Tips?: hardware... media playback device

[David Fawcett]

On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 10:48 PM, Basil Chupin <blchupin at iinet.net.au>wrote:

> On 21/06/10 22:14, David wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I don't know much about hardware. I'd be grateful for some advice on
> > what device to buy with which I can play back digital music files
> > through a conventional hifi amplifier, a device that either has a hard
> > drive or can be connected to an external hard drive. I hope to find a
> > solution that'll play FLAC files as well as MP3 or WMA. I've think I
> > once saw some device advertised on the Internet by Netgear maybe,
> > costing a few hundred dollars.
> >
> > In JB-HiFi I see small units that you connect a hard drive to and which
> > play the FLAC format, but the units are designed to be connected to a
> > TV, and it doesn't make much sense to me to have to run the telly in
> > order to choose and play back music through a hifi system. I was hoping
> > that there'd be a device that has a basic digital display on the front
> > allowing you to navigate through folders on the hard drive and choose
> > files to play.
> >
> > Today in a computer store a salesman suggested I get a small netbook
> > computer and plug its output into the amp. He suggested this one they
> > had on special at $399:
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > ASUS EEE PC
> > Processor: Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 512K L2 Cache
> > Chipset: Intel 945GSE / ICH7-M
> > Memory: 1GB DDR2 SO-DIMM (2GB max)
> > Hard Drive: 160GB (160GB + 10GB Eee Storage)
> > Display: 10" 1024x600 (WSVGA) LED Backlight display
> > Graphics: Intel UMA
> > Web Camera: 1.3M Pixel
> > Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition
> > Comms: 10/100 Ethernet, Integrated Wireless 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth
> > Expansion Ports:
> > 1 x VGA (D-sub 15-pin for ext monitor)
> > 3 x USB 2.0
> > 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet
> > 1 x Headphones / Speakers
> > 1 x Mic-in
> > Card Reader: MMC/ SD(SDHC)
> > Audio: Hi-Definition Audio CODEC, Digital Array Mic, Built-in stereo
> > speaker (1W for each)
> > Battery: 6-cell 6600mAh; Battery Life: XP: 7 hrs* (subject to model,
> > normal usage conditions&  config)
> > Dimensions&  Weight: 266mm(W) x 191.2mm(D) x 28.5mm~ 38mm(H), from 1450g
> > Warranty: 12 Months warranty provided by Asus or appointed service
> > agents
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > If I were to use a small laptop for this purpose I'd want it to start up
> > almost as fast as the time needed to start up a hard drive. Maybe
> > replacing WinXP with a suitable variant of Ubuntu (which??) would boot a
> > lot faster. However, I imagine I would get poorer audio quality taking
> > the headphone socket output of a netbook to feed into my hifi amplifier
> > (as it's regulated by a volume control?). I s'pose they have no better
> > output option?
> >
> > Does anyone know of a device designed for audio playback of stored music
> > files without a TV being necessary such as I've described, or is a
> > laptop computer the only way to do it?? If the latter, can you get a
> > better quality output than the headphone socket?
> >
> > Thank you,
> >
> > Dave
> >
>
> Dave, are you interested in real hi-fi or just playing around with some
> pretend-something which someone, like a salesman, who's knowledge in
> most probability is limited to MP3 and iPod, will claim to be "hi-fi"?
> (You do know about the compression algorithm used in MP3 and so on [like
> the stuff on YouTube]?)
>
> You do NOT listen to anything even remotely resembling hi-fi through
> anything associated with your computer.
>
> You do NOT record or playback anything remotely called hi-fi associated
> with a computer.
>
> You want hi-fi then forget about computers and go to an audio specialist
> who deals with hi-fi.
>
> My hi-fi gear cost me some thousands of $$$. Some people pay $10,000 for
> just a set of speakers, and then spend the same amount on a room to
> house those speakers so that what they hear is "the ultimate".
>
> Where does your ambition lie? :-)
>

I actually somewhat disagree with that assessment, although I do understand
(and somewhat applaud) Basil's audiophile position. ;)

For most of us mere mortals 24-bit
S/PDIF<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF>outputs work a treat and
sounds just fine. However if you want it to be
available with in a few seconds then you might be better off with a
dedicated digital jukebox.

Why don't you lets us know what sort of amp you are using and we'll see what
we can do?
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