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DIGITAL HIGH-RES AUDIO SYSTEM -HELP PLEASE

I need your expert advice on building a 24 bit/96Khz, 24/192Khz max, computer based home audio system I'd like to integrate into my home audio/ht system. I'm not totally clueless on what I need but I could definitely use some advice and direction as well as helpful tips. I have a fairly good audio system I currently use for ht and music playback. So, I'm not starting from scratch but want to incorporate computer audio and WAV and FLAC file streaming and storage into my system. Video streaming and storage can wait for a future time.

My current system consists of the following:
Plasma HDTV
Full 5.1 surround setup (5 spkrs and 1 subwoofer with in-ceiling surrounds).
Three separate stereo amps that power the main l/r, subwoofer/ center and l/r surrounds.
Directv satellite source (box has HDMI and digital audio output)
Older DVD/CD player as source used for movies and music.
Surround sound processor (older unit with just coax and optical audio inputs/outputs, no HDMI or USB inputs/outputs).
Separate tube preamp with HT Passthru. I'd run computer analog outputs to this for 2-channel listening.

For computer audio I already have some components:

Newer Laptop with 4 USB2.0 ports, dual core processor, 2 GB RAM and 110 GB internal hard-drive that can be solely devoted to a computer audio system(only 35 GB free on HD, however).
Wireless high-speed LAN with smart HDTV already attached and streaming Netflix, Hulu, Pandora and Amazon Prime to the tv and laptop.
JRiver v19.0 media player installed but no downloads yet and only a handful of cds ripped.
Cambridge Audio DacMagic 24 bit/192khz DAC.

My current budget is only about $1,500 and was thinking my next steps should be to:
A. Buy a new or used Oppo BDP-103 or, preferably a BDP-105 to replace my DacMagic and Sony DVD,CD player and get at least into 21st century technology.
B. Buy a NAS next to connect via USB to my laptop when more funds become available.

So, please let me know the following:

1. Am I thinking correctly and on the right path with buying an Oppo followed by a NAS?
2. Is there a method to connect my laptop, and future NAS wirelessly to the Oppo? I'm currently running a 12ft USB cable from my laptop to my DAC. I know cabled is better than wireless but curious how much better.
3. Any suggestions for a good, affordable NAS?
4. Does the Oppo BDP-105 have internal surround sound decoding capability that would allow me to run analog cables to my 3 HT amps directly from its analog outputs and substitute for my Parasound processor?

Thanks in advance for any advice and guidance.
Tim



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almarg's avatar
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almarg
8,673 posts
 
My main concern is sending audio files wirelessly to the Oppo for playback. Does the included wireless dongle on the Oppo allow this?
Yes. While I have no experience with Oppo equipment, I'm not sure that it would be as daunting as Willie is anticipating. See page 44 (pdf page 48) of the manual. Note in particular the third method that is indicated:
Accessing a SMB/CIFS [e.g., a Microsoft Windows Network] client: the player can directly access files shared through SMB/CIFS clients over the network, as if accessing an external USB hard drive. Most computers, especially those installed with Windows, already have an SMB client embedded. Please refer to respective OS instructions to set up the SMB/CIFS shared file/folder.
So if you have the music files on an external USB hard drive connected to the laptop, it seems to me that you would just have to set the properties of the folder containing them to allow them to be shared on the network.
Should I just upgrade the internal hd on my laptop to a 1TB unit?
No. For a variety of reasons it is generally considered highly preferable to have music files stored on a different drive than the one containing the operating system and program files.
Do external 1TB hds exist that are wireless or do they all connect via hardwire into the USB port?
Generally only NAS-type devices will provide wireless connectivity for hard drives. Plain old external hard drives connect via either USB (most common), or other wired interfaces such as Firewire, eSATA, and Thunderbolt. Some external drives provide more than one of these interfaces.
Ideally, I'd like to locate an added hd next to the Oppo in my rack.
Given the foregoing, you could either connect an external USB hard drive directly to the Oppo, and play the files on it via the Oppo, or you could connect the USB hard drive to the laptop and play the files on it via the network wirelessly. Or, since you would have the files stored identically on at least two drives for backup purposes, you could have one drive connected to the Oppo and one connected to the laptop, and play from either.

Using a high quality USB-to-S/PDIF converter between the laptop and the Oppo, as Steve suggested, is another alternative, that I suspect would give excellent results but at considerably greater cost. The tradeoff of cost vs. benefit between that and the other approaches would involve differences in the sonic performance of the Oppo through its various interfaces, about which I have no particular knowledge.

Regards,
-- Al
williewonka
1,826 posts
 
Al - I get the impression that Tim's ultimate goal is to have a seperate hard
drive next to the Oppo (connected in some manner) and Tim sitting in his
listening chair with his laptop, using JRiver to control the next track to play,
or downloading song titles to said hard drive and it's all accomplished
wirelessly :-)

And that's a very reasonable expectation with the technology available
today!

However, I do not believe this is possible without considerable knowledge
of the various protocols cited in the manual and how to set them up on
each piece of equipment.

Remember "Plug and Pray" :-)

From the manual it looks as though it is achievable, but my own personal
experience tells me it might not be as straight forward as the manual
indicates and it could become very frustrating.

