NAS - DAC - Amp - Speakers - Possible?

[campionissimo]

I'd like some feedback as to whether this set up would work.

All my music is ripped/saved as flac or mp3. If I was to put this on a Synology NAS which has Audiostation built in, could I just connect that to a DAC (I'm eyeing up a 2nd hand Arcam rDAC) and then connect the DAC to my amp?

If i understand right, I could then access Audiostation on my android phone or tablet to push the music from the NAS to the DAC.

I want to keep my existing amp / speakers and don't need multiroom, hence not binning the existing kit and going down the Sonos route.

Thanks!

[Bullett]

I just had a look at Audiostation. It says it's a music player but what it actually appears to be is a server. You will still need a client of some kind.

From the website: Playback - Listen to music with mobile devices, USB speakers, Bluetooth A2DP speakers, DLNA players (DLNA certified Digital Media Renderer products), or multiple AirPlay devices.

You might be able to connect direct via the USB speaker option, it's not really clear.

[sparkyhx]

a cursory search of t'internet it would appear you can connect a DAC thru the USB of the synology - I found a few references to it.

but I suspect using the NAS to play music is a bit clunky from a usability point of view, but cheap

[campionissimo]

thanks guys - so if it's likely to be clunky, what's the best way of playing my ripped music on my existing hifi? Is it best to get a media streamer (e.g. Denon DNP720) and can I attach a 250gb hard disk (in a USB caddy) to any streamer to get decent playback.

Do streamers have good apps (android) for viewing what music you have and selecting it?

Thanks.

[sparkyhx]

probably the cheapest option yes. plenty of streamers out there with varying degrees of flexibility etc

if you may want to expand in the future to multi room then sonos is your answer. more specifically Sonos connect, but that's £270 so a bit steep if you are not going to use the connectivity it offers.

Edited by sparkyhx on Friday 20th December 20:48

[Bullett]

SONOS is a good answer, especially if you want to go multi-room later on. Probably also worth trying it raw so to speak as the built in DAC may meet your needs. If not then you can use an external.

Squeezebox is an option, but only available 2nd hand these days.

Or build one of the audio freeware streamers based on the RaspberryPi you don't mind a bit of geekery.