Here are a few pics of my music server

[Rich_Guy]

Here are some pics of the inside of my home built music server I built around 1 1/2 - 2 years ago, I never took photos of the inside when I built it but I took a few today with the top off.

It sounds beautiful, better than CD quality and it looks great. I love the OrigenAe case, a very beautiful high quality case. My music server features 2 DVD drives and 2 hard drives one hard drive to backup all files on the first.

[The Dude]

nice looking unit is there a build thread on this I might have read it, but like to be sure. Also why did you go with dvd players and two of them. I am looking in to turning an old Dell into one. Have any tips, how you rip to the server what you use for play back etc.. I know there was a dicussion on ripping a while back. You said its better than cd quality, this is something I'de like to acheive.

thanks

duder

[skonopa]

That is pretty sweet! I was going to do the exact same thing, until I landed a good deal on an Elan Via!DJ music server when Tweeter was going out of business, so thus, that is what I got now for a music server.

[Rich_Guy]

This is a dedicated music server, I don't use this music server for movies, gaming or any other computer use except it does connect to my home automation lighting controls.


Here are the main specs.

Case OrigenAe H7 case, OrigenAe cases are the best quality nicest cases I have seen, very nice. www.origenae.com
The front panel only has the VFD display, 2 DVD drives, ON/OFF and reset buttons with a very clean look.


2 DVD drives, I just happened to already have one extra DVD drive that was non-writeable
and bought another DVD drive that was writeable. Otherwise the second drive would have been CD.


2 500 mb hard drives.


Nvidia Geforce 6200 fanless Video card.


Auzentech sound card connected with Toshlink digital optical cable, Auzentech makes very nice quality sound cards. www.auzentech.com


Belkin 5 USB pci USB card for a total of 6 rear panel USB outputs (1 internal).


Based on an old HP computer I wasn't using anymore. 1.7ghz Pentium 4, 1 gig memory. This is plenty of power since this is used primarily only as a music server with music visualizations to my 50 inch TH-50PH9UK Panasonic plasma.


Vista Home Premium operating system.


I prefer using WMP 11, I have tried other players and prefer the sound quality and features of WMP 11. I have upgraded the visulizations with G-Force.


My prefered music download site was Music Giants which had extremely high quality music downloads. However Music Giants filed for bankruptcy and is no longer in business. Napster has been my second favorite for quality music downloads, I have tried itunes but found them to have lower quality music downloads.


I use WAV lossless format and I always try to get the best music quality I can.


The music server is controlled with a logitech diNovo Edge keyboard, Kensington media mouse and my URC MX800 and MX850 remote controls.

Below is the desktop image I designed for my music server.

[artarama]

Nice job! This looks very clean and well thought out. The duplicate hard drives are a must.

[sredmyer]

...better than CD quality...

Exactly how is this accomplished?

[jacksonbart]

...better than CD quality...

Exactly how is this accomplished?

by typing it

[Rich_Guy]

...better than CD quality...

Exactly how is this accomplished?

Mostly with very high quality downloads, which is why I liked Music Giants so much for my downloads unfortunately Music Giants filed for bankruptcy and closed down.

Here is a quote from Seagate (the hard drive company) who where in a partnership with Music Giants:

"Most consumers are happy with the audio quality they get from the
digital songs they download and play on their iPods and other music
players. Those consumers don't know what they're missing.

MusicGiants,
with help from Seagate, is delivering high-definition digital music
that's up to seven times better than the sound quality of any other
music download service."

Of coarse the quality of what is downloaded will effect what comes out as the end result, but even when playing CDs I have ripped lossless I have always preferred the sound quality I am getting with my music server than that of my CD player.

[sredmyer]

I guess this comes down to what is the definition of "better".

If "better" = more accurate, than it is not possible to be "better" than the original (CD). Further any form of lossy file (regardles of bitrate) is by definition less than accurate and therefor not better (by the definition given). However in the digital realm (which we are in when speaking of computer files and CD data) a lossless format (such as wav) is a bit for bit copy of the original and is therefore accurate.

On the other hand, if the definition of "better" = sounds better, then I would not begin to argue the point. Although I might think that the data lost in lossy encoding is meaningful and not having it makes the audio sound worse, that would just be my opinion. And when it comes to opinions we all have one and no one can (or should) say mine (or yours) is wrong. All one can say is my opinion differs from yours.

[Rich_Guy]

I do always use WAV lossless on my ripping and I do not know all the details however I recall there being details on Music Giants website (when they were still in business) that explained how many of their downloads were less compressed than that on a normal CD. Music Giants was definitely a superior download to any other I have found.

Regardless of the details, I do find that my music server is capable of the highest quality music of any other source I own. My CD, DVD and Blu-ray players do not sound as well playing std store bought CDs.

[jacksonbart]

If its WAV / lossless downloads then its the same as a CD (of course your CD player may be suspect) but one heck of a lot more convenient, which is better for sure. If you're down loading HD files, well then they have more information then the standard wav/pcm

[Rich_Guy]

If its WAV / lossless downloads then its the same as a CD (of course your CD player may be suspect) but one heck of a lot more convenient, which is better for sure. If you're down loading HD files, well then they have more information then the standard wav/pcm

Exactly, Music Giants offered HD music downloads, less compression and larger file sizes. As for std CD's I rip via WAV lossless it should be the same quality digital source, however I prefer the musical characteristics of my music server to my other sources.

