Not sure if such a device even exists Have a collection of movies (for the most part in Blu-Ray-ISO, DVD-ISO, VIDEOTS formats) and music (predominantly in FLAC 24 bit / 96 kHz format) stored on the external HDD. Looking for the best HD media player + external DAC budget (up to $1000 total) solution ( sound quality is a paramount!) to incorporate into my Hi-Fi setup and currently am considering Dune 3.0 Base + Cambridge Audio DacMagic. What do you think of the above combination? Alternatives (e.g. Playon!HD as a player)?
Audiophile optimizer U se Windows 10, Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016 as operating system for your high-end audio computer, optimize it with the AudiophileOptimizer and experience analog-like sound as you have never heard it before on a computer based audio system.
Any suggestions would be appreciated very much indeed! Hi Sound Sparks, With the arrangement you are talking about, you will not get the full DTS-MA or Dolby Tru-HD uncompressed hi-res audio that your BR-ISO rips are capable of.
You will get the 96Khz/24bit audio of your FLAC files in 2 channels. If you would ever want more than 2 channels in 96khz/24bit, you would need the bandwidth of HDMI as SPDIF (toslink/rca) can't handle that much. This limits you a little for future expansion. You may be better off getting a processor that accepts HDMI and has good DACs. The deciding factor on which one you should get is, of course, dependent on your budget and your ears. The Dune base is a good start, but look into other processors/DACs with HDMI processing or 7 channel pcm input, not just spdif. Music doesn't come in bluray formats.
At least not yet. So, the solution for today hi-res music, is a network media player that outputs the digital signal in a digital receiver or in a DAC. With the caveats of the SPDIF connection - optical is more prone to jitter, cannot go usually higher than 96kHz/24 bit and coaxial more prone to electrical noise and sensitive to cable quality, but goes up to 192kHz/24bit. Also the sources that you might have on HDD are 99.9% derived from CD so, even if you have them converted to 88.2kHz or 96kHz/24bit, it is just a waste of space, quality will be the same (if not worse, based on how the conversion is done). Real Hi-Res audio means DVD-A and SACD (eventually HDCD can be incorporated here). All formats that are not playing from a network media player. I beg to differ.
Music does come in blu-ray formats as DTS-MA and Dolby Tru-HD concerts 2. The original poster asked also about video files using hi-def audio as well as FLAC et. SPDIF is incapable of the bandwidth required for multi-channel 96khz/24 bit audio 4. You can get original hi-res recorded audio from several places a. MLP converted to pcm from DVD-Audio disks I do like the Integra gear ( I have a DTC-9.8 processor) and find the DACS to be very good. They have had very favorable reviews in Stereophile magazine and others.
Good luck to you soundsparks! Originally Posted by SoundSparks What do you think of the above combination? Alternatives (e.g. Playon!HD as a player)? Any suggestions would be appreciated very much indeed!
SoundSparks, I was looking for the same sound quality in a media player and ordered the PlayOn!HD so I can provide some feedback. The player arrived defective and could not even display the setup screen.
The player did not recognize the remote so my only option was to power on / off manually. Support from the retailer has been non existant. No reply to my tech support request or to the return merchandise authroization request. I spent some time on the PlayOn!HD forum and many users were reporting bugs. I'm feeling a 'bit hung out to dry' on my media player experience. PolkFan HT System: Polk SDA 1Cs front Velodyn center Infinity Crescendos back HK AVR 520 Sharp Aquas 46' LCD Signal cables.
Originally Posted by SoNic67 1. Real music doesn't come in BR. Let's be serious, concerts are not audiophile quality music. HDMI can pass LPCM to some receivers, don't need to use SPDIF always.
Any Network Media player that costs 1-200$ will have most likly ony crappy stereo DAC's. I agree with you on all points. Most people who get these music players will bitstream out the audio to a processor of some type. The processor's DACs are the ones that will be used to convert not the Media player's. Originally Posted by Kal Rubinson Unless you like opera and ballet, as I do. There might be some exceptions for ballet but that doesn't really qualify as music for me (it is more about video).
As for opera, you might have a few titles recorded live (aka crappy mixing, crappy mikes, background noise) versus hundreds of SACD flawless, studio quality, titles. Also, you don't want to go about DMCA and the (i)legality of a back-up copy on your HDD (thank Clinton for this).
Anyhow, HDMI or SPDIF streaming is what you need to do for good audio quality. And Hires audio like SACD or DVD-A cannot be played legally/easy from HDD. That's the point that I was trying to make. Be aware when going with the Dune Prime that many users are reporting that the HDMI handshake is re-initialized before each song. Therefore, it is often the case that the first few seconds of every song is cut while the handshake is proceeding. A bit annoying!
In fact, I won't even consider one of these units for audio streaming until that is fixed. Not to mention that fact that few (if any besides the Slimdevices (Logitech)) products support gapless playback and the like.
If you want your CD's to behave like CD's, it seems the current rendition of the Dune product is not for you. If, however, you want it for video and can live with the obvious audio limitations, then great! Otherwise, I consider it a video only device; much to my chagrin. Originally Posted by DreamWarrior Be aware when going with the Dune Prime that many users are reporting that the HDMI handshake is re-initialized before each song. Therefore, it is often the case that the first few seconds of every song is cut while the handshake is proceeding. A bit annoying!
In fact, I won't even consider one of these units for audio streaming until that is fixed. Not to mention that fact that few (if any besides the Slimdevices (Logitech)) products support gapless playback and the like. If you want your CD's to behave like CD's, it seems the current rendition of the Dune product is not for you. If, however, you want it for video and can live with the obvious audio limitations, then great! Otherwise, I consider it a video only device; much to my chagrin. Have the pcm output to spdif instead of hdmi and the problem is solved. Use the hdmi just for video.
Originally Posted by Fife I too am looking for an audiophile media player. Am considering geting one of these for AUDIO only rather than using a PC/MAC. I would probably not use the video as much. I want one that has COAX digital out so I can use an external DAC. I know of the M2Tech HiFace usb adapter that does USB-COAX 24/192. Would these media players (Playon HD, Popcorn C200) be good alternatives to PC audio?
If you are doing audio only and want the best sound possible, this is a great solution.