CD -- streaming music from server
Discussion
Hoping someone might have already been through this process and be able to offer some thoughts/suggestions...
In a nutshell, I've decided that I'd like to try to move away from CD to something that will give me more multi-room options in the future, but don't really want to go down the route of compressed music formats - instead what I want to do is migrate all of my CDs onto a central server/NAS in uncompressed form and retain the ability to use hi-fi grade DACs on a decent main system, whilst having the flexibility to also play music via lower-spec devices in say the kitchen.
So, obvious issues around HDD capacity aside, what's the best way to go about doing this? I.e:
What will give me the best extraction from CD (multiple scanning to avoid read errors?);
What audio format do I go for... want it to be a one-time exercise and future-proof;
How can I best feed a DAC once the music is transferred?
Should I also be thinking of video as well?
What have I missed (probably lots)?
...don't really have a budget in mind at this stage, as I'm more interested in whether it can be done.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts/suggestions.
In a nutshell, I've decided that I'd like to try to move away from CD to something that will give me more multi-room options in the future, but don't really want to go down the route of compressed music formats - instead what I want to do is migrate all of my CDs onto a central server/NAS in uncompressed form and retain the ability to use hi-fi grade DACs on a decent main system, whilst having the flexibility to also play music via lower-spec devices in say the kitchen.
So, obvious issues around HDD capacity aside, what's the best way to go about doing this? I.e:
What will give me the best extraction from CD (multiple scanning to avoid read errors?);
What audio format do I go for... want it to be a one-time exercise and future-proof;
How can I best feed a DAC once the music is transferred?
Should I also be thinking of video as well?
What have I missed (probably lots)?
...don't really have a budget in mind at this stage, as I'm more interested in whether it can be done.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts/suggestions.
It can be done, but how you do it will depend a lot on how much you want to spend and what your exact needs are. I ripped all my CD's on to a NAS running Squeezebox Server and have a number of Squeezebox booms around the house for general listening and a Touch connected to my hi-fi for real listening.
But that's only one way to do this. A Sonos set-up would be another.
But that's only one way to do this. A Sonos set-up would be another.
http://flac.sourceforge.net/
https://sonos.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/sonos.cfg/php/e...
Monkey's audio is another good format but Sonos doesn't support the .ape files (yet)
WinAmp or Media Monkey can stream FLAC through Airport Express so that's another option.
https://sonos.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/sonos.cfg/php/e...
Monkey's audio is another good format but Sonos doesn't support the .ape files (yet)
WinAmp or Media Monkey can stream FLAC through Airport Express so that's another option.
Thanks guys - is FLAC the most mainstream of the formats these days? Looking on their site it seemed to be saying that it wouldn't work with iPods unless you hacked the firmware?
The Sonos kit looks interesting, and would work for the "informal" rooms, but not sure it will do the purer hi-fi end I'm looking for... ideally, and I don't know if the kit exists, I was hoping to be able to feed a high quality separate DAC directly from the NAS (sort of like if you had a 2-box CD-DAC combo).
I found this CD player from Musical Fidelity that will let you use its DAC if you feed it a digital signal from USB... but that means I need PC and display sat there as well.
The Sonos kit looks interesting, and would work for the "informal" rooms, but not sure it will do the purer hi-fi end I'm looking for... ideally, and I don't know if the kit exists, I was hoping to be able to feed a high quality separate DAC directly from the NAS (sort of like if you had a 2-box CD-DAC combo).
I found this CD player from Musical Fidelity that will let you use its DAC if you feed it a digital signal from USB... but that means I need PC and display sat there as well.
LooneyTunes said:
Thanks guys - is FLAC the most mainstream of the formats these days? Looking on their site it seemed to be saying that it wouldn't work with iPods unless you hacked the firmware?
No, MP3 is the most mainstream format. But that is lossy even at higher bitrateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Lossless_Audio_C...
You have to decide whether you want maximum compatibility (MP3) and put up with poor quality files, or maximum quality files (FLAC) and the requirement to keep an MP3 copy as well.
Thanks - looks like a tricky one then... unless there's something that will encode as FLAC + MP3 at the same time (like some digital cameras do RAW + JPEG)?
Network capacity shouldn't be a problem as I put wired gigabit to all the major rooms when we first moved in, with wi-fi around the place for less intensive applications.
Network capacity shouldn't be a problem as I put wired gigabit to all the major rooms when we first moved in, with wi-fi around the place for less intensive applications.
Yes, you can rip to multiple formats at once - use http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ with either http://flacattack.sourceforge.net/index.html or http://www.freewebs.com/ponchorage/wack/
OK I have all my music in both WMA Lossless and Flac formats on a 1tb Nas.