Also yes I really like the convenience. Playing random music or music lists with a capacity of probably a week of 24/7 playback without any repeating and never loading a disc. I also like having the music video style graphics displaying album covers and the song info at the beginning of every song as well as visualizations during songs.

[oldtimer]

I suspect less compression is a key factor. Nice work, it looks very rich, guy.

[Invidiosulus]

If its WAV / lossless downloads then its the same as a CD (of course your CD player may be suspect) but one heck of a lot more convenient, which is better for sure. If you're down loading HD files, well then they have more information then the standard wav/pcm

Exactly, Music Giants offered HD music downloads, less compression and larger file sizes. As for std CD's I rip via WAV lossless it should be the same quality digital source, however I prefer the musical characteristics of my music server to my other sources.

Also yes I really like the convenience. Playing random music or music lists with a capacity of probably a week of 24/7 playback without any repeating and never loading a disc. I also like having the music video style graphics displaying album covers and the song info at the beginning of every song as well as visualizations during songs.

I wonder what MG's sources were?

If they had some special hook up with the mastering studio then sure.

Otherwise it would seem that they couldn't be better than CD quality.

What sorts of music were you able to download from them.

Sounds like a nice service, hopefully somebody else will pick up where they left off.

-josh

[sredmyer]

I believe MusicGiants is now HDGiants. If this is the same service you are referring to then you might be happy to hear they still exist at www.HDGiants.com.

As for the quality of their music downloads, they do offer lossless downloads. The format is WMA lossless which being lossless is equivelent to wav but utilizes file compression without data loss (which is what flac does). Since these are lossless they are identical to the source CD.

They also offer what they call SuperHD which is (IIRC) a bit perfect copy of SACD and DVD-Audio discs. Again since the format is lossless (again WMA lossless) they are a bit perfect copy of the higher quality discs.

[Rich_Guy]

Yes MusicGiants and HDGiants are the same, I believe they are now out of business, can you access their site? I can't I only get Service Unavailable when going to their site and it has been this way a few months now. Maybe someday they will return.

Below is quoted from: http://www.stereophile.com/news/more_on_musicgiants/

"More on MusicGiants






By Jason Victor Serinus



June 21, 2009 — On June 2, Stereophile reported that HDGiants.com, formerly known as MusicGiants.com, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The future of the high-quality music and video download site that had
most recently begun offering "Super HD" 24-bit surround-sound downloads
was unclear.

Close to two weeks later, we were finally able to connect with
HDGiants CEO Scott Bahnemann and get a clearer picture of HDGiants
current situation and future plans.

"We were in the midst of an internal recapitalization,"
Bahnemann explained by phone. "HDGiants needed to restructure between
debt and equity, and we weren't able to make some of our existing
shareholders happy with the new structure. We needed more time to bring
in additional capital, and Chapter 11 was the only way to buy time and
keep going."

Nonetheless, Bahnemann acknowledges that restructuring and
refinancing are difficult to pull off in these tight economic times.
Come fall, he expects that HDGiants will either be out of Chapter 11,
or purchased by one of the many parties who have shown interest in
acquiring the company's assets.

Meanwhile, the company is neither taking on new customers nor adding
new content. It is down to a skeletal staff that is maintaining
customer support, serving existing customers "and keeping the lights
on."

History and goals: When MusicGiants launched six years ago, its
goal was always to feed home equipment users in the US rather than
compete with iTunes, Wal-Mart, or other major music distributors. The
plan was to embed its media store into hardware that went into people's
homes in the form of media servers, thereby creating a base of
customers who put a premium on high-quality music reproduction.

At its peak, HDGiants was working with 60 different server
models, mostly plugged into house entertainment systems that put a
premium on sound quality. It had 1,000,000 titles available for
download, the majority of which were from major labels. It was also
preparing to finally make its downloads available to Mac users. Given
the change in its financial situation, however, the company's current
offerings are mostly from what Bahnemann dubs "independent outfits,"
and plans for DRM-free, cross-platform downloads are on hold.

Bahnemann is certain that HDGiants' basic orientation was
correct. What is necessary for the future of the download industry,
however, is universal adoption of a single high-quality format.

"People around the planet have proven that higher quality will
sell," he says. "But there are too many different formats, too much
confusion. As an industry, we have to settle on one high-quality format
and a single lossless or compression-less technology, and get everybody
on board. If we don't provide a quality experience, and sell a premium
product at a premium price, I don't see people paying for it ever
again."

As for whether audiophiles will continue being able to pay for content from HDGiants, stay tuned."

[sredmyer]

Yes I just tried and I can access the site at www.HDGiants.com. Possibly you need to clear your browsers cache.

[sredmyer]

Out of curiousity, do you know if their downloads are DRM free or not?

[Rich_Guy]

That is odd as I cannot access their site on either of my two computers clearing cache does not help and one of the computers had never even been to their site. I only get a white page with large black letters Service Unavailable nothing more.

They had DRM at first and were changing to DRM free.

I do have a couple songs which I downloaded from them that are not playing anymore because of DRM these songs stopped working at the same time their website stopped working for me.

[sredmyer]

That is odd indeed...I am on their site as I write this.

I wonder if their site (at least for you) being down has anything to do with your DRM files no longer playing? I am not that up on all the limits imposed by DRM but I suppose maybe the files needs to "phone home" to get permission to be played.

Very curious though about how you can not access their site.