Starting a Computer Based Music Server

adydula · « **Reply #60 on:** 23 Jul 2013, 06:09 pm »

I have built sooooo many pcs and many for music playback.....gone thru years of all kinds of stuff...custom pcs, dacs, receivers, EAC, Jriver, SoundBlaster and its derivitives..DB Poweramp, UpNP/DLNA etc..

If I had to do it all over with all this experience, I would throw a micro pc together with SSD drives, JRiver etc...Windows based.

Use a low cost USB Dac from the PC to the Receiver or Preamp...

Many USB dacs for $100-$400 that are absolutely marvelous....

Throw in a 60" plasma or so for a display and a usb wireless keyboard for control.

Sit back and enjoy the music...bitperfect.

Alex

WGH · « **Reply #61 on:** 23 Jul 2013, 08:45 pm »

Quote from: adydula on 23 Jul 2013, 06:09 pm

Throw in a 60" plasma or so for a display...

In my room the 60" plasma really un-focuses and smears the center image so when it's time to sit back and listen the screen is covered with a Mexican sarape. The music server, keyboard and mouse is still on the floor so I have to get off the couch to change tunes. Gotta unpack sometime, my hacked Nook is in a box of books somewhere.

Wayne

geowak · « **Reply #62 on:** 23 Jul 2013, 10:06 pm »

Many here have suggested Macs for the simplicity factor. I don't know anything about Jriver, but Itunes has the disc ripper and software for this within Itunes. I have ripped over 1500 cds within any problem. Even though I did have to back up the music to another HD.
I think PC or Mac, will work just fine. For me, Itunes is a well thought out product that delivers much of what users need or want.

jackman · « **Reply #63 on:** 23 Jul 2013, 10:24 pm »

Geo,

If you are using iTunes as your digital media manager (or whatever you call it) you should try the free 30 day trial of Jriver. I was using iTunes and thought it sounded pretty good...until I tried Jriver. Jriver is easy to use, easy to set up, plays all files including apple lossless and sounds way better than iTunes.

iTunes on a PC still uses windows processing which message up the sound. Jriver just sounds better IMO than iTunes and it plays all types of files including flac and is compatible with dsd if you decide to go down that road. Don't take my word for it, try the 30 day free trial. If you don't like it, uninstall it and you are no worse off. I was not expecting this type of improvement but I'm sold on jriver.

Cheers

Jack

Alan · « **Reply #64 on:** 23 Jul 2013, 11:48 pm »

Don, Don't give up on jriver too quick (though I've never used it with a mac, maybe issues there). It's a very powerful, versatile program and really pretty user friendly too, or else I couldn't use it. Though there definitely is a learning curve. The developers are responsive, often adding features on request. Spend a little time on the wiki http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Main_Page#Using_JRiver_Media_Center before giving up.

That said, maybe Pure Music is a good alternative for Mac, I've no experience with it

geowak · « **Reply #65 on:** 23 Jul 2013, 11:53 pm »

Quote from: jackman on 23 Jul 2013, 10:24 pm

Geo,

If you are using iTunes as your digital media manager (or whatever you call it) you should try the free 30 day trial of Jriver. I was using iTunes and thought it sounded pretty good...until I tried Jriver. Jriver is easy to use, easy to set up, plays all files including apple lossless and sounds way better than iTunes.

iTunes on a PC still uses windows processing which message up the sound. Jriver just sounds better IMO than iTunes and it plays all types of files including flac and is compatible with dsd if you decide to go down that road. Don't take my word for it, try the 30 day free trial. If you don't like it, uninstall it and you are no worse off. I was not expecting this type of improvement but I'm sold on jriver.

Cheers

Jack

Thanks maybe I will try it. But I am using a Mac, not a PC. Itunes has a app called BitPerfect that improves the quality, I use this and just started playing around with Pure Music for Hi Rez. So far I have been pleased with the results...
Not trying to confuse the OP, he was having problems with both an Apple HD and Jriver. I was attempting to give my experience with a Macbook Pro and Itunes. Keeping in mind, I am not a highly skilled computer user! I feel if I can do it, anyone can.

jackman · « **Reply #66 on:** 24 Jul 2013, 12:37 am »

Thanks Geo,
If to are using a Mac with bit perfect, and Pure Music, you are in good shape. I thought you were using a PC with iTunes. Totally different scenario!

Cheers

Jack

Don_S · « **Reply #67 on:** 31 Jul 2013, 03:22 pm »

Well it goes to show you don't know what you don't know. I was struggling with a Mac Mini because the display was not correct. I did not know there was supposed to be a tool bar across the top of the screen on the desktop. PCs have no such counterpart so I was not looking for one. While talking on the phone to local tech support (aka, a friend) he clued into the problem. After sending me a photo of his desktop display I then knew what I was missing. Jarcher was telling me to click on the Apple and I was all like

dude?

To me the desktop display looked fine. The two columns of favorites shortcut tiles on the right side were not cut off. The walking dead background pic was fine. The tops of the zombies heads were not cut off. Although with zombies that would not have mattered.

Moving forward > I went to Best Buy and purchased a Rocketfish Thunderbolt/mini display to VGA adapter. I now have two working displays. One is a 19" widescreen TV and the other is a more-square, older monitor. The older monitor is more appropriately sized for where I will need to locate it.

So now the next boulder to stumble over. I was looking for two generic (no backup software) external hard drives. I thought the Seagate Expansion Desktop would be a good choice until I saw it was only for PCs. http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/expansion-hard-drive/

Well, I am not ready to commit yet. My friend is going to come over and help me set up with free trials from Audivarna and Pure Music (the one he prefers with his Mini). But I also saw some slim-line PCs at Best Buy and they would fit very nicely beside my rack. Unfortunately my experiments with JRiver and Foobar did not go well. Foobar would play the files I burned but I had to struggle to get them loaded. I could find the file using Foobar but to get them to actually play was not easy or intuitive. I failed to develop a nice GUI like Sooloos.

Remember, besides the best sound, my main criteria was a system that would not become obsolete. Nothing proprietary. To me that meant two external drives (main + backup) in a format that I could move between computers (including PC vs Mac) and software. Sure I will have to buy a new computer sometime and better software will be developed. Not a problem as long as my library is portable and timeless. This whole "Apple think different" thing is throwing me curve balls again with the need for different external drives.

I do know some drives supposedly swing either way. I don't trust them. Or more precisely, I don't trust myself to get the secret handshake right.