how do you access digital content?

[-js-]

hello all.  I'm looking to buy an AV receiver.  maybe if I can refine my list in time for black Friday, maybe I can catch a real deal.  at any rate, right now I am considering these:

 

A4Less Integra DTR-70.4

A4Less Integra DTR-60.5

Yamaha RX-A2040

 

I may add others but that's where I am now.  so tell me this please - to access your digital content (mp3's, downloaded movies saved to a networked drive or however you do that these days), how are your systems setup?  

do you use Bluetooth from a laptop or tablet device to browse your network storage?

do receivers these days have digital players that you can direct to a networked drive, folder or file?

 

how do you guys do all this now>  as I get into product comparisons, I want to consider being able to do this, and how much it will cost to do it well.

(and we can discuss choices as well, but I'm trying to learn what I don't know relevant to this topic.)  thanks!

[derrickdj1]

I have an Pioneer SC 99 which has blue tooth.  I really don't use it since the BDP is connected to the network.  I can access all my media stuff thru the BDP.  The BDP is also wirelessly conncect to the HT PC.  So, thur the BDP, I access music, videos, HTPC, Pandora, Internet radion, Netfix. Amazon video and other source.

[-js-]

3 minutes ago, derrickdj1 said:

I have an Pioneer SC 99 which has blue tooth.  I really don't use it since the BDP is connected to the network.  I can access all my media stuff thru the BDP.  The BDP is also wirelessly conncect to the HT PC.  So, thur the BDP, I access music, videos, HTPC, Pandora, Internet radion, Netfix. Amazon video and other source.

 

 

oh, ok.  so you use your BDP as your "media browser" or something like the HT PC to launch whatever app or content? and then just play that content from the BDP to the HT?  am I following & describing accurately?

[CECAA850]

I use a laptop but I'm not the end all as far as digital media goes.

[USNRET]

I am currently using a Sonos Connect networked to a NVidia Shield TV. The Sonos plays my outside speakers via analog out to an Emotiva mini-x amp, my inside music from Sonos via optical out to Marantz pre-pro. I control the Sonos using iPad or Android phone. I also stream Amazon prime music or Tune-in radio thru the Sonos. I am researching NAS storage for the system but for now have an external USB drive on the Shield.

I tried using my Oppo 105D and the Marantz pre-pro to act as the streamer but the Shield's metadata abilities and ease of library navigation is far, far better.

[derrickdj1]

2 hours ago, -js- said:

 

 

oh, ok.  so you use your BDP as your "media browser" or something like the HT PC to launch whatever app or content? and then just play that content from the BDP to the HT?  am I following & describing accurately?

Yes, to the above.  The BDP has a nicer interface.  The HTPC is a 3 TB unit about the size of a paper book.  The BDP also has more apps than the avr.  Some people use Roku, Apple TV, ect for more apps and the interface.  Everything shows up on the TV or projector screen.  Using the avr would be redundant and I would still have to use the BDP for a lot of other apps.  Also, BDP are relatively cheap and most of us need one anyway.  Everything is in my signature.

 

I also use the BDP to run my 2 ch system since all my music is digital

[-js-]

11 minutes ago, derrickdj1 said:

Yes, to the above.  The BDP has a nicer interface.  The HTPC is a 3 TB unit about the size of a paper book.  The BDP also has more apps than the avr.  Some people use Roku, Apple TV, ect for more apps and the interface.  Everything shows up on the TV or projector screen.  Using the avr would be redundant and I would still have to use the BDP for a lot of other apps.  Also, BDP are relatively cheap and most of us need one anyway.  Everything is in my signature.

 

I also use the BDP to run my 2 ch system since all my music is digital

 

great info Derrick.  thank you.  that said, I had thought the AVR route is best to accomplish integration of all my stuff - movies, vinyl from the turntable, and CD's.  while I think for simplicity's sake, I like the mental picture of kicking off the mp3 player & letting it play without having to change records every 20 min or so.  for sessions like that, I'm willing to compromise some fidelity for convenience.  but at this time, I still want the ability to play an album side or dozen, and especially until I get them digitally recorded.  I'm also very enamored with the idea of being able to hear hi-fi movie soundtracks & special effects.

 

so, do you think the AVR is the best way to go to begin building a system to do that?  then possibly add a BDP to access digital content as I build that library?  Thanks.

[tromprof]

I use old desktops/laptops as part of each music system. I store all my media on a NAS and let the computers access the data.  I use JRiver Media Center to do the organizing. Depending on the system I use a USB DAC or an AVR to do the decoding.

Works great for me, and its a low cost way to run things. Yesterday's computer can do this kind of stuff without breaking a sweat.

[-js-]

11 minutes ago, tromprof said:

I use old desktops/laptops as part of each music system. I store all my media on a NAS and let the computers access the data.  I use JRiver Media Center to do the organizing. Depending on the system I use a USB DAC or an AVR to do the decoding.

Works great for me, and its a low cost way to run things. Yesterday's computer can do this kind of stuff without breaking a sweat.

 

ok.  I'm obviously way behind the times on this, and don't have much idea how JRiver works (yes, I did just look it up & read some of the pages, but still not sure I'm getting it.)

 

I'm thinking that maybe an AVR might have a better DAC than a computer from yesterday.  will JRiver let you send content to the AVR DAC & let it decode?

