[Dan Driscoll]

I'm researching a replacement for my failing CD changer and have pretty much settled on the idea of a Squeeze Box or Olive type device that will be used as a transport & source my LiTe Audio DAC 62. The Squeeze Box 3 is at the top of my list right now, it seems to have a good feature set, there are a lot of good user reviews for its sound quality, especially when used with a good DAC, and the price is very attractive. But I have a few more questions before I start hinting to the wife.

1) Any word on when the Squeeze Box 4 will be out? The SB3 has been out for a couple of years, so it may be due for an update.

2) Are there any Squeeze Box type devices (other than the $2K Transporter) that can do 24/96? My DAC can accept 24/96 inputs and I have a number of DVD-A and DAD disks with 24/96 stereo tracks. I'd like to rip those disks to my hard drive and be able to access them the same way a Squeeze Box can access 16/44 or 24/48 music files.

3) Any devices other than the various Olive models that will work without a PC, just an external HD drive?

4) Slim Devices, Olive, Roku, Cambridge Audio. Any other players in the network music device market that I should be looking at?

5) What are the recommendations for hard drives? Brands, sizes, external, internal, NAS?

6) I have seen Tirade's CD ripping ad, he seems to do good work and has a lot of satisfied customers. But is it worth it if you only have 200-250 CDs?

Thanks!

[Rashiki]

3) Any devices other than the various Olive models that will work without a PC, just an external HD drive?

You can get SlimServer to run on a couple of different network storage devices.

http://slimdevices.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/slimdevices.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=6058&p_created=1168637316&p_sid=lbayaNMi&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MiwyJnBfcHJvZHM9MCZwX2NhdHM9JnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9TkFT&p_li=&p_topview=1

The Infrant solution is the easiest (SlimServer comes built-in on some models), but is quite expensive. The other options can be cheap (Linksys NSLU2 is less than $100), but require some technical expertise.


If you decide on the SqueezeBox or Transporter, my recommendation would be to get a used Mac Mini (first generation is fine) and one of the external drives that fit underneath it. Small, quiet and relatively painless to set up. You can get an adapter to use a TV instead of a monitor and stick it in your entertainment rack. In this case you could also get a good USB or firewire to S/PDIF converter and drive your DAC directly from the Mac, but you don't get a remote and need to use your TV for the user interface.

 -Rob

[Charles Calkins]

Yo Rob:
 Best damn dog there ever was. Sure miss that Solo and you and Jen at the park.

                                           Charlie