak.
I live in a studio in the SF Bay Area & I wanted a simple way to get all of my media located in one easy to access storage place & sit on my lazy butt and use my remote to cue anything I wanted to watch or hear.
I have an Art Audio Diavolo (13wpc SET Tube) amplifier, VonSchweikert VR2 towers, All Silver Analysis Plus speaker cable, interconnects, power cables. I use JPS Digital AC pwrcords on the media machines & DAC.
I was using my Toshiba Laptop (P25-S609 3GHZ 1GB, 160GB HD, 16X9 1440X900 17" LCD, NTSC Tuner, running Windows XP MCE 2004) as my client to access everything & using the Echo Layla Laptop PCMCIA card+breakout box running balanced to the Bryston, but now I run Digital out of it to the DAC1, at least until the new heatsink PC is finished this week.
I have tried similar solution. I used a IBM laptop with 40GB HD and a M-audio Sonica theater for digital output. I compare it to Theta Data II transport (cost $2800 years ago) and Theta sounds way better than M-audio sonica card. I would like to know if Audiophile USB is better than Sonica? Or they are just similar if I use only digital output?
Don't quote me, but I believe the format itself can basically support any sample size and frequency that you would realistically need, now and for a long long while. The issues would be that you'd have to get into the command-line a little bit probably, and you'd have to make sure whatever you used as a player could handle what you encode at.
If I were you I would play with FLAC a bit on some of your WAVs and see what's what -- the reference implementation is, of course, freely available on the main project site.
As a general rule, I am currently of the opinion that FLAC is the ideal compression solution. It's larger than a lossy codec, of course, but I don't imagine anyone on this site would want a lossy codec if they had a choice. Hard drive space isn't cheap, but compared to what you'd spend for the rest of your audio equipment, it is. Having lived with this kind of a system for several months now, the only real complaints I've had are minor ones related to the library software itself, and those types of solutions ar getting better every day.
Great system. I was thinking about doing something similar. I have a lot of LPs and I have been transfering them to 24/96 wav files and burn on DVD. It would be really nice if I can construct a music server that can play back hi-rec wav. Does FLAC support 24/96?
