Most musical media players/servers?

[Dan Osib]

With spending ridiculous amounts of money like $10,000 I want to buy a media player/server that does everything STATE OF THE ART exceptionally well i.e. incredibly transparent musicality, stunning Blu Ray HD movie pictures etc etc. Can anyone advise me Please? Does the AXONIX MEDIADECK 4 HD fit that description or should I be looking elsewhere?

 

[tonepub]

State of the art and inexpensive, rarely go hand in hand, especially with a server.

Why bother with Blu Ray in a server environment? You'll pay a lot extra for the capability and the extra storage required by storing all of that media will really gobble up the hard drive (and backup space) space.

I'd concentrate on a good music server and call it a day.

 

[Dan Osib]

State of the art and inexpensive, rarely go hand in hand, especially with a server.

Why bother with Blu Ray in a server environment? You'll pay a lot extra for the capability and the extra storage required by storing all of that media will really gobble up the hard drive (and backup space) space.

I'd concentrate on a good music server and call it a day.

Unfortunately I love movies and music equally 50/50.

 

[robertawillisjr]

Be prepared to $$$$$. A option may be to assemble a PC and do HTPC.

 

[Dan Osib]

Be prepared to $$$$$. A option may be to assemble a PC and do HTPC.

I spoke to the guy at KJ WEST ONE in London and he told me to steer clear from all media servers if I'm looking for 2 channel stereo musicality. Apparently a top end CD player will completely blow them all away no matter how much you spend on the server. Is this true though? Anyway what's HTPC?

 

[slowGEEZR]

Wow, that guy must be an expert. Completely blow them away? I doubt it. It depends what DAC you use. Wadia and dcs make some of the most respected high end CD players. You could use one of their DACs with a server. Of course, you can get awfully close to their sound with less expensive gear.

 

[Rich]

I spoke to the guy at KJ WEST ONE in London and he told me to steer clear from all media servers if I'm looking for 2 channel stereo musicality. Apparently a top end CD player will completely blow them all away no matter how much you spend on the server. Is this true though? Anyway what's HTPC?

This is complete BS. Anyone who would make such an absolute statement like this, especially over something so subjective, is simply informing you of their own particular bias and lack of knowledge or experience. People say the same type of holier-than-thou pronouncements about vinyl vs. digital, tube vs. solid state, balanced vs. single-ended, cone vs. horn vs. planar, etc. etc. etc. Ultimately, it is all subjective and at the very high end, the differences are mostly subtle and rarely earth-shattering.

At RMAF, I heard digital servers with solid state amps that sounded beautifully smooth, liquid and "analog"; while I heard some vinyl/tube setups that sounded harsh and edgy. And these were all high end expensive components. Setup and room acoustics matters most, and then the synergy with which your components match together is next.

 

[Dan Osib]

This is complete BS. Anyone who would make such an absolute statement like this, especially over something so subjective, is simply informing you of their own particular bias and lack of knowledge or experience. People say the same type of holier-than-thou pronouncements about vinyl vs. digital, tube vs. solid state, balanced vs. single-ended, cone vs. horn vs. planar, etc. etc. etc. Ultimately, it is all subjective and at the very high end, the differences are mostly subtle and rarely earth-shattering.

At RMAF, I heard digital servers with solid state amps that sounded beautifully smooth, liquid and "analog"; while I heard some vinyl/tube setups that sounded harsh and edgy. And these were all high end expensive components. Setup and room acoustics matters most, and then the synergy with which your components match together is next.

OK can I have some recomendations of server models please?

 

[tonepub]

If you don't need a full blown server to handle video and you just want 2 channel, I've been listening to the latest version of Amarra software on a Mac Pro with an RME soundcard (about 1200 bucks and does work on a Mac or PC)

While it doesn't have anywhere near the interface of the Sooloos, the sound is outstanding.

We've been testing on the dCS Paganini stack via Dual Channel AES connections and asynch USB. For now, the USB will only go to 24/96 which should be great 99% of the time.

The interesting feature of the latest release of Amarra is that it will play from memory, that is it dumps the whole song in your computers RAM and plays from there instead of the hard drive.

