Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Music servers

Sedluk, not sure about your comment about Escient being for housewives, but also not into flames in here, so I will leave it.

Spinaltap, AudioRequest is very similar to Escient. Nice interface, but same money and same limitations I think (not that I agree with lack of flexibility, as Sedluk mentioned) Hifidelio and iStream are both good products, but I am looking for the interface too. I intend to use one system for the house and HT (so my wife will also be using).

DR95497, I am considering the Azur640H, as it streams from your Mac (or PC), so removes concerns about disk space. I am yet to see it in action, but good reports so far. Do you know if the interface allows you to sort songs by Album Cover?

If only MS Media Centre was available native for Mac

Chris1971,

The Escient systems are good for a lot of people, including housewives. It is great for people who visit a local installer and have a system installed and never want to deal with it ever again. If they happen to reach a limit or have a problem they call their installer and it is fixed/upgraded and an invoice is received in the mail.

I just think that most people who spend time on high-end audio forums and are interested in the details will want a PC/Mac audio server. Most people that have Escient systems are people who don`t care much about the difference between MP3`s and lossless. There is nothing wrong with them, they are just busy in other parts of there life right now and they want a slick and simple way to store/play their music. They may not have a PC, or only use one occasionally. They are successful and want a quality product but are not aficionados.

For most tech savvy people who already have a PC and would still have a PC to maintain even if they bought an Escient system, they will get tired of the maintaining two systems. At least that is what happened to me. For users that want to spend time with play lists and share files across devices, having a separate system dedicated to serving up music seems to add complexity.

There was a time when I thought that stand alone music servers would become very popular with all households and replace CD players. Now I am inclined to think that a PC/Mac that does it all will be more common in the future and the stand alone CD players / music server will become a niche market.

That said, there were predictions that with Windows XP Media Edition, sales of PC based media centers would explode. That has not happened and only time will tell.

Sedluk,

Interesting post. How about I tackle your points in order.

Capability to play losless audio:
The Escient E2-200, the one I am considering, supports losless audio and a multitude of audio formats(CD-Audio, MP3, WMA, FLAC) - oh and Internet Radio.

Maybe have a read before you post any further comments that make you appear ill informed.
( http://www.escient.com/products/e2.html )

My experience with computers and audio servers:
I work in IT, have done for over 10 years and I am honestly over tinkering with computers. However, I think I can safely say I use a computer for more than writing an email every now and then.

Steaming audio:
All Escient products do this. Infact I can stream from my iPod, Mac, PC or just about any other networked source. I can also control it via any source that interfaces to RS232 or wireless.

With regard to a high end forum, not everyone here is a techno geek, some people just appreciate fine quality.

PC/Mac Audio Server:
Windows XP Media Edition looks promising, but is suffers from a common problem that all Windows machines suffer from - Blue Screen of Death. As for Mac (what I favour), I am eagerly awaiting a real alternative to XP MC. Front Row doesn't come close to functionality and is limited for the moment to one unit within the Mac range (although cracks are coming through).

The reason I am looking at Escient, Cambridge Audio, Request, etc. is because I want a quality unit that will compliment my Meridian kit. I want a unit that has high quality inputs/outputs, easy to navigate and aesthetic gui (I will be using through a touch screen) and integrates seamlessly into my Mac wiresless network.

So I shall continue to look, but for the moment, for the housewives and I, Escient is probably the front runner.

Cheers,

Chris

Chris -

Have you considered the Olive Musica or Symphony. These machines certainly look good, but I'm more interested in how they sound, especially compared to the offerrings from Cambridge, Escient, and Slim Devices.

My setup:

Windows 2003 server with 1Tb storage (I use it for all sorts of stuff as well as storing music).
Exact Audio Copy for rips, direct to FLAC, and also the Accuraterip plugin.
Squeezeboxes for serving around the house over wireless network. One 802.11g wireless access point.

I use J.River Media Center on the PC for all my PC playback. Great piece of software.

Setting up a PC to do the work is pretty trivial. The most effort comes in ripping all the discs.

If you're serious about moving over to a music server then you absolutely must use software such as EAC for perfect rips otherwise you chucking away quality for convenience.

Mark

Hi Madman, thanks for the post.

