How to listen FLAC from my PC to my 2 ch sterep set-up at about 20 ft distance?

[AMITNOIDA]

I have my PC in my bedroom and 2 ch stereo setup in my drawing room. The distance of my stereo setup from my PC is about 20ft.
I have all my Audio CDs converted to FLAC and stored in. Also, there are dowmloaded discographies. I want to listen these FLACs in my stereo setup. My stereo setup is simple:
Ayon cd1s + Leben cs300x amp + BE718 speakers

The Ayon CD1s can be used as DAC.

Can you guys give some suggestions?
Thanks

 

[santhosh]

Tell us more about your PC's sound card. Is it in the same league as your other gear. If not invest on a ESI Julie or Asus Xonar ST or STX depending on whether your PC has PCI or PCIe slot.

Once your Soundcard is in place, connect a 20ft digital coaxial cable from the soundcard to your Ayon CDP's Input. Coaxial works better than Toslink/SPDIF for long runs.

^ was the wired option. If you would like to go wireless (for WAF), invest in for a media player like Squeezebox Touch or Sonos or even Linn if your budget permits
http://www.linn.co.uk/klimax_ds

 

[GeorgeO]

I have my server in my basement and connected via ethernet to a wireless router, through which it can stream wirelessly to my SB. Files are in flac, and other formats and it works fine.

 

[ajay124]

Squeezebox Touch. Coaxial/optical digital out to the Ayon CD1. If your router signal is not strong enough, then get a new N300 series router. Something like this D Link wireless router+modem...D Link DSL2750U N300 ADSL2 . Price 2600 inr. I found it better than the Belkin and Netgear routers which I have used earlier.

You can even connect an external hdd or sd card directly to the Touch and remove your computer from the picture. Better SQ. But the Touch will be using it's in built 'lite' squeezebox server, instead of the full version which you can download on your computer. Data on the sd card/hdd would have to be limited. 32 GB for sd card. Logitech does not provide a figure for the external hdd, but I guess you could load about 35-40GB (roughly 100 cds of lossless files) and see how it works out.

 

[AMITNOIDA]

Tell us more about your PC's sound card. Is it in the same league as your other gear. If not invest on a ESI Julie or Asus Xonar ST or STX depending on whether your PC has PCI or PCIe slot.

Once your Soundcard is in place, connect a 20ft digital coaxial cable from the soundcard to your Ayon CDP's Input. Coaxial works better than Toslink/SPDIF for long runs.

^ was the wired option. If you would like to go wireless (for WAF), invest in for a media player like Squeezebox Touch or Sonos or even Linn if your budget permits
Linn - Klimax DS Digital Stream Player

Thanks Santhol. My PC sound card is Asus Xonar STX. Although, the areal distance between my PC and Stereo system is about 20 ft, but they are in different rooms. The wire length would be around 50 ft because it has to cross two doors. Will a digital coaxial cable be advisable for such long run? What would be approx. cost?

 

[gobble]

Thanks Santhol. My PC sound card is Asus Xonar STX. Although, the areal distance between my PC and Stereo system is about 20 ft, but they are in different rooms. The wire length would be around 50 ft because it has to cross two doors. Will a digital coaxial cable be advisable for such long run? What would be approx. cost?

Amit

Why are you not considering wireless like George suggested? I think at 50ft you may risk running into quality issues with re-clocking, jitter and signal strength.
--G0bble

 

[AMITNOIDA]

Amit

Why are you not considering wireless like George suggested? I think at 50ft you may risk running into quality issues with re-clocking, jitter and signal strength.
--G0bble

Hi Rahul, thanks for advice. I am not at all conversant of network etc.. But 50 ft hard wired option also seems to be not a wise step. Let me see the George's post once again.

 

[anm]

Amit you may also consider drilling hole in the wall if you want to go the wired route, to make the run smaller. Same thing as tatasky guys do to your walls. Hole could be just above the skirting so that it remains hidden behind furniture. This may reduce the length. Also, if do run a cable, it may be better to have a network cable run through and connect sb touch via wire.
But wireless should not be an issue. You can also try Apple - AirPort Express but then flac would be an issue.

 

[hemantwaghe]

Why not apple airport express optically connected to ur dac and wifi card on pc? Btw u need to convert all ur flac to apple lossless,as airport ex supports itunes only

 

[AMITNOIDA]

Hmm.. both George and Ajay suggested Squeeze Box. So another expenditure and I have to keep finger crossed on Router strength etc... SB Touch AFAIK costs around 25k and one has to import from US.

Instead, if I go for a small music HTPC, it may be cost effective. Only I have to copy the FLAC files from my PC to HTPC. The HTPC will not have any ethernet connection, no antivirus, no graphics card. It would have only motherboard, processor, RAM, PSU and Hard Disk. A noiseless, fanless cabinet will be better. If I want to use my Ayon cd1s as DAC, then whether a sound card will be required in the HTPC?

 

[stereorules]

SB Touch AFAIK costs around 25k and one has to import from US.

The touch can be bought directly from Amazon where it is selling in the range of 260 - 280 $ . They do shipping and customs to India. The Nett price is ~ 320 - 350 $ ..Roughly 14.5 - 15.5 k INR.

