Custom NAS with DVD/CD support

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  • roamingstudio
    Senior Member
    • Aug 2006
    • 172

    Custom NAS with DVD/CD support

    An idea which formulated over this weekend... are there any NAS solutions which could also support a CD / DVD drive? The ideas would be to have something which sort of replicates the use of a PC in the 'recording to FLAC' stage...

    E.g. Insert a CD into a slimline drive; and have it auto ripped to flac and stored on the NAS in your music collection?

    I've also read somewhere that CD->FLAC->SB-Amp can give better playback opportunities than mid range CD->Amp? Is this still the case?

    Thoughts?
  • funkstar
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2005
    • 4071

    #2
    Never seen an off the shelf NAS unit that could also rip audio CDs. If you built your own NAS using a linux distro (of which there are a few specifically for this) you could add CD ripping capabilities quite easily, and probably automate it all too.

    It is definitely feasable that a CD ripped to flac *correctly* would be better than played on a regular CD player. BEaring in mind that if you use a ripping app that doesn't care about the quality of the rip (iTunes and WMP from what i can tell) then it's possible you are loosing something there. Using EAC in secure mode should give you a bit perfect digital copy. There has been much discussion on this subject in the Audiophiles forum. Many compair the digital out of the SB3 to CD players (also known as transports)costing up to 10x as much.

    [Project Log] Funkstars Digital Lifestyle - HEXUS.Community

    In use: 1x Touch, 1x Boom, 2x SB3, 1x Controller
    In a box: 1x Radio, 1x (Beta) Controller, 1x Receiver, 1x SB2 wired (silver), 1x SB (black), 1x SliMP3 (with rear shield)

    If you have any others, let me know, I'm interested!!

    Comment

    • aubuti
      Senior Member
      • Oct 2005
      • 8878

      #3
      Originally posted by roamingstudio
      An idea which formulated over this weekend... are there any NAS solutions which could also support a CD / DVD drive?
      I think when you add an optical drive you've more or less crossed the (admittedly fuzzy) line from NAS to PC. I've never seen something billed as a NAS that has a CD drive, but there are lots of small form factor PCs, including several quiet/silent low-power units. Run it 'headless' (no keyboard, mouse, or monitor) and it sounds like what you describe. As funkstar says, you could automate a lot of it, and you could get in via ssh for any manual tinkering.

      The Olive (www.olive.us) units also meet your description, although they also have the audio components and controller in the same box (like combining the NAS, CD, and SqueezeBox). You certainly could do the NAS+CD as a fun project for a lot less than the cost of an Olive, and it wouldn't be proprietary!
      Main system: SB3 > Emotiva XDA-1 > NAD C 325BEE > Vandersteen 1
      Living room: SB2 > Audioengine HD6
      Kitchen/dining: SB2 > AudioSource AMP 100 > 2-pairs of Polk Audio RC60i in-ceiling speakers
      Deck/patio: SB Receiver > AudioSource AMP 100 > Polk Atrium 45
      Study: SB Radio
      Quiet time: Hifiman Sundara headphones plugged into NAD amp or iPhone + AudioQuest Dragonfly Red DAC/amp
      LMS 8.3 running on a Raspberry Pi3 (piCore), controlled using iPeng, SB Controllers and Squeezepad

      Comment

      • funkstar
        Senior Member
        • Nov 2005
        • 4071

        #4
        Thinking about this some more, you could potentially get a TS-101 to do all this. Sources are available, and we know they are pretty capably little boxes, so in theory it's just a case of adding the required software. I don't know what kind of load grep or cdparanoia produces or how much memory they would need, but they cant be anywhere near what SS requires.

        [Project Log] Funkstars Digital Lifestyle - HEXUS.Community

        In use: 1x Touch, 1x Boom, 2x SB3, 1x Controller
        In a box: 1x Radio, 1x (Beta) Controller, 1x Receiver, 1x SB2 wired (silver), 1x SB (black), 1x SliMP3 (with rear shield)

        If you have any others, let me know, I'm interested!!

        Comment

        • roamingstudio
          Senior Member
          • Aug 2006
          • 172

          #5
          Your on my wavelength Funkstar..

          Imagine a little system which does all the 'data acquiring' process ; stores to your SS library without you needing to boot a PC. Ok the Mini-itx solution would also provide UPnP video support as well - but there are some USB video ports. Chuck the internals in another silent housing and thats one mighty powerful little beast. Although the TS201 could also be housed in one of these...

          Comment

          • funkstar
            Senior Member
            • Nov 2005
            • 4071

            #6
            yeah good ideas.

            Nice cases. Some very nice accessories to go along with them. However have you seen their shipping charges?! O_o

            $41 for an 8-port SATA bracket (8 ports on a PCI backing plate). Add a case in there and it goes up to $111.54! sheesh

            I'm sure you could find omething similar in the UK anyway. Take a look at http://www.linitx.com and http://www.mini-itx.com for Epia products and accessories.