These units look very similar to the Hermstedt HiFidelio Music Server. Perhaps they are both distibuted by parent companies, in the same way Elan and Xantech are. I intend to store the unit in a rack away from the main listening area and control the interface by touch screen (probably Xantech). Although I will use play lists, my preference is to find a unit that allows search by Album Cover, including losless, sounds good, quality unit, etc, etc.

Mark, yes, I am very tempted by MS MC and J.River looks good (I also like the look of Meedio). The only thing holding me back is that the unit runs on MS (I am using Mac and don't really want to have to introduce a PC into the environment) and I am concerned how good the quality of reproduction will be out of PC outputs. The intention of the media server is to compliment the Meridian system I am purchasing.

Thanks all for your comments, but I am still not 100% decided and shall continue to wait until I see something that inspires me in the same way Meridian does. Yes, I am fussy

I know the perfect box, Kalidescape, but it does not currently support audio and I don't have US$30K to drop on the unit. I am looking for something that costs more around the US$3-5K mark.

Cheers,

Chris

Apologies if you may already know this.

You can download the squeezebox software and use it free of charge. It works to stream audio to a variery of standard programs or there is a free java version of the (softsqueeze) which is a full graphical and audio emulation of the squeezebox but using your PC instead of the squeezebox hardware.

Its a good way of trying out the software and ergonomics of the hardware without comitting. And if you decide to buy a squeezebox, you can still run softsqueeze simultaneously on your, or any other networked PC.

Slimserver software is here and softsqueeze is here

Just picked-up on this topic as it's my intention to set-up a new music server.

Currently I'm using a Squeezebox Mk1 with my iMac G4. Music is mostly in MP3 format as a consequence of the Mac' being used for a multitude of other tasks.

The purchase plan is as follows:
- Mac' Mini
- Edirol USB - digital coax output adapter
- 2 x 500 Gb Firewire drives in RAID
- As yet undetermined remote control

The set-up will be connected to the 562/518 via the Edirol adapter and a DVI video input to Crystalio for monitoring.

I will use iTunes set to import native 16-bit/44.1 AIFF files from CD.

I have been playing with iTunes, an Apple Airport Express and using my Sony Ericsson mobile with Saling Clicker as the remote control - all to quite good effect for b/g sounds.

I reckon I can get this music server up and running for �800 or so and have the additional 'benefit' of being able to browse the Hitchers' site on a 50" screen!!!!

I would love to get rid of both my CD players, DVD players and store all my discs in the loft by getting a slick server to plug into TV/Meridian 561 etc.

Has anyone seen the MediaMax on www.axonix.com ?

This seem the right approach with up to 3.2 TBs of storage and multiple GUI formats.

However my budget is very limited so I would like to address the 400 CDs sitting in a drawer that I never listen to first .... perhaps the Azur from Cambridge Audio? .... Does any one own a Azur or similar and what are your views?

Regards

Andrew

Andrew

I originally wanted to use my PC as a video as well as a music server. However, it quickly became apparent to me that the video side would be uneconomical. Without compression, but with stripping out all the extras, menus, subtitles and alternate language and sound formats (in other words, keeping just the main movie and the Dolby 5.1, Dolby EX or DTS soundtrack), I found that I could store at most 65-70 movies on a 400GB hard disk, or two 400GB disks in a RAID1 setup, which after spending all the time ripping the disks seemed to me essential. If I wanted to have say 200 movies on disk, I would have to move to a RAID5 setup with a total of four 400GB disks plus a RAID5 card. In other words, I was looking at around $1200 in hardware or $6.00 a movie, plus the cost of the DVD itself (I'm sure no one would be ripping borrowed or rented DVDs). It just didn't make sense.

However, my setup works great as a music server. I have two 400GB disk in a RAID1 setup (RAID built into motherboard so no extra controller cost). I use iTunes with Apple Lossless format and an Airport Express (connecting its optical out to the optical in on my 568.2). I select what I want to listen to either from my desktop PC (which is in my family/listening room) while I am working, or from my laptop when I'm sitting on my comfortable sofa in the sweet spot. Though I have only managed to rip around 400 CDs, they only occupy about 110GB, so I think I can handle at least 1500 CDs with my current setup, which should easily handle my current collection. I haven't been purchasing very many new CDs in the past couple of years, which I am sure to the great dismay of RIAA has nothing to do with pirating music. I just don't think there is that much new nusic worth listening to other than on the radio while driving around. Of course I am just an old guy.