 

[jaudere]

Separate music PC Seems to be a good idea.

I am a newbie in computer audio & have never seen a squeezbox. I have only read about it . But this is what I thought and I am trying it at present.

Can one consider a Netbook in place of squeez box?

1)It has WLAN Capability

2)Good hard drive size(250Gb),

3)You can choose software of your choice like foobar/J river to play your media

4)Can play internet radio

5)Can play youtube videos

6) You don't have to bother about the file format

6) cheaper than squeezbox at 16-17k in india

7)If needed,it has many of the functionalities of a laptop PC (except optical drive) like transferring data from one drive to another, trying newer media players, chaging settings in the playback etc which is probably not possible on squeez box

8) Better screen that squeez box at 10".

9)wireless keyboard cum mouse like Lenovo 5901can works like a full function remote. I am using it.

Lenovo - Keyboards & Mice - 57Y6336 - (US)

Cost Rs1.7k in India

10) Streaming video over WLAN and projecting it through screen /projector.I have not tried it myself but i think it is possible. I don't know whether Squeezbox can do it. WD TV can do it but then there is no screen of WDTV itself.

Only place where I feel squeezbox scores better is the DAC.

I am going to try creative x fi 5.1 surround USB sound card to overcome DAC Problem. I know its not a great solution but that is what i can afford now to improve over the onboard sound quality.It is supposed to give decent quality on stereo analogue out and 'optical out' is there in case I buy a separate DAC in future.

My computer use is so less that my HP mini 210-2090NR is the only computer in my home and I use it with N300 Dlink wireless router. It has twin antenna and signal strength is very good in all rooms of my home. My main use of netbook is for playing music.

 

[gobble]

Hmm.. both George and Ajay suggested Squeeze Box. So another expenditure and I have to keep finger crossed on Router strength etc... SB Touch AFAIK costs around 25k and one has to import from US.

Instead, if I go for a small music HTPC, it may be cost effective. Only I have to copy the FLAC files from my PC to HTPC. The HTPC will not have any ethernet connection, no antivirus, no graphics card. It would have only motherboard, processor, RAM, PSU and Hard Disk. A noiseless, fanless cabinet will be better. If I want to use my Ayon cd1s as DAC, then whether a sound card will be required in the HTPC?

Hi Amit

If you are concerned about range of wireless router, the trick is to buy a router known for speed and the right set of security features. A good one should cost maybe 7K and another for less than 2K to act as a repeater.

Here is an easy link that shows how to make it work Turn Your Old Router into a Range-Boosting Wi-Fi Repeater

HTH
--G0bble

 

[reachbennym]

if you want to stream music directly from your PC you can look at options like Sony Sony ALT-A33PC or Audioengine W1

- Benny

 

[anm]

oops - I forgot this one - use your existing powerline instead of laying new cable. NetGear Powerline AV500 Adapter Kit Video Review — Reviews and News from Audioholics
I think I would too get this instead of wifi or laying cables all around.

 

[santhosh]

Separate music PC Seems to be a good idea.

I am a newbie in computer audio & have never seen a squeezbox. I have only read about it . But this is what I thought and I am trying it at present.

.....

My computer use is so less that my HP mini 210-2090NR is the only computer in my home and I use it with N300 Dlink wireless router. It has twin antenna and signal strength is very good in all rooms of my home. My main use of netbook is for playing music.

+1 to jaudere's suggestion. I have a Squeezebox as well in my main system. I have been using a netbook with a uDAC (does a decent job for the 3k I paid) in my bedroom setup. The netbook is connected to my Plasma TV via VGA (no HDMI in my netbook) and I use the Lenovo Keyboard that jaudere has recommended. Works fine mostly. But for music, I am currently using iTunes playing Apple Lossless - controlled by my iPhone. Plan to take the JRiver route soon.

For the netbook/laptop approach, Amit needs to add is a good USB soundcard that can output digital and JRiver (costs ~$50). You can use an Android or iPhone(RiverMote app) as a remote. Added advantage is that you can use the netbook for other stuff as well - while not playing music and consumes less power.

But his Asus Xonar might become redundant.

 

[baijuxavior]

^^. You can consider mediamonkey too. I'm a monkey fan.

 

[SaurabhK]

Any media player on the network should do the trick..

I Currently have it streaming on a Laptop>Wireless Network> WDTV LIVE > Optical Cable > AudioLab DAC > AMp

Trick would be to use a good High end Optical cable for best results. Makes a lot of difference.

 

[santhosh]

^^. You can consider mediamonkey too. I'm a monkey fan.

Forgot to add, I use mediamonkey too for FLAC.

 

[unleash_me]

Someone suggested Audioengine W1. Looks like a decent inexpensive solution that suits your requirement. It's reviewed well though I personally don't have any idea how the sound quality would be.



These are the claimed features:

* Send wireless audio to any room in your house
* Easy setup, connects in seconds
* Works with Mac or PC (or without a computer)
* Plug-n-play, no software to download or install
* Super-compact size, no batteries required
* 100 ft (30 m) range with no dropouts or interference
* CD-quality stereo sound with no reduction in audio quality
* Plays all music formats from any media player
* Replaces any RCA or mini-jack (3.5mm) cable!

Cheers.