Budget System with Music Server
default -- Tue, 06/09/2009 - 01:49
Hi all,
Can anyone suggest a system based on just a music server as the source? My budget is around $3,500. Since hardware prices have (in real terms) seemingly been falling over the years, is it too much to ask for "hi-end" sound from such a system? Thanks in advance for you help.
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You can get high-end sound from a music server based system at your price level, provided that you are willing and able to configure a PC as a music server.
Is your budget of $3500 for a complete system of music server, digital-to-analog converter, speakers, and cables?
Robert,
What are your thoughts in terms of sound quality for example Sooloos/Qsonix $6-10K system Vs. building one from a PC with a $600 card for about 2k or less? The P.C can be placed in a quiet room or enclosure. Software may not be as fantastic but if the sound is close to the best then it seems worth it to put an effort in a custom P.C. based system.
I know that with custom PC's, software is not as great, fan noise is in pc, but how is the sound quality? Some of these music server companies are going crazy with their pricing when hard disks are getting cheaper and cheaper by the day for larger space. Is their high price mostly for their software? or are they using some special hard disks/hardware or what?
I think if a system can be made with in 2-3k with (a small touch screen pannel with music organizing & playing software, a PC with a back up hard drive, and no compromise sound quality) it doesn't make sense to spend upwords of 6K-$10K for fancy boxes and brand names.......what do you think? What is the selling point for professional music server units Vs. a custom made P.C? Why choose one or the other?
The advantage of a "turnkey" music server like QSonix or Sooloos is that everything is done for you, and the user interface is far better than what you can get on a PC-based system. As for sound quality, there's no advantage to a turnkey server. In fact, the state-of-the-art in output cards is the Lynx AES16 found in many do-it-yourself PC-based servers.
Putting together a PC-based server can be a challenge unless you are quite comfortable with computer hardware and software. See Karl Schuster's article on this subject in the December, 2007 issue. If you have the skill, and find an interface such as Media Monkey acceptable, you can put together a great-sounding server with huge capacity for not much money. Still, it's not for everyone.
See also my article on the fanless, driveless server that I'm currently using (January, 2009).
Thanks Robert, Seems like QSonix or Sooloos selling point is their software/user-interface and a ready to go system. But inside the box are they using some state of the art hardware? or is it the same old hard disks as in good quality computers? Are their disks more reliable? It also seems like the sound quality is better from the Lynx AES 16 card/PC rather than the Spdif output of the high end music servers? How come Sooloos and Qsonix not give an AES/EBU output for their digital signal? Blue Smoke seems to have an AES/EBU output i think. Also in your comparison of Hard Disk Based music to State or the art Esoteric Transport you mentioned that hard disk sounded better then the disk on the fly even though the hard disk was used via SPDIF interface. Does that mean that SPDIF is not really much of a concern anymore? or is it that the interface is dependent on the type of DAC used? Are sooloos and Qsonix using only SPDIF output because there isn't much of a difference as compared to AES/EBU? Is the Absolute sound from hard disks at the moment Via the Lynx card/PC?
Robert,
I have a Mac iBook G4 and I can also use a PC. No $3.5k is for speakers, dac, amplifier and cables. How do I go about configuring a music server and could you please recommend the dac and speakers at this level? Thanks!
For configuring a server, see Karl Schuster's article in the December, 2007 issue (it's too big a topic for a post reply).
How large a room will the system be used in? How loudly do you want to play music?
I have to vouch for the PC based media centres. Once set up they are very easy to use, have intuative menu systems and give you the opportunity to do a lot more than most media servers (watch record tv, season pass recording, streaming radio, commercial skipping, etc...) If you want to take that a step further you can then add server storage to store you media that can be shared over your home network (even the internet).
For example, my current configuration is an ASENT media centre for tv playback and as the main music player. I have all my music and video/dvds stored on an ASENT home server (about 2Gb of storage at the moment) and an audio extender for use in my 10 mo daughters room. All data comes from the server (except TV) and it is easliy configurable if you know how to use a PC.
The other plus with PC based units is that they are upgradable at any time - so I can add extra storage to my media centre or home server when I want.
As Robert says, you need a bit of nouse to all that for under $3,500, however you can get a Media Centre with very good audio outputs (optical with THX and Dolby Digital) to a quality amp and speak configuration - you just need to shop around. But as always if you are not familair with these concepts generally it pays to get a professional in to help avoid making expensive mistakes.
Hi-
If you're talking about a dedicated music server, you can use a low power chip such as the Intel Atom and other simple components. You don't need a dedicated video card. So you can buy or build a silent or near silent PC music center (similar to those from Tranquil PC or endpcnoise.com) for $500-$1000, with plenty of HD space, but without the audiophile sound card. This will be more than powerful enough to act as a music server. (I know b/c I've done it).
If you want extremely high quality playback, the Lynx cards are great. I'd also suggest you look at the USB solutions from Empirical Audio (empiricalaudio.com). They're pricey (but competitive with the Lynx) and offer truly great sound. Total for such a system will be from about $1000 - $1500. With the Empirical solutions, you'll need to add in a DAC. (Note: with a high quality external USB sound card, you could also use a laptop PC as your music sever, and get great sound for around $1500).
Such a system will give you digital playback of the highest quality. If you rip your CD's as "bit-perfect", it will sound better than even many high end disc players costing thousands of dollars. I use such a system. Sounds great. The other advantage of a PC based system is that you can buy and download 96K and other high rez tracks which sound better than a CD.
If I had to do it over again, I'd probably build a system with a touch screen monitor, and control playback through an on screen Music player like Foobar 2000 or Media Monkey.
Hi-
If you already have a MAC or PC, look at the Empirical Audio USB solutions. Simple and will feed an audiophile quality signal to your DAC. Or buy a USB DAC such as the Benchmark. With these solutions, you don't have much to setup. You can basically buy your other components, hook it up, and play.
Robert,
The system will be used in a small room (11' W x 18'L x 10'H) and I don't play it very loud (not over 96dB at 1m). Thx for your input.
Danny,
Thanks for the info. I'll investigate along the lines you indicated.
More options:
Netbook or CULV Laptop + M2Tech HiFace + DAC
You can get this as a digital front end for about $2000 total for something clearly audiophile.
or Netbook + Benchmark USB DAC about $1800 (another $300 if you want the Benchmark model that's also a pre). Both "audiophile" solutions.
Syrilion,
Thank you for you input. Much appreciated.. Trouble is I am a total novice when it comes to using computers as music/video servers... if you have the time could you elaborate a bit more?
WOW!
Spent about 20 minutes with Alison Krauss at the Union station CD playing 'Down to the River to pray' to get a good centre image.
Pulled out the right speaker in the corner by about 2" and toed in the left speaker just a wee bit more. BANG! everything has got a heck of a lot more focus now.
I might just rush out and get a new CD player in time for Waitangi sales :D .... only if the Minister of Domestic Affairs will authorise the expenditure tho... and that probably means a new blender :eek:
mark456
temporary jobs London and the UK