[kevin360]

Regarding my research for a Music Server (not a Media Server) has the Olive 03HD as a contender, but it only has half a terabyte, which should be okay if I don't load some of my CD collection.  I can always use Memory Sticks or add an outboard hard drive. 

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/digital-media-servers/olive-03hd-fl


Jim

I'm no expert in this field, but there are some things I don't like about the Olive. It's a fully self-contained unit. The disk drive is inside - with your analog circuitry. It has no digital output, so you're tied to the internal DAC (may not be an issue, but still...). I prefer to have my media stored on a NAS - with redundancy (mirrored drives). That last issue should be easy enough to solve - surely one can access the drive for backup purposes via the network. Make damn sure that you can back it up before going that direction - the CDs may still be sitting on their shelves, but the time spent ripping them can't be recovered if (when) a drive goes south.

[medium jim]

I'm no expert in this field, but there are some things I don't like about the Olive. It's a fully self-contained unit. The disk drive is inside - with your analog circuitry. It has no digital output, so you're tied to the internal DAC (may not be an issue, but still...). I prefer to have my media stored on a NAS - with redundancy (mirrored drives). That last issue should be easy enough to solve - surely one can access the drive for backup purposes via the network. Make damn sure that you can back it up before going that direction - the CDs may still be sitting on their shelves, but the time spent ripping them can't be recovered if (when) a drive goes south.

Kevin:

I'm with you, I believe there is a USB that would allow me to transfer all stored data on the Olive to another hard drive as a mirrored setup.  It has a decent Cirrus 24/192 onboard DAC that gets excellent reviews.  The only thing that I may need to do is to add a tube buffer to give me the warmth that I seem to like. 

Jim

[kevin360]

Jim,

You're correct - I just looked at the manual. It does have a backup provision, but it sounds bloody awful to me. There is a built in utility that must be run which will duplicate the internal drive to a USB connected drive. In other words, one can't simply connect the USB drive and update what's already backed up; the destination disk is purged and the entire contents of the internal drive are copied every friggin' time the process is run. If the USB were 3.0, that might not be so bad, but at the speed of 2.0, you aren't going to want to back it up very often.

The damn thing has a network port. I don't see why they couldn't make the internal drive accessible via the network for backup purposes. Alternatively, why not provide for full or incremental backups?

[josh358]

Josh:

I was thinking more of a stand alone that has at least a terabyte of memory and a decent DAC and with the all important remote!  I'm not to the point of downloading music from the net yet and it would be for all of my CD's to get them cataloged and ready for playback.

Jim

For my own system, I plan to have a computer terminal by the chair. I much prefer to have that than a remote. I got used to surfing the web on the projector while I was listening, it's quite addictive, you can read about the piece or read an audio mag or just the newspaper. And I prefer to play the files directly rather than index them, partly because I've never gone through and tagged everything. I tried the automatic taggers, but they weren't reliable enough to be useful. The other problem with tags is that there's more than one standard, and no real standard for classical music. If there were one sensible way to do it, I'd probably bite the bullet and do it.

Some other things I like about using my own machine are that I also use it for video, and I can take advantage of some of the cool software to do digital crossovers, bass EQ, and so forth. Though I'm still not sure what my ultimate configuration will look like. I'm leaning towards a six-channel Lynx card, that would take care of both of my fronts but it wouldn't do surround. I could do a PLLXO, but I wouldn't get to play with those high slope linear phase FIR filters.

[josh358]

Jim,

You're correct - I just looked at the manual. It does have a backup provision, but it sounds bloody awful to me. There is a built in utility that must be run which will duplicate the internal drive to a USB connected drive. In other words, one can't simply connect the USB drive and update what's already backed up; the destination disk is purged and the entire contents of the internal drive are copied every friggin' time the process is run. If the USB were 3.0, that might not be so bad, but at the speed of 2.0, you aren't going to want to back it up very often.

The damn thing has a network port. I don't see why they couldn't make the internal drive accessible via the network for backup purposes. Alternatively, why not provide for full or incremental backups?

That's one of the reasons I prefer to go the PC approach, rather than get a packaged solution. It's just a lot more versatile. Choose the player that you want, the plug-ins that you want, the file organization that you want. And then you can put something like the Squeezebox server on it and have access to your music everywhere in your house. Use iTunes, watch video with VLC, whatever. It's just very versatile, and since you get to choose whatever DAC you want there's no loss in audio quality over an off-the-shelf server, on the contrary, you can choose whatever you want, add DEQX if you want, etc.

[medium jim]

Jim,

You're correct - I just looked at the manual. It does have a backup provision, but it sounds bloody awful to me. There is a built in utility that must be run which will duplicate the internal drive to a USB connected drive. In other words, one can't simply connect the USB drive and update what's already backed up; the destination disk is purged and the entire contents of the internal drive are copied every friggin' time the process is run. If the USB were 3.0, that might not be so bad, but at the speed of 2.0, you aren't going to want to back it up very often.

The damn thing has a network port. I don't see why they couldn't make the internal drive accessible via the network for backup purposes. Alternatively, why not provide for full or incremental backups?

Kevin:

I'm in the early stages of investigation and I'm sure in 6 months when I should be ready to buy, I will have changed my mind a dozen times and am open to suggestions to a good standalone unit.

