Well, wow, thanks so much. This is my fourth attempt, on four different forums over a span of two years, to get this type of post. All those prior efforts failed. I have to say that it's been very frustrating to get what now appears to be very simple information.
Your post would be a great sticky in the newbie thread or this one.
I also read the Dagogo review of HAL's MS-1, which is helpful if I go that route.
Really, many thanks.
Glad I could help.
I keep looking at dedicated music / media servers from boutique companies such as Olive, etc and keep running into problems / limitations, such as high cost, proprietary methods, upgrade-ability issues, performance issues, feature bloat, etc, etc. And after all that, they still can't perform all the other functions a regular PC can.
I can also realize that many people want something relatively simple and don't want to devote a lot of time / effort / money to simply playing back their music - particularly coming from the relative simplicity of a turntable, cd player, etc. And for this reason DIY PC server options are perhaps a bit unrealistic.
For these reasons I still see the Mac Mini on the Apple side, and on the Window's side, the HAL's MS-1, and possibly the before mentioned CAPS V3, as the best bang for the buck. They all have the advantage of relative simplicity, being compact, not consuming a lot of power, and being reasonably inexpensive. I happen to like Mac's as well for the ease and stability of the operating system and the Time Machine back up function that allows simple migration to a new mac when that day comes.
For the CAPS V3, if I were considering it for myself, I'd be looking at the entry level Topanga and save my money for power supply upgrades in the future. Even then though, I'd probably still buy HAL's MS-1 instead, or get him to make something custom for me, as it will likely cost the same or less & I think you'd get better support from him.
Best of luck!
