[PLMONROE]

I recently was given a demonstration of the Qsonix music server and was extremely impressed with its GUI. It's as slick as slick can be! I would almost be tempted to buy it for the gui alone if it were less expensive or if I did not already have most of my CD's on hard disk. I currently have both a SB3 and a usb dac which enable me to extract music from my 2,000 or so CD's two ways, so I can't justify a third. For my usb dac I am presently using Foobar 2000 mostly and sometimes MediaPlayer. It would seem that there should be either a player or a skin for existing players out there somewhere that would provide most of the utility of the Qisonix's GUI, but if there is I am not aware of it.  Any suggestions? Thanks.

Paul

[JimJ]

Do you have any screenshots of it? That didn't return much in the way of Google results...

Foobar2k is extremely flexible. Modules such as PanelsUI really open up the possibilities

[PLMONROE]

No screenshot but but you can get a good feel for it at qsonix.com. It's pretty cool. 

[JimJ]

I don't have an exact thread to give you, but go poke around the Foobar section in Hydrogenaudio - those guys really know their stuff, and I know people have wanted skins that do what you describe. WinAmp used to have a plug-in that did that, but I stopped using WinAmp when I deleted all the MP3s I had.

[cloudbaseracer]

This is a good topic and one I have been interested in for a while. I wonder how hard it would be to write a nice GUI like the one used in the SooLoos?  It seems that most of the other ones just do not cut it!  I would think that many people would be willing to pay upwards of $100 for a nice looking GUI if they could roll their own media server.  Instead the option is $10k for the SooLoos GUI and the system still requires an external DAC for the best sound. 

Any thoughts?


James

[PLMONROE]

This is a good topic and one I have been interested in for a while. I wonder how hard it would be to write a nice GUI like the one used in the SooLoos?  It seems that most of the other ones just do not cut it!  I would think that many people would be willing to pay upwards of $100 for a nice forking GUI if they could roll their own media server.  Instead the option is $10k for the SooLoos GUI and the system still requires an external DAC for the best sound. 

Any thoughts?


James

Agreed, with either the Sooloos or Qsonix you will not get the best sound without using an external DAC. The GUI's for both are very similar with each having some minor features that the other does not have. I would be more than content to have the features of either. In fact I, for one, would be happy to pay  a lot more than $100 for a program that would give me that utility and work with my present setup!!!

Paul

[ebag4]

I use Xlobby in my HT, have been for 5 years or so.  I find it to be an excellent GUI and it is extrememly configurable (with a fairly steep learning curve).  It use to be free, I am not certain if it still is or not, Xlobby was bought a while back.  It may be that you only have to pay for commercial usage but I am not certain.

The beauty is that it acts as a UI for Foobar 2000, so you get a great player and interface to boot!  You can see an example of it in pics of my HT here:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=53699.msg481257#msg481257

Or go to Xlobby.com for more info.

Best,
Ed

Edit:
Xlobby is no longer free but you can still download the freeware version from here:

http://xlobby.help.googlepages.com/oldxlobbyversions

The Xlobby website still has a forum for the freeware users.

[JimJ]

This is a good topic and one I have been interested in for a while. I wonder how hard it would be to write a nice GUI like the one used in the SooLoos?  It seems that most of the other ones just do not cut it!  I would think that many people would be willing to pay upwards of $100 for a nice forking GUI if they could roll their own media server.  Instead the option is $10k for the SooLoos GUI and the system still requires an external DAC for the best sound. 

Any thoughts?


James

I would ask on http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showforum=28.

[MerlinWerks]

Have you ever checked out J. River Media Center?Their audio only MediaJukeBox is free and there's a helpful community here. I've been using it for 10 years or so primarily for audio, pretty configurable if you want it to be. Theater view is pretty cool on a TV.

[cloudbaseracer]

This is a good topic and one I have been interested in for a while. I wonder how hard it would be to write a nice GUI like the one used in the SooLoos?  It seems that most of the other ones just do not cut it!  I would think that many people would be willing to pay upwards of $100 for a nice forking GUI if they could roll their own media server.  Instead the option is $10k for the SooLoos GUI and the system still requires an external DAC for the best sound. 

Any thoughts?


James

I would ask on http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showforum=28.

Hey, I like you guys! So maybe I value AC opinions as well and prefer to discuss this here.  Of course you just gave me your opinion ...didn't you?

