My manifesto for digital audio

Computer Audio Asylum

Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies.

In my ideal digital world, I'd like to be able to interact with a store of digital music
1 using an infra red remote control, since I've already got programmable infra red controlling the hifi system and don't want a second wireless remote
2 seeing the display from across the room
3 seeing album art work and liner details, retrieved automatically
4 that understands that classical music has several artists: composer, orchestra, conductor, soloist(s)
5 using uncompressed audio
6 taking digital output into a good DAC
7 without paying a price inflated by paying for a good DAC, as I've got one of those already.
8 without paying a price inflated by paying for multiroom features, as I've no interest in them.
9 that understand that gapless playback is essential to eg opera.

Here's my understanding of the position (which may be inaccurate since it's based on hearsay/what I've read; I've yet to use any of these devices). Corrections very much valued.
http://www.imerge.co.uk/ makes a sort of hifi juke box. It plugs into a tv. It connects to the Gracenote database and retrieves artwork. It therefore satisfies 1, 3, 4 and 6 but fails 2, and many models fail 8. 5 is possible in theory but the disk isn't large or expandable so fails in practice. I'm not sure about 9.
http://www.olive.us/ makes various Imerge-like devices. The expensive ones fail 7. The cheap ones don't have much disk space. They pass 1 and 6 but fail 2 and 3, since they have only a small display and no TV output. Their main advantage is that they are the only devices I can find that pass 4.
A small pc or Mac on one's lap, running iTunes and feeding wirelessly to an Airport and then to a DAC, could pass 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 but fails 1 and 4. This configuration only recently got to manage 9, and I'm not sure about 5.
A Mac mini plugged into a screen could pass 1, 2, 3 (apart from liner notes), 5, 6, 7 and 8, and seems a very economical proposition, but it fails 3 (liner notes) and 4 which is pretty fatal.

http://www.sonos.com/ makes an elegant system which displays album art on the handset. It therefore easily passes 2. But the screen isn't big enough to have much on it beyond a photo of the album cover; no lengthy text details. And it's not automatic; you have to put the pictures there yourself. So it fails 3, and 1 as well, since the remote is wireless and you would need another to control the hifi. It fails 4 too, because it only has tags good for single artists. I think it can do 5.
The http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html and http://www.rokulabs.com/products/soundbridge/ pass 1 and 6 but fail 3 and 4, so far as I can tell. I think they pass 5, though I'm not certain. They are marginal on 2. The new http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_transporter.html fails 7 as well, and has no advantage that I can see over the Squeezebox if you don't value the better DAC.
I have three motivations for writing this diatribe.
- to list items I judge important in the hope that magazine reviews will cease to neglect them
- to set out my understanding of what's on offer in the hope that others can correct my misunderstandings
- to solicit suggestions for setups that can give me all that I want.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.

Topic - My manifesto for digital audio - dcolver 14:40:31 11/15/06 (2)

My suggestions - Gordon Rankin 07:27:16 11/16/06 (1)

Re: My suggestions - DavidZ 07:54:04 12/03/06 (0)

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