[Flac] Inexpensive Flac player for separates system?

[Nick Bower]

> Hi glad you're interested - comments below.
>
> On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 5:05 PM, Brian Willoughby <brianw at sounds.wa.com 
> > wrote:
>
> On Jan 14, 2010, at 20:59, Nicholas Bower wrote:
> I'm after the cheapest way to decode a flac stream with following  
> criteria;
> - Transport from UPnP (DNLA) NAS using either WiFi or Cat5 networking
> - Toslink digital out for using existing HiFi DAC.
> - Low power consuption (eg just few Watts - it's just a decoder  
> anyway).
> Your criteria fall short of the full potential for quality when you  
> separate the transport from the DAC via TOSLINK.  I suppose that if  
> you mention "cheapest" then you're perhaps not concerned about  
> sacrificing quality.  The problem is that the only remaining choices  
> are FireWire (or USB) or integrating the DAC into the device which  
> handles the UPnP transport.  The reason the latter choices are  
> better than TOSLINK is that it allows the transport speed to be  
> throttled by the DAC clock, instead of the other way around.
>
> Actually on the contrary.  Cheap in terms of simple to spend money  
> where it's going to make a difference on audio quality (not in a  
> Flac decoder device containing knocked up electronics from a PC  
> manufacturer).  Besides cheap can mean reasonable design too:
>
> http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_111597/article.html
>
> Regarding Toslink, my understanding (albeit limited) is that if an  
> external DAC is going to reclock the bitstream anyway (right?), and  
> there is no video to sync, why wouldn't you want the DAC (and pre- 
> amp and power source and line level amp) completely external from  
> componentary like embedded OS, TCP stack, NIC and WiFi radio  
> (especially)?  That's where the boutique money goes in my guess -  
> integrating the latter complexity sufficiently well to obtain a  
> level of quality that is fairly straight forward to obtain with a  
> simple separates system using established principles.
>
> There seems a real lack of Flac players that are cheap and HiFi  
> separates integratable like current-day CD players.  All solutions  
> I've seen are either expensive boutique heavy-weights or portable  
> devices.
> There are certain some over-priced boutique devices out there, but  
> I'd say that much of the price goes into working around the  
> deficiencies in unidirectional digital audio connections such as  
> SPDIF and AES3.  The real problem is that there is not a better  
> interconnect for HiFi separates other than FireWire and USB, which  
> each require a level of complexity in the device which is more  
> difficult for the average person than pure analog or traditional  
> digital I/O.
>
> However, what's wrong with portable devices?  I realize they aren't  
> as convenient to install as typical HiFi components, but they surely  
> meet your low-cost and low-power requirements.
>
> Know of one with optical out?  This is one approach I suppose.  I  
> was curious about DIY solutions also however.
>
> Squeezebox doesn't count for me - requires PC to be on, thus  
> breaking rule 3 above as a few-hundred Watt music player system  
> (pretty irresponsible solution if you ask me in these times).
> Excellent point.  Low power is a great goal, and it should be  
> possible.  Personally, I would relax the "cheapest" part of the  
> requirements, and focus on the low power aspect.  Of course, I'm  
> already excluding the more expensive options because I think SPDIF  
> and AES3 should be left in the past because of their compromises in  
> audio quality. So, what remains is not terribly expensive in my view  
> point.  The bigger problem is not so much expense as it is that  
> nobody really seems to be targeting a move forward, but instead  
> focus on remaining compatible with older (flawed) designs.
>
> I do not know of any solutions, and you can count me as interested  
> in hearing about what already exists.
>
> I look at the problem as a designer, realizing that what you want is  
> certainly possible with today's technology.  The real question is  
> how a good design can fit into the existing marketplace when it  
> cannot be compatible apart from FireWire or USB.  An ideal product  
> would have an integrated DAC and would only connect via WiFi/CAT5  
> input and analog output to a preamp.  Another option would be  
> FireWire (or USB) output to an existing audio interface, but that  
> requires drivers and more complexity as a tradeoff with being more  
> of a component system.
>
> I agree it should be possible - just not cheaply to a high level of  
> audio quality if you put those things in the same box (would be  
> happy to be corrected).  The thing has to match a good CD player  
> (cheap being relatively speaking here) for audio quality would  
> people not agree?
>
>
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