[Scotlynn]

Hi Folks - after many years with cd's and vinyl, I'm trying to come up with a very simple and inexpensive way of getting access to flac files for my stereo system. I'm not tech savvy in the least with respect to servers, streamers, dacs, etc, so please bear with me. Here's what I want to do.

I have a number of big classical box sets on flac on an external hard drive that I'd rather not burn to cdr. My stereo (all tube system - line stage, phono stage, monoblocks, CDP and TT) are in a dedicated listening room way on the other side of the house from my computer. There is no strong wireless single across that distance. All I want to do is be able to plug an external hard drive into my stereo and access the files, ideally using my ipad as a controller. And I'm on a tight budget for now (< $500).

I thought that the Logitech Squeezebox Touch would do the trick and from my initial research it seems I can hard wire my external hard drive right into the Touch and then plug the Touch straight into my preamp. I understand that I'll lose some sound quality relying on the SBT's internal DAC, but I can always get a stand alone DAC sometime down the road and play the SBT through that, right? And I read that I can get an app for my ipad to control the thing. Problem is, they're increasingly hard to find for a reasonable price.

In my search, I see a lot of discussion of alternatives that, given my ignorance of computer-based systems, don't always make a lot of sense to me. For example, does the Sonos Connect or the Olive One do what I want to do? (Again, don't need wireless streaming, access to radio, etc - just wanna play flac files off an external drive) Are there other cheap alternatives out there that I can build on once I'm ready to get a decent DAC?

Sorry again if this is a simpleton request - my first foray into discless playback.
Thanks

[adydula]

A Simple solution would be to add a nice Oppo....$499.
You can plug in your hard drive into one of three USB ports....you may need to have the hard drive plugged into a USB
powerd device, cheap....$25 or so.

I did this for a few years and eventually bulit a small HTPC and put the drive inside of it and use a very inexpensive USB dac to my preamp etc.

There are android and Apple apps to control etc..they have the manual online in PDF so you can read about it etc.
They also are great on the phone etc..

http://oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-103/blu-ray-BDP-103-Support.aspx

Alex

[Scotlynn]

Thanks, Alex. I have a Modwright Sony XA5400 SE SACD player, so would prefer not to add another player into the mix if a simple streamer would do the job. But its an option. I could, I guess, hardwire something into my computer via a switch I have in the same room as my stereo, but really just want to plug an external HD into something. Still wondering if the Sonos would do the trick.

[charmerci]

To do simple and cheap, I'd get a notebook ($250-ish?), download JRiver and buy an ODAC ($150 more or less) and the cable

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021817&p_id=9767&seq=1&format=2ut

and plug in - which is what I have done. (I most often use shuffle and listen as my own personal radio station.)

I don't know anything about iPads but I think that there are apps to do control - but I don't know.

[asliarun]

A thread on another forum pointed me to a reasonably priced compact music server.
I don't know anything beyond the specs, but based purely on specs and price and form factor, this looks very attractive.

http://www.sonore.us/SOtM1.html

And it squeaks in within your budget.