James

[PLMONROE]

Have you ever checked out J. River Media Center?Their audio only MediaJukeBox is free and there's a helpful community here. I've been using it for 10 years or so primarily for audio, pretty configurable if you want it to be. Theater view is pretty cool on a TV.

Yup, and I think it's really a nice program but I am looking for a bit more capability.

Paul

[MerlinWerks]

Have you ever checked out J. River Media Center?Their audio only MediaJukeBox is free and there's a helpful community here. I've been using it for 10 years or so primarily for audio, pretty configurable if you want it to be. Theater view is pretty cool on a TV.

Yup, and I think it's really a nice program but I am looking for a bit more capability.

Paul

What capabilities are you looking for?

[PLMONROE]

Anybody familiar with the Quuxplayer? It really looks like it has a lot of outstanding features.

Paul

[PLMONROE]

I use Xlobby in my HT, have been for 5 years or so.  I find it to be an excellent GUI and it is extrememly configurable (with a fairly steep learning curve).  It use to be free, I am not certain if it still is or not, Xlobby was bought a while back.  It may be that you only have to pay for commercial usage but I am not certain.

The beauty is that it acts as a UI for Foobar 2000, so you get a great player and interface to boot!  You can see an example of it in pics of my HT here:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=53699.msg481257#msg481257

Or go to Xlobby.com for more info.

Best,
Ed

Edit:
Xlobby is no longer free but you can still download the freeware version from here:

http://xlobby.help.googlepages.com/oldxlobbyversions

The Xlobby website still has a forum for the freeware users.

Really looks robust. I wouldn't mind having the commercial version,  a touch screen would be very nice. It looks like they only have two dealers at present with the nearest one being in Vegas and that's a far jog from Oklahoma.

BTW, nice HT. REALLY NICE! 

Paul

[MerlinWerks]

A couple more:

GB-PVR, although primarily a pc based DVR program it does a lot more, lots of user skins and themes. The main web page is being updated, but here are some screenshots and forum.

MusicLobby one of the nicest looking interfaces I've seen.

LinuxMCE

[JimJ]

This is a good topic and one I have been interested in for a while. I wonder how hard it would be to write a nice GUI like the one used in the SooLoos?  It seems that most of the other ones just do not cut it!  I would think that many people would be willing to pay upwards of $100 for a nice forking GUI if they could roll their own media server.  Instead the option is $10k for the SooLoos GUI and the system still requires an external DAC for the best sound. 

Any thoughts?


James

I would ask on http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showforum=28.

Hey, I like you guys! So maybe I value AC opinions as well and prefer to discuss this here.  Of course you just gave me your opinion ...didn't you?

James

Nothing wrong with AC at all, just that Hydrogen's got some awfully smart minds when it comes to writing goodies for Foobar

[ebag4]

I use Xlobby in my HT, have been for 5 years or so.  I find it to be an excellent GUI and it is extrememly configurable (with a fairly steep learning curve).  It use to be free, I am not certain if it still is or not, Xlobby was bought a while back.  It may be that you only have to pay for commercial usage but I am not certain.

The beauty is that it acts as a UI for Foobar 2000, so you get a great player and interface to boot!  You can see an example of it in pics of my HT here:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=53699.msg481257#msg481257

Or go to Xlobby.com for more info.

Best,
Ed

Edit:
Xlobby is no longer free but you can still download the freeware version from here:

http://xlobby.help.googlepages.com/oldxlobbyversions

The Xlobby website still has a forum for the freeware users.

Really looks robust. I wouldn't mind having the commercial version,  a touch screen would be very nice. It looks like they only have two dealers at present with the nearest one being in Vegas and that's a far jog from Oklahoma.

BTW, nice HT. REALLY NICE! 

Paul

Thanks Paul.  Actually the freeware version has provisions for a thin client.  I have used an iPaq PDA and a Fujitsu Pen Tablet as thin clients in the past, although I no longer do so. 

There have been a number of different skins built by end users that can be used in conjunction with Xlobby, I believe there is a link to these at the Xlobby.com site.  I am using the skin I am because it was the correct resolution and it contained the items I wanted.  If you use the default skin or a skin that someone else has put together all that is left is configuring your setup (telling Xlobby where your files are, where your players are etc.), it's not that bad.  Trying to build your own skin requires a bit of a learning curve, a learning curve that I have not completed.

Best,
Ed

[doctorcilantro]

I'll second J. River, best GUI for Windows-based bar none. And it's WAY more than just a GUI.

DC