[derrickdj1]

An Avr is the heart of the system especially if it has good connectivity.  I could eaily hook up a TT for vinyl.  A good avr and BDP can make mp3's(256 ACC and VBR) play with quality that can't be distinguished from flac.  I have a ton of FLAC and ACC/VBR and the SQ is just as nice.  I don't feel better hearing one over the other.  I had a few people over a few weeks ago and they could not reliably tell the difference between the FLAC and mp 3's.  It's more of a personal choice for music media.  It is nice to save some storage space and a few bucks with the mp3's.

[JL Sargent]

39 minutes ago, -js- said:

I'm thinking that maybe an AVR might have a better DAC than a computer from yesterday.

 

Of course one way of doing it is with a yesterday computer and a new USB Dac. Thats how I do it.

 

[CECAA850]

17 minutes ago, JL Sargent said:

 

Of course one way of doing it is with a yesterday computer and a new USB Dac. Thats how I do it.

 

That's how I did it as well till I tried HDMI to optical out of the laptop

[tromprof]

2 hours ago, -js- said:

 

ok.  I'm obviously way behind the times on this, and don't have much idea how JRiver works (yes, I did just look it up & read some of the pages, but still not sure I'm getting it.)

 

I'm thinking that maybe an AVR might have a better DAC than a computer from yesterday.  will JRiver let you send content to the AVR DAC & let it decode?

 

The computer just does the playback, not the decoding. A good AVR or stand alone DAC does that part. Think of the computer as the turntable and the AVR as the cartridge. An older computer will do an excellent job of organizing and playing back digital files, much quicker and simpler than other more costly methods. 

[JL Sargent]

4 hours ago, CECAA850 said:

That's how I did it as well till I tried HDMI to optical out of the laptop

 

Thats ok for the lesser bitrate songs/formats. Optical does not have the bandwidth for lossless formats. It seems they intentionally dumbed down the optical standard for some reason.

 

[CECAA850]

5 minutes ago, JL Sargent said:

 

Thats ok for the lesser bitrate songs/formats. They intentionally dumbed down the optical standard for some reason.

 

The optical goes from a device that extracts the signal from hdmi and feeds my DAC.  You'll hear it at the end of the month.  It's high bit rate and sounds so much better than the usb method I was previously using. 

[JL Sargent]

Some of the players will show the resampling rate if your interested. I believe Fubar2000 is one. I play a lot of FLAC files and they 

were resampled at a lower bitrate when I used an optical cable for a time. I had to come here to learn what was happening with that setup. I was real happy with my Gustard x12 USB version til lightning got it! That DAC uses the famed ES9018 Sabre chip in it. 

[jjptkd]

From what I understand optical has plenty of bitrate for 2 channel anything, it only runs into trouble with hi-res, multi-channel playback?

 

I'm currently playing off a hard-drive that's connected to the TV via USB with the TV connected to my Processor via optical cable and it sounds great to me. I have a dedicated media computer with Plex installed and a fancy soundcard with HDMI and SPIF outputs but I didn't notice a difference in sound quality for 2 channel playback so I unplugged it awhile back.

[CECAA850]

10 hours ago, JL Sargent said:

Some of the players will show the resampling rate if your interested. I believe Fubar2000 is one. I play a lot of FLAC files and they 

were resampled at a lower bitrate when I used an optical cable for a time. I had to come here to learn what was happening with that setup. I was real happy with my Gustard x12 USB version til lightning got it! That DAC uses the famed ES9018 Sabre chip in it. 

I use HDMI out of the laptop.  I use optical to the DAC.  There shouldn't be any resampling or loss.  I'll let your ears decide at the end of the month.  That's the system we'll be listening to (rain allowing).

[-js-]

13 hours ago, tromprof said:

 

The computer just does the playback, not the decoding. A good AVR or stand alone DAC does that part. Think of the computer as the turntable and the AVR as the cartridge. An older computer will do an excellent job of organizing and playing back digital files, much quicker and simpler than other more costly methods. 

 

 

ok - great info.  in my lack of experience & knowledge on the subject, I was merging the tasks of playback & decoding; I guess thinking they might be the same thing.

thank you Tromprof for the info & education.  learning more & more every day 

 

so, now I have a question, trying to summarize connection method (protocol, if you wish) from your playback source to AVR.

 

Derrick uses a BDP so he is probably connected from BDP to AVR via HDMI cable.

@USNRET - how does your Sonos connect to your Shield & pre-pros?  Shield may be a direct connection like HDMI, and using wireless or wired networking to the pre-pros?

@tromprof, @JL Sargent - are you guys using Bluetooth from the USB DAC & laptop to the AVR?

@CECAA850 - you're using an HDMI -> optical connection to the AVR.

 

the main point of all of this is to (hopefully) be sure to include a feature in my AVR search that will check the "must have" boxen on my list, and then highlight which of the "nice to have" things are there or not.

 

thanks again for all your help everyone!

 

[CECAA850]

5 minutes ago, -js- said:

 

 

ok - great info.  in my lack of experience & knowledge on the subject, I was merging the tasks of playback & decoding; I guess thinking they might be the same thing.

thank you Tromprof for the info & education.  learning more & more every day 

If you use the 3.5 mm audio jack out of the computer then the computer does indeed do the decoding.  USB, optical and HDMI computer outputs would need an outboard DAC to turn the digital signal to analog.