            [Project Log] Funkstars Digital Lifestyle - HEXUS.Community

            In use: 1x Touch, 1x Boom, 2x SB3, 1x Controller
            In a box: 1x Radio, 1x (Beta) Controller, 1x Receiver, 1x SB2 wired (silver), 1x SB (black), 1x SliMP3 (with rear shield)

            If you have any others, let me know, I'm interested!!

            Comment

            • roamingstudio
              Senior Member
              • Aug 2006
              • 172

              #7
              Seems like someone beat me to it.
              Sooloos

              Comment

              • bergek
                Senior Member
                • Oct 2006
                • 113

                #8
                If you want a small unit then I would have a look at Serener GS-L01 (http://www.serener.com), available through Logic Supply (http://www.logicsupply.com/) if you are US based. Unfortunately it only fits a 2.5" HD which means you will be quite limited in disk space. I am personally looking at their CD-less version with a 500GB HD running Ubuntu, perhaps off an IDE flash disk. Hush Technologies (http://www.hushtechnologies.com) are also a candidate I guess.
                Transporter - Genelec 8020A
                Squeezebox 3 - Yamaha NX-A01
                Serener GS-L02 - Via EPIA SP8000 - Ubuntu 6.06 Server

                Comment

                • firedog
                  Senior Member
                  • May 2007
                  • 507

                  #9
                  NAS with auto CD ripping

                  Try http://soundsciencecat.com/MusicVault.html
                  GIK Acoustics Room Treatments. Isol Line conditioner/protection. iFi AC iPurifiers>CAPS4 Pipeline w/Sonore PS >Kii Control>Kii Three speakers.iFi iOne+ Schiit Freya Pre for analog. An SB Touch, Duet Controller, a RB Pi 3B+ running piCorePlayer as an SBT emulator in additional rooms.

                  Comment

                  • haraldo
                    Senior Member
                    • Oct 2007
                    • 258

                    #10
                    Originally posted by roamingstudio
                    I've also read somewhere that CD->FLAC->SB-Amp can give better playback opportunities than mid range CD->Amp? Is this still the case?
                    Thoughts?
                    I have done direct comparisons using the Leftfield / Leftism album played from my Denon DCD 2560, through Benchmark DAC-1.
                    When doing the same music ripped through EAC to flac and played back through SB3 via Optical digital cable to Benchmark DAC-1. The music was unmistakably better, warmer and nicer to listen to..... More musical pleasure.

                    This is clearly audible to me.

                    Some of the physics behind this is simple, even the cheapest hard-drive on the market has a precision that tops even the best high-end CD players, the computer doesn't tolerate a single bit failure, which is the precision level you get from the hard drive.

                    Regards

                    Harald N
                    Last edited by haraldo; 2008-02-17, 18:04.
                    Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop / SC7 -> SB3 -> Benchmark DAC1 -> Krell KAV400xi -> Meadowlark Kestrel2 / Duntech PCL-15
                    Everything is difficult before it's easy

                    Comment

                    • funkstar
                      Senior Member
                      • Nov 2005
                      • 4071

                      #11
                      Originally posted by haraldo
                      even the cheapest hard-drive on the market has a precision that tops even the best high-end CD players, the computer doesn't tolerate a single bit failure, which is the precision level you get from the hard drive.
                      taken this statement to it's logical conclusion - If a hard drive isn't absolutely precise, it is broken. No arguing.

                      [Project Log] Funkstars Digital Lifestyle - HEXUS.Community

                      In use: 1x Touch, 1x Boom, 2x SB3, 1x Controller
                      In a box: 1x Radio, 1x (Beta) Controller, 1x Receiver, 1x SB2 wired (silver), 1x SB (black), 1x SliMP3 (with rear shield)

                      If you have any others, let me know, I'm interested!!

                      Comment

                      • haraldo
                        Senior Member
                        • Oct 2007
                        • 258

                        #12
                        By definition a NAS with a CD drive is not a NAS anymore, but a computer....

                        I think you'll get a simpler system if you stick with the NAS as just the storage solution and then use whatever PC you have to rip the music into the NAS.

                        Whether you actually need the NAS or not is another question...

                        I have thought about the NAS myself, still I don't have it, just some large hard drives in the Squeezecenter computer and 2 additional external USB drives that I use to do backups of whatever I have.

                        Using a NAS with raid 5 or whatever doesn't mean you don't have to do backup's. The NAS may still fail even if there's builtin redundancy.

                        I think the The NAS solutions are expensive compared to just throwing in one or two large hard drives into a computer. Or you may just buy a Raid controller and stick it into the computer and get off much cheaper

                        Regards

                        Harald N
                        Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop / SC7 -> SB3 -> Benchmark DAC1 -> Krell KAV400xi -> Meadowlark Kestrel2 / Duntech PCL-15
                        Everything is difficult before it's easy

                        Comment

                        • miw
                          Junior Member
                          • Jan 2008
                          • 4

                          #13
                          Most NAS devices are just that: NAS and nothing else. AFAIK, the automated ripping feature seems to increase the price of the unit by a factor of four. It seems pretty easy to use the fairly common USB port on a NAS to attach a USB CD drive and change the Linux applications to implement the automated ripping.

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