On 21/06/10 22:14, David wrote: > Hi, > > I don't know much about hardware. I'd be grateful for some advice on > what device to buy with which I can play back digital music files > through a conventional hifi amplifier, a device that either has a hard > drive or can be connected to an external hard drive. I hope to find a > solution that'll play FLAC files as well as MP3 or WMA. I've think I > once saw some device advertised on the Internet by Netgear maybe, > costing a few hundred dollars. > > In JB-HiFi I see small units that you connect a hard drive to and which > play the FLAC format, but the units are designed to be connected to a > TV, and it doesn't make much sense to me to have to run the telly in > order to choose and play back music through a hifi system. I was hoping > that there'd be a device that has a basic digital display on the front > allowing you to navigate through folders on the hard drive and choose > files to play. > > Today in a computer store a salesman suggested I get a small netbook > computer and plug its output into the amp. He suggested this one they > had on special at $399: > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > ASUS EEE PC > Processor: Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 512K L2 Cache > Chipset: Intel 945GSE / ICH7-M > Memory: 1GB DDR2 SO-DIMM (2GB max) > Hard Drive: 160GB (160GB + 10GB Eee Storage) > Display: 10" 1024x600 (WSVGA) LED Backlight display > Graphics: Intel UMA > Web Camera: 1.3M Pixel > Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition > Comms: 10/100 Ethernet, Integrated Wireless 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth > Expansion Ports: > 1 x VGA (D-sub 15-pin for ext monitor) > 3 x USB 2.0 > 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet > 1 x Headphones / Speakers > 1 x Mic-in > Card Reader: MMC/ SD(SDHC) > Audio: Hi-Definition Audio CODEC, Digital Array Mic, Built-in stereo > speaker (1W for each) > Battery: 6-cell 6600mAh; Battery Life: XP: 7 hrs* (subject to model, > normal usage conditions& config) > Dimensions& Weight: 266mm(W) x 191.2mm(D) x 28.5mm~ 38mm(H), from 1450g > Warranty: 12 Months warranty provided by Asus or appointed service > agents > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > If I were to use a small laptop for this purpose I'd want it to start up > almost as fast as the time needed to start up a hard drive. Maybe > replacing WinXP with a suitable variant of Ubuntu (which??) would boot a > lot faster. However, I imagine I would get poorer audio quality taking > the headphone socket output of a netbook to feed into my hifi amplifier > (as it's regulated by a volume control?). I s'pose they have no better > output option? > > Does anyone know of a device designed for audio playback of stored music > files without a TV being necessary such as I've described, or is a > laptop computer the only way to do it?? If the latter, can you get a > better quality output than the headphone socket? > > Thank you, > > Dave >
Dave, are you interested in real hi-fi or just playing around with some pretend-something which someone, like a salesman, who's knowledge in most probability is limited to MP3 and iPod, will claim to be "hi-fi"? (You do know about the compression algorithm used in MP3 and so on [like the stuff on YouTube]?) You do NOT listen to anything even remotely resembling hi-fi through anything associated with your computer. You do NOT record or playback anything remotely called hi-fi associated with a computer. You want hi-fi then forget about computers and go to an audio specialist who deals with hi-fi. My hi-fi gear cost me some thousands of $$$. Some people pay $10,000 for just a set of speakers, and then spend the same amount on a room to house those speakers so that what they hear is "the ultimate". Where does your ambition lie? :-) BC -- Paranoia is simply an optimistic outlook on life. -- ubuntu-au mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-au
