Lossless files to my DAC - how?

[DevaFever]

Hi all,

It's my first post and as with most peoples first post its a request for helpful advice!

My requirement seems quite simple. I want to play lossless music directed via a recently purchased Beresford Caiman to my amp + speakers.

My problem is what to play the lossless music on? My initial effort has been to connect my old laptop to the caiman via USB. However, the fan on the laptop is proving a noisy nuisance – so I need another solution.

It seems many people use a wireless solution – using a squeezebox or a sonos or something similar. I could go down this route but it seems unnecessarily complex as I don't really need the music streamed to many rooms – and it would mean turning on the computer (or buying a NAS) in the computer room every time i want to play music in the lounge.

In other words I just need something that will sit in the lounge – that has a hard drive – that is quiet in operation – and that will send lossless files to my DAC, amp and speakers. It seems so simple – but is causing me huge difficulty - I have spent days surfing this on the internet but just seem to be going around in circles.

I guess one obvious option is a computer that is quiet. But I guess most laptops have noisy fans and with a desktop if I could find one that is quiet I would need a monitor of some kind connected to it which is a bit of a hassle for the lounge.

Alternatively I have thought media players might be an option as they do generally have a hard drive and a digital audio output - even though they seem mostly aimed at streaming video onto tv's. But then I start hitting problems of file compatability. A playstation3 doesn't seem to play most lossless formats. Something like the Netgear EVA9150 will do, but doesn't play apple lossless – and I think I would need the tv switched on to operate it. This leaves an Apple tv as a possible option. With a suitable iphone ap I could operate this without needing to use the tv. On the downside however, this very much ties me into Apple products and music formats and there are quite a lot of reviews around that say the apple tv isn't particularly good.

Am I missing something obvious? Is there a product category I have missed that is specifically aimed at playing a hard drive full of lossless music via ones hifi?

Any suggestions as to what I should be looking at, or where my thinking has gone awry would be gratefully received

thanks,

Richard

Notes a) I have started saving my cds as apple lossless via itunes – but am still in an early stage so could backtrack to a different format and software if necessary.
b) I am thinking I should be able to achieve what I need for £200-300 – the price of a cheap computer or ps3/apple tv. But please let me know if I should be spending more (or less!) on something.
c) my amp and speakers are a NAD c352 and Mordaunt Short 25i so not high end but even so I would still like to get the best out of them – thus the purchase of the DAC and the wish to use a lossless format.

[webby]

A 2nd hand Mac Mini...?

[Themis]

The cheapest solution is a Squeezebox Touch.
It does what you need, but it is not out yet.

What is your budget ?

[DevaFever]

On budget - I was thinking £200-300 as a guide simply as that is the price of cd player appropiate to my system or a cheap computer or a ps3/apple tv etc.

However, I could be persuaded to double that. I would just want to be convinced the extra expense brings something (better sound / better usability etc) to the table.

The Squeezebox touch does indeed look suitable - I could plug an external hard drive full of my music into it avoiding the need for having a computer turned on/wireless (whilst also having the option to go to a wireless system in the future if I want). So waiting for that is definitely an option.

In terms of a 2nd hand Mac mini - a mac would be new territory for me I have a windows laptop at the moment. In general, my issue with the buying a computer idea is that I don't really understand what would make one computer better than another in terms of my needs (whilst avoiding over specification if it is solely going to be used as a music player) - or how to ensure prior to purchase it will operate quietly.

Anyway, thanks for the ideas - any other ideas/help will be gratefully recieved.

[Maximum]

I've had no personal experience with these but could provide a good flexible solution.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/182588

There are many different combos on sale. Downsides I could see are no coaxial, needing mouse/keyboard around, and some use linux which could be an issue depending on computer savvy you are. And of course, it may be no less noisy than your current laptop.

Had a funny experience recently. I went with a mate to help sort some stuff on someone's new computer from PC World. The fans were making quite a racket because intelligent fan control was turned off in the bios, yet it was obviously on in the shop. Makes you wonder how many people are being deafened by that particular model needlessly.

[twelvebears]

Hi Richard, welcome to AOS!

I've played around with various options/combos to achieve exactly what you are after so hopefully I can give you some ideas based on my experiences.

As it could take a while, I'll PM you my number so we can speak in person - assuming you're in the UK and the same timezone!

[trailer]

The cheapest solution is an Apple Airport Express.

[twelvebears]

Hi Richard.

Can't PM you as you've chosen not to accept them on your profile.

Anyway. Airport Express is the cheapest option but does require a PC or Mac running iTunes to stream the music. Same goes for any form of normal Squeezebox or other media streaming device apart from the SB Touch (once it's available).

You can use most streaming devices by having a NAS running the music server software, but one's which will do so and be reasonably responsive (the processors in most NAS units aren't that powerful) are also expensive and can be a PITA if you're not particularly technical.

Depending on whether this will ONLY be used for music, or possibly both music and movies, your most user friendly, quiet and unobtrusive options are either to wait for a SB Touch (music only) or go with Lee's suggestion of a Mini Mac, which will easily cope with music and HD movies if you want it to, providing it's got a 2Ghz processor.

Another option which you might want to consider, and potentially your cheapest possibility, but which I've not had any experience with personally (I've tried all the above myself at various times), is the Seagate FreeAgent Theater

This last one will play pretty much all the music formats inc Apple Lossless, FLAC etc and does HD video as well. Obviously needs to be linked to TV and I'm not convinced by the user interface (i.e. menus), but it can just have external HDs plugged in quite happily.

[Ali Tait]

The Touch is a good solution as it allows you to connect a hard drive filled with music directly to it-you access the music via the screen on the Touch,so no noisy computer anywhere near your system.Only snag is,as has been said,it isn't out yet.I have one on pre-order,still don't know when it's going to be released.Soon I hope!

[trailer]

Anyway. Airport Express is the cheapest option but does require a PC or Mac running iTunes to stream the music.

Isn't the mini a computer?

Either way you'll still need a visual front end to run them a mini or an AE.