mini ape player

[kininigin]

I've been trying to find an alternative format to using a pc as a source for file based music and have come across this which looks really interesting.

http://shop2.hifidiy.net/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=10_22

You can use a sd card or usb harddrive,it has a display although it's simple,remote,you can use onboard dac which has WM8740 chip or offboard dac,supports 24BIT/192K,APE,WAV,FLAC,AAC,MP3 formats.

Looks like a good alternative to a noisy pc and of course you can leave the pc turned off.

Costs about £185

[technobear]

Costs about £185

Plus shipping plus excise duty plus VAT :(

Looks cute but for what you'll end up paying, a Squeezebox Touch will do the same and has a much nicer display.

[leo]

I recently tried one of these, my conclusion was their about on par with a midrange cdp. I thought all my external dacs bettered the Mini Apes analogue outputs, I also thought the highly modified Duet and a modded QA550 sounded better when used as a digital source for 16/44.
The mini Ape is cute and has a lot of features, it can play hi-res WAV,Flac and Ape files, not a bad little thing tbh :)

[kininigin]

i didn'i realise that the squeezebox touch could play sd cards and that you can attach usb harddrives.I thought it was just a streaming device.

So what is the menu system like when reading from a hdd for the squeezebox?

Do you get album art and basic info like artist,album ect.

I've been using my pc as a source for a couple of years now and would like a device which allows me to leave it turned off as the pc is next to the hi fi and it's starting to annoy me.

Is the squeezbox the only option at reasonble price that can handle large files,has a screen and connect to a dac?

[Peter Galbavy]

When you plug in external media (and currently it can only be one or the other of SD or USB HDD) you then run a "TinySC" server which scans the files on the media, puts a SQLite database file or 4 in a .squeezboxmedia (?) directory in the root directory and then presents the media through the normal interface. If your metadata is set-up well then it's great.

I have not used TinySC in a while so the performance and features may have changed, so caveat emptor :)

[technobear]

When you plug in external media (and currently it can only be one or the other of SD or USB HDD) you then run a "TinySC" server which scans the files on the media, puts a SQLite database file or 4 in a .squeezboxmedia (?) directory in the root directory and then presents the media through the normal interface. If your metadata is set-up well then it's great.

I have not used TinySC in a while so the performance and features may have changed, so caveat emptor :)

Or to put it in english, you can browse by genre, artist, album, folder and yes you can see album art for the track that is playing. This works best with FLACs and MP3s (or other formats that support tagging) but will also work with WAVs if you have a consistent file and folder naming convention from which the metadata can be extracted.

I saw the Touch was down to £205 at Dabs now. Bargain. Add one Beresford Caiman and you'll be in audio heaven.

[leo]

For anybody interested heres a pic of the Mini APE next to the modded QA550 I was comparing it against, both units are quite compact

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj220/kingbusoms/P1120641.jpg

[kininigin]

Or to put it in english, you can browse by genre, artist, album, folder and yes you can see album art for the track that is playing. This works best with FLACs and MP3s (or other formats that support tagging) but will also work with WAVs if you have a consistent file and folder naming convention from which the metadata can be extracted.

I saw the Touch was down to £205 at Dabs now. Bargain. Add one Beresford Caiman and you'll be in audio heaven.

ahh that's what he meant :lol:

Sounds like what i need,im surprised there aren't more choices though,or maybe there are but im not looking in the right places :scratch:

£205 is cheap but i reckon i can get one for less if i do a little searching :eyebrows: will have to wait a few months though.

Can you get a portable version of the QA-550?

[Ikemen]

This is the portable version;

http://qlshifi.com/en/wzcapi/qa350.htm


I am in the same boat, looking for a cost-effective music player, perhaps a SBtouch, but am surprised at the lack of other options. It will feed my Gatorized, Murata regs, Caiman.

I need a step-up from my decade old MarantzCDP (63KISig Mk2). The QLS is too minimal, and the SBtouch is feature heavy, considering people mod it to the hilt, turning off the monitor and the like.

[WAD62]

Jbloggs posted this link the other day...

http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=457344&sourceid=5499

...looks like a good price IMHO ;)

[Ikemen]

Thanks for the link. With these price cuts could the new version be around the corner!?

At that price I might just put an order in for the SBtouch. I just hope it is a worthwhile sound quality improvement over my current source mentioned earlier.