If you don't have thousands of CD's and can live with the iTunes interface and a little screwing around, this is the most natural server setup I've yet heard. You can buy used Mac G5's for about 500 bucks, add some memory and HD's, the soundcard, and you would probably have a pretty formidable music server for about 3-4000 dollars.

Either way, if you have a laptop, I'd suggest giving the latest version of Amarra a try. I just had this demoed by the dCS rep today and it is both reasonably priced and impressive....

 

[Necrosuit]

I have a HP ML110 Server $600, 1.5 TB Raid 1+0, drives x4 $300, Sonos music server/ w/ Digital touch controler $500. the sonos is using a high end Digital cable going into my Kora Helmes DAC, I burn any format of cd, mosty Lossless and save the data onto the server. the speed is lightning fast and the sound is amazing. but not as amazing as Vinyl . Thats my .02
ps. My server is also an FTP server if any cool folks want to sample or upload samples.

 

[Audiophiliac]

Kaleidescape. Better double or triple your budget though if you want to serve up BluRay.

 

[tonepub]

with the amount of data on a Blu Ray disc, isn't it just easier to drop a disc in the tray and press play?

 

[Audiophiliac]

Easier? No way. You can skip the steps of walking to the movie shelf, opening the case, prying the disc out (if it happens to not still be in the BluRay player in your other room, or in the case of the last game to be placed in the PS3 or any other random place), cleaning your kids' fingerprints off of it, and putting in your player....oh wait...you might have to do a firmware update before it will play that newest movie you bought....etc.

I thought this was the appeal of movie servers...for people who are too lazy to go through the above mentioned steps.

 

[Dean Fox]

I am looking for a sever system to play high res audio as well as improving the sound of my several hundred CD's. I would love to have a Meridian CD player but that is out of my price range. I have been waiting until Ayre updates their USB dac to support 24/128, supposedly they announced that they were going to upgrade several months ago. Also I am hoping that they will upgrade from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0. The new standard has been released and you can buy computing systems with the new faster USB.. I have a 2-channel system and a separate 7.1 video system (in different rooms). The server would be for my 2-channel.

 

[David Matz]

Jeff,

What are your thoughts on the Paganini? I recently heard the Debussy, and I was really impressed. The Debussy and the new Meridian are the best digital I have heard. I thought the dCS was analytical sounding, but to my surprise, it was quite musical.

Have you compared the Paganini up the chain to Scarlatti or down the chain to the Debussy?

 

[DrJRapp]

If you don't need a full blown server to handle video and you just want 2 channel, I've been listening to the latest version of Amarra software on a Mac Pro with an RME soundcard (about 1200 bucks and does work on a Mac or PC)

Either way, if you have a laptop, I'd suggest giving the latest version of Amarra a try. I just had this demoed by the dCS rep today and it is both reasonably priced and impressive....

Jeff.

Any app that can control Amarra an iPad or an iPod other like REMOTE?

I'm thinking about a new Mac Mini Server (dual 500g drives and 4.0 RAM) with Amarra 2.0 with the DAC1HDR fed USB signal from the Mini for the time being. Just need to find a way to interface remotely with the Mini

 

[slowGEEZR]

Jerry, check out Rowmote Pro. It's a $4.99 application that can control Amarra and iTunes. The downside is that you need a monitor to see where it navigates. I basically just use the Remote application to control iTunes and the Rowmote to shut down the Mac Mini, so I don't don't have to get up out of my chair. Essentially, all you need is Remote. Just set up Amarra and iTunes to automatically load upon computer startup.

My version of Amarra is 1.0.2 and I am very pleased with it.

 

[robertawillisjr]

Has anyone auditioned the Olive HD server?

 

[DrJRapp]

Has anyone auditioned the Olive HD server?

No, but I've heard good things about it. I'm considering it as an alternate to the above since it has several advantages, none the least is a really nifity, really functional ipod/ipad remote app. The other nice thing is if you want you can send them all your cds (on a spindle) and they will load the machine for you before it ships at a very nominal fee. Also I think that the Musica 4HD is reasonably priced the 2TB machine is only $2500 and the iMaestro remote app for an iphone, ipod touch or Ipad is free. The one review I read (I've forgotten where) had real praise for it's internal Burr Brown 1792 DACs, and you can use it as a digital source, or a dac for another source.

I have an older Musica which I was never successful in integrating into my system...mostly from lack of patience.