On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 10:48 PM, Basil Chupin <[email protected]>wrote:
> 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? :-) > I actually somewhat disagree with that assessment, although I do understand (and somewhat applaud) Basil's audiophile position. ;) For most of us mere mortals 24-bit S/PDIF<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF>outputs work a treat and sounds just fine. However if you want it to be available with in a few seconds then you might be better off with a dedicated digital jukebox. Why don't you lets us know what sort of amp you are using and we'll see what we can do?
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