[Newk]

First of all the information here is great.

I would like to start experimenting with my laptop as  a source using either the JRiver MediaCenter or Foobar2000.

I would like to use my laptop for the time being... before I decide if this is the way I want to go.

So first what is the most affordable good way to get a digital out form my laptop to my Panny XR45

What is the best way to go with an external hard drive  firewire USB 2.... I plan on using full resolution or lossless files not mp3's.  What would be the best Ext HD to get......?

Is there any problems in using external hD's..... latency etc....

Thanks for your help

[8thnerve]

Probably your best best for Digital Out is a USB Digital Out adaptor, like one from Empirical Audio.  It uses an asynchronus process and therefore doesn't suffer many of the problems standard SP/DIF does.

For an external drive, either USB 2.0 or Firewire should be plenty fast enough, search based on the size that you need and the noise of the unit.

Another suggestion would be to set up a file server in your house somewhere if you are already on a wireless network.  Use the file server to house the music files and simply connect to it from the laptop.  Storage would be much less expensive that way.  I think you can get a server with a decent amount of HD space for almost as little as one of those external drive at this point, and then you can just keep adding drives as necessary.

Best of luck!

[Carlman]

Wow, the laptop -> Panny sounds like a great little system.

Until recently, I considered this path also... but I have a different goal... I wanted the PC to be a transport AND DAC... I needed to save space... and still want the PC to be a DAC too.

I've heard very good things about the digital out from the Echo Indigo PCMCIA card also...

As to external HD's, I don't have any clue as to what would work best.  I was considering getting one of those cases that you can put any HD into and connect via USB or Firewire... Then you still choose which HD to use.

However... I'm going a different route now because I've just learned that I will have an entire 'audio closet' to use for gear so I'm much less concerned about noise, case size, etc. than I was a month ago....  So, I'm going to build a full-sized PC with lots of internal HD's.  You won't see many wires or gear either.  

[EchiDna]

Carlman, going the server route sounds best for your new audio closet

however, even not knowing where your closet is relative to your equipment rack, I'd rather be running a really long digital cable to an external DAC than a really long pair of IC's to get to your equipment rack... just a bit of food for thought!

[Carlman]

Carlman, going the server route sounds best for your new audio closet

however, even not knowing where your closet is relative to your equipment rack, I'd rather be running a really long digital cable to an external DAC than a really long pair of IC's to get to your equipment rack... just a bit of food for thought!

I'm psyched.  I found this area behind my room, under a staircase that's fairly large.  What's more, I can put the amp and PC behind the wall and put the preamp and turntable on the inside.... with only a little hole in the wall to run the cables.  Everything should be within a few feet of each other the way I'm planning it.  I'm mounting the pre and the turntable on a long shelf on the wall.  

I'll be reversing the entire speaker/listener aspect as well.  The wall with my back to it will have heavy curtains over windows.  So, I'll essentially have LEDE as well.  What's more is that it'll be easier to run dedicated lines to the closet also.  I'll run 2.  Then, I'll insulate and put up some sheetrock.  Super-nice iso-booth.

Anyway... sorry for the off-topic... I'm just very excited about this find.

-C

[sleepkyng]

in regards to external hard drives

get a seagate drive (outpost.com has them for ridiculously cheap, 70 bucks for a 200 gig)

they come with a 5 year manufacturer's warranty, are considered very very quiet and are exceptional drives that don't break down very often (in comparsion to western digicrap)

just grab a hard drive enclosure that fits a 3.5inch drive and offers usb 2.0 (or firewire if you're a macintosh guy) and plug it in!

[StevenACNJ]

The best USB factory sound card device, that I have seen, which will give you a coax digital out is the M-Audio Audiophile USB

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/AudiophileUSB-main.html

It also comes with a seperate power supply. MSRP is $249 can be had on the web for about $179.

[Newk]

Thanks so much for the help...

Trying out the Jriver MC10 right now... What is the best Lossless compression to use on that...

Also What size a HD would I need to get to put on about 1500 cd's using lossless compression.

thanks

[pjchappy]

Newk,

Is lossless 0 compression?  If so, the average CD is about 700MBs. . .so, take 700MBs x 1500 CDs = 1050000 MBs / 1000 = 1050 GBs.  

Even if lossless compression would cut that size in half, quite a bit of space is needed!!!     A couple 500GB HDs would suit you!

p

[sleepkyng]

i would look into apple lossless compression format or flacc to keep audio quality and reduce file size

[Jon L]

Newk,

Is lossless 0 compression?  If so, the average CD is about 700MBs. . .so, take 700MBs x 1500 CDs = 1050000 MBs / 1000 = 1050 GBs.  

Even if lossless compression would cut that size in half, quite a bit of space is needed!!!     A couple 500GB HDs would suit you!

p

Apple lossless or FLAC is typically about 40-50% less in file size compared to .wav.  For example, in Apple Lossless, about 500 songs cost about 11 gigs..

[pjchappy]

Thanks!

p

[CSMR]

I get over 50% compression with wma lossless, but you get less with non-classical music.
USB hard drive storage is good, particularly if you can put the drive in another room. If the cable is longer than 5m you need a repeater or powered hub.