Tips?: hardware... media playback device

[Basil Chupin]

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.