I may not be "Super Techie", but I'm a pretty savvy computer
user and now use windows and OSX for streaming, which I found very easy
to setup by comparison.

The media players I tried on the other hand, worked to a fashion, but were
very flaky and were sometimes affected by OS releases. The whole setup
became labour intensive. As they say - "the devil's in the
details"

As far as the network stuff, I agree Tim should not suffer dropouts or have
issues passing files between devices - once he gets it configured correctly

As far as the Oppo is concerned - unfortunately, I have no practical
experience to offer that will contribute to an operational solution.

Apologies if I'm not too positive on this one - perhaps just a little Media
Player battle weary :-)

Give me a computer any day - i can tweak them!

Regards
noble100's avatar
noble100 OP
1,093 posts
 
Steve, Al and Steve,

Williewonka (Steve) hit my goal exactly in his last reply:

"Al - I get the impression that Tim's ultimate goal is to have a seperate hard
drive next to the Oppo (connected in some manner) and Tim sitting in his
listening chair with his laptop, using JRiver to control the next track to play,
or downloading song titles to said hard drive and it's all accomplished
wirelessly :-)

And that's a very reasonable expectation with the technology available
today!"

Yes, that is exactly what I would like to do. I don't need the hard drive necessarily next to the Oppo, though.
The drive could be located near my laptop/listening chair or connected via Ethernet cable next to my router downstairs in my family room.

My ultimate goal is to use my laptop to play hi-rez music and ripped cds wirelessly through the Oppo to utilize its Dacs and output to my system via analog cables.

Originally, I thought a NAS would be the best solution since it could be a 2 hard drive system (2 bay) that could use Raid protocol to guard against losing my music files.

Now I'm thinking I may need to pay for some local assistance from a computer shop that makes house calls.
Meantime, I'm going to continue searching the internet for info. It would be great if Oppo had 'How-To' videos for newbies like me.
You guys have been great!
Thank you very much,
Tim
williewonka
1,826 posts
 
Tim - here's a thought - is there anywhere near you that has the Oppo in a system so you can go and get a detailed demo of the interface?

That could save a lot of time and streamline your decision making

The one thing I have found with the media streamers and streaming software I have tried is their interface, although adequate in that they allow you to select tracks or make playlists, but they lack library viewing flexibility. They allow you to navigate the various hard drives and usb sticks, but the meta-data (song title, artist, composer, album) is not clearly visible/sortable.

My personal favoute is iTunes because of its interface - if you want to try it just download iTunes for Windows and play with it for a bit then you'll be able to see what features are available.

Don't get me wrong - iTunes is not perfect by any means, but it's a great fit for the way I like to view my library and play music

I just took a quick look at the Oppo remote control apps and most only replicate the functions of the remote - there is one that offers "media control" which displays folders and files, without having to turn the monitor on - HOWEVER - it is only for apple devices and it,s called Media Control HD - take a look at it.

So one last Oppo centric suggestion - since the Oppo has the ability to be controled from Apple devices how about...
1. Get the Oppo and use the wireless dongle to connect to the network
2. Get the NAS drive - it will connect the the network/Oppo wirelessly
3. Use your computer just to download files to the Nas drive wirelessly
4. Buy an Apple iPad and get the Oppo Media Control HD software - the iPad mini should suffice - or pickup a second hand iPad for much less.

This should get you full remote control ability from your armchair with minumum fuss and you don't have to turn on the TV :-)

It may not be ideal, since it brings in the iPad, which you may not be familiar with - but the iPad is pretty easy to use. You could also download files directly to the hard drive from the iPad while playing tunes:-)

Just a thought

Back to the tunes :-)
noble100's avatar
noble100 OP
1,093 posts
 
Just talked to Nathan at Oppo cust.serv. He said the 105 is capable of doing what I want wirelessly.

Here's what he told me from memory:

-Plug the supplied wireless Dongle into a USB port on the back and connect to my network. The 105 will then show up as a Device on my network and be able to receive firmware updates.
- Set up my audio files to be shared folders and the 105 will be able to access them. I could go into the Network input on the 105, select a file and drill down to play the track I want.
- Or, he said I could go into JRiver and 'push' the selected song to the 105 wirelessly. The 105 should be setup as the 'preferred output device' on JRiver and Windows 7 on the laptop.
-He also recommended downloading 'OSHARE' which is a free file sharing app.
-He suggested this will all become clearer once I actually start using the 105.
-He also suggested isolating the laptop duties from the 105's duties as much as possible for best sound and to minimize chances of a virus.
-Or, an external HD could be added to either the laptop or to the 105. I also could use a NAS attached to the router and would be accessible to the 105.

All good news and things are becoming clearer to me but I'm still a bit fuzzy and my head just did a complete 360 degree turn. I still may employ the services of a pro just to help me setup and explain things.

Steve(Willie),
Your idea of the IPad is probably a good one but the idea of adding another device to this puzzle just made my head do that turn again. I'll consider that down the line, once I get this system up and running. Thanks, appreciate your efforts.

I'm going to search the JRiver website for any more info on this.

Thanks all,
Tim
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