Newbie to the DAC to Stereo world

[Red Stick]

I currently have audio files on my PC, and connect to my stereo via RCA cables. I would like to get the audio files (FLAC, MPS, WAV) off my PC and onto an external 1 TB SSD or similar and connect to my stereo via DAC (I assume). I don't use audio streaming services, but I would want something capable of doing so, and not being outdated technology in a year.

Most of my Pre-Amps/Amps/Receivers are old school so RCA connection would be required. I would like some sort of display that would allow listing/search options, but I am not sure if that is a thing. Are apps on smart phones used for this?

What are my options? Questions?

Thanks in advance

 

[battermoose1]

Imho, you need a DAC to convert your files. Here is how I do it: USB out to a schiit DAC, from my DAC to a small preamp/headphone amp. send that output thru a pair of cables to any input on your receiver/ Integrated amp. Where do u store your files? Do u use JRiver to play your files?

 

[Red Stick]

Imho, you need a DAC to convert your files. Here is how I do it: USB out to a schiit DAC, from my DAC to a small preamp/headphone amp. send that output thru a pair of cables to any input on your receiver/ Integrated amp. Where do u store your files? Do u use JRiver to play your files?

Right now the files are on my PC, but I would like to move them off to a stand alone device (SSD or other). I use CATraxx as my library and either the CATraxx audio player or Windows Media Player

 

[battermoose1]

Right now the files are on my PC, but I would like to move them off to a stand alone device (SSD or other). I use CATraxx as my library and either the CATraxx audio player or Windows Media Player

OK, I see. You should be able to plug into a USB port and transfer your music files to an external drive of your choice. Copy or move. storage like u need is pretty inexpensive. Buy a least a terra byte and u should be good for a while. I would say an SSD. I use JRiver 26 and store files on a terabyte size HD.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

If i understand you correctly, you want to replace your PC as a media store/player, with a standalone device.

Whatever you end up with, it will essentially be a computer of some sort, even if that computer is a small, embedded one that you don't recognise as a desktop or laptop. It has to be a computer to access the SSD/HDD, to manage the files, pull one off the disk, and convert it to a PCM stream to send to a DAC.

So the question is probably whether you want a central server, that you can access, and stream to multiple player devices around the house, or a single device that is store & player.

For a server, this could be a NAS, with some media server software on it, or ot could be a tiny computer like a RaspberryPi, with the SSD/HDD connected to it, running some server software.

You can then run a number of player client devices, which access the server, and receive media streams from it.

The control could be done local to the player device, or it could all he commanded through smartphone, tablet of computer, accessing the server, and instructing it to stream to one or more of the player endpoints.

One such server and client system is Logitech Media Server (LMS). It will run on many devices; PC, RPi, etc. It will create a library from files on a locally-connected disk, or a NAS, and will serve them to client devices. These can be LMS' own protocol, Squeeze, or DLNA, Airplay, Chromecast. You can turn any small, low-power computer (such as an RPi Zero) into a Squeeze endpoint by running the Squeezelite app. It is controlled by a nice web interface GUI, that runs on anything with a web browser. It can play different music to each endpoint, or it can group them together. LMS also supports internet radio and some streaming services.

LMS is free. Squeezelite is free.

I run LMS on a small, embedded Windows PC, running on an Atom processor. It accesses my NAS. I stream to DLNA, CCA and Squeeze renderers around the house. I can control it from phone, tablet, computers. I manage the library from a PC, ripping CDs to my NAS with Exact Audio Copy, and managing the library with MusicBee (which I also use for playing...)

@chicks has written some great posts on installing LMS under PiCorePlayer, and making Squeezelite endpoints with an RPi Xero W. Have a read of the following threads:

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...-lms-raspberrypi-in-a-mac-environment.952521/
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/build-a-diy-squeezebox-touch.959324/

This is also an interesting 'journey' thread:

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...treamer-to-mac-airport-airplay-system.937757/

 

[rwartner]

All of my music files are on an external 2TB 3.0 USB drive. I have 3000 CDs ripped lossless about 800 gb. USB 3.0 is plenty fast and works perfectly for reading music files.
I started with Windows Media Player but as my library grew browsing became too slow. Around 500 CDs it has a hard time. I switched to JRiver and it works great.
The reason WMP is slow is not because of disk drive. I am experienced programmer. I don't understand why WMP doesn't have better database technology.

So in my opinion you do not need a SSD drive. 3.0 USB works great. The advantage of having your music files on external USB is portability. This also reduces cost of computer because it doesn't need a large capacity drive.
My music player laptop is dedicated to playing music. So the amount of software necessary is limited. You do not need a powerful computer as music server.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

You do not need a powerful computer as music server.

Agreed. You don't need much processor grunt to simply read audio files off a disk, and stream them at audio media data rates. My ARM-based NAS does that, as did a little, cheap (£30) ARM-based Android 'media box', as does my LMS server, which is a low-power Atom PC. I also have Atom-based netbook and tablet that both run MusicBee, accessing my NAS. They can provide a media server, as well as being music players.

You may need more grunt if your media server is serving video, and you need to transcode that video for renderer clients.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

I use CATraxx as my library and either the CATraxx audio player or Windows Media Player

I'd never heard of CATraxx. I see it is now end of life. From a quick look at the help, I can't see that it does much that the likes of MusicBee, MediaMonkey, or any other media manager/player would do. Might be a good time to jump ship on that. MusicBee is very good, and well supported. And completely free.

 

[Red Stick]

I'd never heard of CATraxx. I see it is now end of life. From a quick look at the help, I can't see that it does much that the likes of MusicBee, MediaMonkey, or any other media manager/player would do. Might be a good time to jump ship on that. MusicBee is very good, and well supported. And completely free.

Thanks, I'll take a look at MusicBee. I have most of my records (even those that are not digitized) filed in CATraxx also, so that I have a database of what I own. Among other things, it helps to keep me from unintentionally buying multiple copies of the same album.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

I have most of my records (even those that are not digitized) filed in CATraxx also, so that I have a database of what I own.

Okay; I did see the cataloguing aspects of CATraxx, such as recording loans. MusicBee won't do that; it is a digital media manager/player.

I used a Psion 3 organiser for logging my CD acquisitions for many years, to try to prevent repeat purchases. These days, I just use simple text files for my CD, DVD and book collections. A text editor with a search function on my phone allows me to check if i already have a title. It has to be a pocket device, as it goes shopping with me; i don't see a version of CATraxx for smartphones, and a tool on my PC at home wont help when I'm trawling the racks of CDs...

Discogs might be an alternative database function. Its barcode scanner and database make adding and checking discs very easy. But I have 3000+ and can't face that task...

CATraxx does seem to have been an interesting mix of cataloguer and player.