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What media player are you using?


wuzzzer

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I've got a few hundred CDs and some time on my hands.  I would like to rip them in a lossless format so I can listen to them more easily.  I have a laptop that I can do that with.

Question is, what's an inexpensive device I can use to play the songs?  Is anything available for less than $100?  What would be the best way of going about it?

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Are you wanting to stream wirelessly from your wife's laptop to a device connected to your Sony receiver?

Does your receiver accept S/PDIF or do you want to connect via RCA?

Do you want to control your playback from a tablet/phone?

Do you also want the ability to stream music over the internet...Spotify, Tidal, Pandora, etc?

 

My favorite device is the Squeezebox Touch (no longer made but still very popular).  You would need to run a server program on your wife's laptop however.

 

I have built Squeezebox devices using ESP32 as well.  DIY, but a blast to play with! 

 

Mike

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9 minutes ago, mboxler said:

Are you wanting to stream wirelessly from your wife's laptop to a device connected to your Sony receiver?

Does your receiver accept S/PDIF or do you want to connect via RCA?

Do you want to control your playback from a tablet/phone?

Do you also want the ability to stream music over the internet...Spotify, Tidal, Pandora, etc?

 

My favorite device is the Squeezebox Touch (no longer made but still very popular).  You would need to run a server program on your wife's laptop however.

 

I have built Squeezebox devices using ESP32 as well.  DIY, but a blast to play with! 

 

Mike

 

Unfortunately despite my receiver being new and high end, it doesn't have any wireless capability.  Whatever I do, it would be wired to the receiver.

My thought would be to use an external USB drive and connect it to the front USB port on my receiver.  I'm not sure if doing this would allow me to see an on-screen menu where I could select artist, song, etc though.  That's one thing that I would need to be able to do 

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Here are couple of other options

 

More $$$ but worth it if you have to go that way

MiniDSP SHD if you want something to include a DAC, provides an tablet or smart phone interface via Volumio, also includes REW and Dirac $1,299, XLR & RCA out

https://www.minidsp.com/products/streaming-hd-series/shd

 

MiniDSP Studio utilizes  an external DAC or a AVR Dac $949  

https://www.minidsp.com/products/streaming-hd-series/shd-studio

 

I use Audirvana Studio (Mac or Pc) based music server seen remotely via Tablet or smart phone  same concept as Squeezbox,  it can see network audio device and send the signal to it via network, if you Sony is connected ( hardwired is best ) to the network it should work  

 

https://audirvana.com   30 day free trail can handle DSD easily, interface is good for seeing albums and music , connects with commercial music streamers - worth a look

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, JMeader said:

To rip your DC's try Exact audio one of many good ones

 

https://www.exactaudiocopy.de

Was just going to say that.  What I used many years ago. Worked very well. Use the laptop and a DAC with USB perhaps?   If you want to get fancy and use wireless..that's for the rest to decide.   I tried Bluetooth with my topping DX7S PRO DAC and noticed a very obvious decline in sound quality.   So.. I stuck with wired. 

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I figured out that my receiver's USB input is for firmware updating only.

My Sony UHD player has a USB input.  I'm formatting a 16 gig thumb drive that I ran across today and am going to rip a couple CDs on it to test it out.

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2 minutes ago, wuzzzer said:

I figured out that my receiver's USB input is for firmware updating only.

My Sony UHD player has a USB input.  I'm formatting a 16 gig thumb drive that I ran across today and am going to rip a couple CDs on it to test it out.

My 2 cents, I think you would be better served with ASIO straight output from laptop into a decent DAC after you rip CDs properly. 

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I know you are on a budget, but here is my recommendation.

 

All your music ripped to a Synology (or equivalent) NAS hard drive on 3.5" disk. Install minim server on NAS. Use a Bluesound Node or equivalent stand alone streamer with controller on a tablet. With this setup you can also stream internet radio stations or music from Tidal, Qobuz, Amazon, etc.

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I see your receiver has a Ethernet input on the back.  Is this for updating only as well or does your receiver provide DLNA playback?  If DLNA play back is an option, then a simple external hard drive connected to the router and you should be able to access your music files that you rip form CDs via EAC to the external hard drive.   If not, you could always build a media play with a PI and an external hard drive and perform the same function.  Or can you use our UHD as a way to connect an external hard drive? 

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6 minutes ago, The Dude said:

I see your receiver has a Ethernet input on the back.  Is this for updating only as well or does your receiver provide DLNA playback?  If DLNA play back is an option, then a simple external hard drive connected to the router and you should be able to access your music files that you rip form CDs via EAC to the external hard drive.   If not, you could always build a media play with a PI and an external hard drive and perform the same function.  Or can you use our UHD as a way to connect an external hard drive? 

Basically what ever one else is saying, just different avenues

 

Hard drive as a NAS or media storage to front end player of your choice, lots prefer the Bluesound Node.  

 

I have a Pi, so I am always trying new things with it. 

 

https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/articles/best-raspberry-pi-media-players

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Raspberry Pi + HifiBerry DAC + Volumio = Very cheap

https://www.hifiberry.com/dacs/

https://volumio.com/en/get-started/

 

I'd skip the baby steps and get a RPi 4 with a Flirc case (only $15), a decent DAC like Topping (cheap) and Roon

https://www.tpdz.net/dac

https://flirc.tv/more/raspberry-pi-4-case

https://roonlabs.com/

https://community.roonlabs.com/

 

Finally if you are not into the DIY thing a friend of mine set this up for his 70-something dad and it works great, sounds good and has a "decent" interface. At less than $200 for plug and play wireless/dac/transmitter/receiver that connects like any other line-level audio device you can't beat the simplicity

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08B7YH7TM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Personally, I would not go the Bluesound Node route unless you are totally afraid of anything with computers. Lots of similar options with similar sound quality for less money(~$550)...since you are on a budget. Again just my opinion. They are great for old-klipsch-forum-geezers (ducking) 😉If you were going to have a BluOs ecosystem throughout your house the Nodes would be a great place to start. 

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3 hours ago, The Dude said:

I see your receiver has a Ethernet input on the back.  Is this for updating only as well or does your receiver provide DLNA playback?  If DLNA play back is an option, then a simple external hard drive connected to the router and you should be able to access your music files that you rip form CDs via EAC to the external hard drive.   If not, you could always build a media play with a PI and an external hard drive and perform the same function.  Or can you use our UHD as a way to connect an external hard drive? 

 

The Ethernet port is for updating.

 

I'm just going to buy a larger USB drive (probably 128 gig), use my laptop to rip the audio as FLAC and listen through my UHD player.  It's simple, has an easy interface and works well when I was testing it out last night.

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