I then have this plugged into a Sonos which then has an optical connection into my old Sony amplifier. The Sonos can only pick up the flac format files but they sound truly amazing.
I used the free version of media monkey to make sure my files displayed properly on the sonos controller. Also, I'm not interested in internet radio or spotify, so my sonos isn't connected to my home network in any way - just the 1tb drive next to it.
It works really well, and when I get new music I rip it to flac format, copy it onto the NAS and the sonos just picks it up.
I then have this plugged into a Sonos which then has an optical connection into my old Sony amplifier. The Sonos can only pick up the flac format files but they sound truly amazing.
I used the free version of media monkey to make sure my files displayed properly on the sonos controller. Also, I'm not interested in internet radio or spotify, so my sonos isn't connected to my home network in any way - just the 1tb drive next to it.
It works really well, and when I get new music I rip it to flac format, copy it onto the NAS and the sonos just picks it up.
mrmr96 said:
Is there a big difference between how 320kbps mp3 and CD audio sounds?
Yes, but as always it depends how good your hearing is. Some people can't tell the difference and others can.Put simply - do you listen to the music to hear the stereo, or do you listen to the stereo to hear the music?
itsnotarace said:
mrmr96 said:
Is there a big difference between how 320kbps mp3 and CD audio sounds?
Yes, but as always it depends how good your hearing is. Some people can't tell the difference and others can.Put simply - do you listen to the music to hear the stereo, or do you listen to the stereo to hear the music?
Yep totally understand.
Maybe look at FLAC for archiving CD's and Lame MP3 -v1 or -v2 for the MP3 copy
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME...
Maybe look at FLAC for archiving CD's and Lame MP3 -v1 or -v2 for the MP3 copy
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME...
LooneyTunes said:
The Sonos kit looks interesting, and would work for the "informal" rooms, but not sure it will do the purer hi-fi end I'm looking for... ideally, and I don't know if the kit exists, I was hoping to be able to feed a high quality separate DAC directly from the NAS (sort of like if you had a 2-box CD-DAC combo).
The Touch can output to an external DAC if you go the Logitech route, and I believe the ZP90 can do the same for a Sonos system.I looked into this about 18 months ago and did the following:
Ripped CDs to flac format using Exact Audio Copy (EAC)
Tagged with mp3tag
Artwork downloaded with album cover art downloader
Converted to mp3 with foobar2000
Stored on a netgear readynas and streamed over a wireless G network to a Squeezebox boom and a Squeezebox radio (the network will cope with different playlists on each device simultaneously).
It doesn't really matter which format you rip to as long as the initial rip is lossless (but don't use .wav as it doesn't support tagging!). Converting to other lossless formats theoretically does not change the sound quality, and it is only a couple of clicks in foobar2000 to convert your entire collection. I chose flac mainly because the streaming media player I had an eye on played it natively, it supports tagging and compresses files to around 50-60% of their original size.
There is a good thread on the hydrogenaudio forum, in which one of the more knowledgeable posters recommends DBpoweramp as more suitable for most people's needs.
I have subsequently ripped my DVDs in a mixture of .mkv and .iso format and added a netgear NTV550 to watch. I haven't yet increased the capacity of the nas so can't yet comment on the network performance.
HTH,
Mike...
Ripped CDs to flac format using Exact Audio Copy (EAC)
Tagged with mp3tag
Artwork downloaded with album cover art downloader
Converted to mp3 with foobar2000
Stored on a netgear readynas and streamed over a wireless G network to a Squeezebox boom and a Squeezebox radio (the network will cope with different playlists on each device simultaneously).
It doesn't really matter which format you rip to as long as the initial rip is lossless (but don't use .wav as it doesn't support tagging!). Converting to other lossless formats theoretically does not change the sound quality, and it is only a couple of clicks in foobar2000 to convert your entire collection. I chose flac mainly because the streaming media player I had an eye on played it natively, it supports tagging and compresses files to around 50-60% of their original size.
There is a good thread on the hydrogenaudio forum, in which one of the more knowledgeable posters recommends DBpoweramp as more suitable for most people's needs.
I have subsequently ripped my DVDs in a mixture of .mkv and .iso format and added a netgear NTV550 to watch. I haven't yet increased the capacity of the nas so can't yet comment on the network performance.
HTH,
Mike...
Because I didn't know what I wanted to do with the music prior to ripping it. So I ripped it to WMA lossless during some time off work last year and then sat on it for ages before discovering Sonos. Sonos of course can't play WMA lossless files, so then I had to convert them all to Flac format.
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