XBOX 360 as digital music storage and transport

angelo · « **on:** 17 May 2005, 03:13 am »

if you've already read about the specs of the new XBOX 360

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox360/factsheet.htm

i think this can be an awesome replacement for a dedicated digital music storage/transport replacing a HTPC, and it sez to be quiet, all you need is a good DAC to match with its digital OUT.

if the price is really $300 w/ a 20GB harddrive... this is a steal! i'll prolly get one eventhough i'm not a gamer.... even w/o a 20GB harddrive, just consider all the power inside this small box... it's just amazing!

angelo

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 May 2005, 03:32 am »

20 GB wouldn't hold much music- even with lowrate mp3.

angelo · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 May 2005, 03:45 am »

so you can use the USB 2.0 ports for external harddrives, it can also stream media content from a PC through LAN.

the SONY Playstation 3 supports SACD

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050516/sfm178.html?.v=2

angelo

TheeeChosenOne · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 May 2005, 07:13 am »

Yup, PS3 also will support dual HDMI and 1080P. Blue-ray also throown into the mix.

Woodsea · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 May 2005, 07:54 am »

This one is a tough call. PS3 on paper looks awesome. Xbox on paper looks excellent compared to the PS3. 6 mos is a longtime between consoles.
Streaming is cool though. I think both consoles will win. Nothing in the square circle will be able to touch the x360. In a year, computers with longhorn should be able to outperform both consoles. Nvidia is shipping the PS3's computer equivalent vid card in a few months.

CornellAlum · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 May 2005, 01:48 pm »

Will either of them be able to stream 24 bit data?

Hoots · « **Reply #6 on:** 24 Nov 2005, 07:58 pm »

Will xbox360 w/nice external DAC sound as good or better than Squeezebox?

I have a MCE box and Xbox360 along with a nice DAC and upsample box (P1A w/SOCS).

If I use the xbox360 as a MCE extender with .wav files (does it support FLAC?) will I bypass kernel-mixer and have bit perfect audio?

I'm also thinking of using an M-Audio Transit instead and keeping my MCE box connected because I like to backup DVDs and view them from my pc and I like to use the web browser.

I'm even looking at JRiver Media Center because I like the album art feature and I'm getting tired of researching plug-ins for Foobar2000 (which I also have running).

Hoots · « **Reply #7 on:** 29 Nov 2005, 06:49 pm »

I read the xbox360 supports lossless transfer from the MCE box as an extender. It only supports MCE formats like WAV and WMA but it seems that the xbox should sound similar to Squeezebox passing SPDIF...or at least that is the theory I'm reading. Since I already have xbox360 for my son and my MCE box I'll give it a try. Perhaps I'll borrow the SB3 for a test. I'm also running Foobar2000, WinAmp w/Meedio, and JRiver on trials and was going to swap my Audigy for my REVO so I can use ASIO for bit perfect w/Foobar and WinAmp/Meedio.