Time to put all the CDs in storage. How to get CD quality sound digitally?

Hi all,

Very interesting - so I like the idea of utilising one of the seagate drives I have (as it is pretty much brand new). Could I plug this into an AirPort Extreme (my home hub 3 is rubbish with wifi speed anyhow) and then connect this to a dac via an Apple TV?

Getting closer!

How would you select and control your music?  The Seagate drive can't run its own software, and the AE isn't a media server as far as I can tell.  The difference between a nas and sharing a HDD plugged into your router, is the nas actually has a processor and ram - it's in essence a computer.  Plugging a HDD into a router with media server capabilities would require you to use a streamer with UPnP/DNLA file access.  I think the Linn streamers use UPnP, but have no idea if they could work with a HDD plugged into a media server router.  Someone correct me if I have any of the above wrong?

While it's in my mind, there is one problem with playing music from a Synology nas - Audio Station doesn't support gapless playback as yet.  So you will get a 2 second gap between tracks whether you want it or not.

Right, ok. A previous poster on this thread mentioned I could pop an existing hdd onto a router - I like apple stuff as it fairly easy to set up so checked out the AirplayExpress which offers the broadcast of usb attached hdd (at least I think I read that).

would an Apple TV wireless device not run iTunes if the folder it pointed to was the one over the wifi or of course if wired?

Yes, the Linn is a streamer.

I believe that the advantages of bringing everything into one box gives better control over the whole thing, provided it's well designed (eg. Power supply, clocking, jitter, upsampling, filtering etc)

Don't take my word for it, but go and listen to the Streamers that are out there....and compare with the dac option. There is little agreement in hifi, except that it is better to demo as much as possible.

Ok thanks.

Would that be able to store/run iTunes?

Reason I ask is that I don't want my mac in the lounge, hooked up to the amp etc.

Are there any options to run iTunes on a streamer or NAS?

If I understand what you want the ATV to do, then no.  You'd need iTunes to be running on a computer regardless of where the music files are actually located.  The Apple TV can receive an Airplay signal, stream over the net from iTunes match, or pull files from a computer running iTunes.  But it can't act as an iTunes player on its own.  That's why I like the combo of my nas and the ATV so much, I get airplay and other things through the ATV but the nas with the Audio Station software also allows me to leave the Mac and iTunes out of the equation and connect direct to the ATV.  The other benefit of the ATV is it means you can connect to the dac via optical which gives you more choice than USB alone.  Hopefully I've explained that ok, as it seems really complex reading it back! 

I'm not the right person to ask about iTunes and DS (computer hopeless)...maybe Alex / Neuphonix or others may be of more help. Try asking on my Linn DS thread, or better still on the Linn forum.

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/the-linn-ds-dsm-thread

Sadly, no.  However, you can rip your cds with iTunes and have the library stored on the nas, and then use something other than iTunes to play the files.  That is what happens in my case, and I'm sure some if not most streamers could read the iTunes files.  But it wouldn't be iTunes playing them, so you'd lose the familiar interface.  You're going to have to use something other than iTunes to play the files if you want to leave the Mac out of the playback equation.

Right, ok Craig M. thanks again!

So if I have this right, your set up is pulling apple lossless straight from your Nas and the music interface which will make sense of those files can be controlled by an app via iPad or iPhone right?

Does that 2 second gap crop up when playing a full album? Not sure I fancy that tbh!

Personally I'd forget about Apple, this Is one area they particularly suck!

They're only interested in streaming, if you push media from an iDevice to another Apple/Airplay product or streaming from icloud.

Streaming from networked storage is PITA with Apple as it requires a PC running iTunes.

If it were me i'd just buy a Sonos, as it requires no server s/w to be running, you just point it at your music directory

Do you want to be able to play your music without having your Mac on? If you don't mind leaving your Mac on, the easiest way to do all of this is to stream from your Mac to an ATV or AEX and then add a DAC at a later date, if you feel the quality is not up to scratch.

I would have no concerns over sound quality and the ability to use the AEX as a print server and wireless network extender adds additional functionality.

I've just added an AEX to my network for just this reason, although I don't stream music, that comes direct from the Mac mini.

I control my iTuns in much the same way as you would control yours, ie screenshare and/or mobile iTunes apps.

Your Mac could then be the music hub and be accessed by others on the network (at least, that's what I do).

The fact is there are lots of options and all will get you where you are going, but the cost will vary. I would say though, that if you already use Apple products, then adding more is made easy by their simple integration.

With all due respect to the other ideas put forward, personally can't believe no one has suggested adding a Sonos Connect to your system as another source along with a NAS and your'e all done for about £350 - £400. You can of course add an exotic DAC later when you feel the need. All will be controlled via your ipad / galaxys and you will almost definatley start going multiroom when you see how great it is.

You can rip your library to lossless with your mac, store the files on the NAS and thats it, I wouldn't think about ripping to anything other lossless even if you cant hear the difference, with 1tb NASs available for £90 - why do you need to save space? Once on the NAS your mac can be turned off.

theoretically you wont be able to tell the difference between this set up and your cdp..but thats another argument.

Beat me to it!

Craig M. wrote:

BillDay66 wrote:

Beat me to it!

I know, I mentioned Sonos on the first page! 

So you did, missed it trying to keep track of all the convoluted apple solutions and far too many acronyms on offer!