Jim

[kevin360]

As much as I hate Logitech, I like the Squeezebox/DAC recommendation Josh gave. If you don't care about hirez stuff, the Sonos/DAC solution is also excellent. Either way, I think the PC/NAS approach is the way to go. The tough part is finding the right player for your needs - at least, it's proving to be a challenge for me.

Unfortunately, I find it difficult to recommend the Marantz player right now. Hopefully, they'll improve its network control functionality, as it's really a weak point. Even more unfortunately, it's not the unit's only shortcoming. Connection to the media on the NAS is via DLNA, which sucks, IMO. The Sonos plays the media indistinguishably from a proper player because it doesn't require DLNA. I haven't figured out how to prevent the 'breaks' between tracks using DLNA. If there's no solution to that issue, it's game over for the Marantz.

I guess it's time to post a question on the discless circle, eh?

[josh358]

As much as I hate Logitech, I like the Squeezebox/DAC recommendation Josh gave. If you don't care about hirez stuff, the Sonos/DAC solution is also excellent. Either way, I think the PC/NAS approach is the way to go. The tough part is finding the right player for your needs - at least, it's proving to be a challenge for me.

Unfortunately, I find it difficult to recommend the Marantz player right now. Hopefully, they'll improve its network control functionality, as it's really a weak point. Even more unfortunately, it's not the unit's only shortcoming. Connection to the media on the NAS is via DLNA, which sucks, IMO. The Sonos plays the media indistinguishably from a proper player because it doesn't require DLNA. I haven't figured out how to prevent the 'breaks' between tracks using DLNA. If there's no solution to that issue, it's game over for the Marantz.

I guess it's time to post a question on the discless circle, eh?

The Squeezebox products are much better than the rest of Logitech's line. In fact, I was rather surprised at how good they were, having used their keyboards, mice, and webcams over the years. They do have the occasional bug, e.g., I had a problem when I first installed Squeezebox server with a filename that couldn't be parsed, but I've used both the Touch and now the radio and I'd say both are excellent within their intended field of application. Plus, the radio's a lot of fun! I'm tempted to steal it back from my stepmother.

[medium jim]

Thanks to both Josh & Kevin for some directions to go in my quest.  The good thing is that my old reliable Ah! Tjoeb CDP still sounds amazingly good to my ears and whatever server I do end up with will need to sound as good if not better.

Jim

[SteveFord]

Ach, it got the better of me.
I hope I don't regret selling my SFL-2. 

[kevin360]

Ach, it got the better of me.
I hope I don't regret selling my SFL-2.

Does this mean an ARC Ref 5 is in your near future?

[SteveFord]

That's out of my price range, I'm afraid.
Beautiful stuff, though.

[josh358]

Thanks to both Josh & Kevin for some directions to go in my quest.  The good thing is that my old reliable Ah! Tjoeb CDP still sounds amazingly good to my ears and whatever server I do end up with will need to sound as good if not better.

Jim

Shouldn't be hard to achieve, servers typically do sound better than CD players (though of course it's impossible to make a complete generalization). No pit geometry problems and mechanical jitter to deal with, though there are other sources of distortion. Many people report that their CD's sound better ripped than the originals do.

[medium jim]

However, the Music Vault Pearl would fit my needs, but I would have to go with an external DAC, not necessarily a bad thing...

Jim

[josh358]

However, the Music Vault Pearl would fit my needs, but I would have to go with an external DAC, not necessarily a bad thing...

Jim

Not a bad thing at all, it gives you more of a choice. But you do have to worry about the quality of the interface.

[kevin360]

That's out of my price range, I'm afraid.
Beautiful stuff, though.

I hear you. How about a used Ref 3 for a little under half the cost of a new Ref 5?

(still pretty darn steep)

[kevin360]

However, the Music Vault Pearl would fit my needs, but I would have to go with an external DAC, not necessarily a bad thing...

Jim

Yeah, that thing looks interesting. It's a bit expensive, but it seems 'fully cooked'. I think the external DAC is a good thing!

[medium jim]

Yeah, that thing looks interesting. It's a bit expensive, but it seems 'fully cooked'. I think the external DAC is a good thing!

I have one more invoice to pay for my Dodger Season tickets and then I can start a Music Server Account.  Kevin, you are probably right, an external DAC might be a good thing as I can upgrade as does the technology.  I've ripped a bunch of my CD's on my Office Computer that I listen to with a nice set of powered Yamaha HS50M's that is actually very decent, even with the stock sound card. 

Jim
 

[rw@cn]

I am thinking about something like the Auraliti PK 100 and a really good used DAC. I could load a "playlist" on a thumbdrive for a listening session or use a NAS later on.

[DTB300]

That's out of my price range, I'm afraid.  Beautiful stuff, though.

REF-5's are very nice, and used REF-3 go $5k-$6k depending on the shape.  The 3's used to be in the $4k range, but then the 5 came out and the 3's jumped in price.

At least in our area here you can find some ARC dealers to be able to audition some equipment.  CJ being local (in VA) you would think they would have lots of dealers in our area.  But no, they only have one dealer in the area and they appear to be a HT installer.