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December 17, 2011 - 5:06pm
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Computer Audio - Where to Start?
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Simple answer: for under $300 get a Squeezebox Touch.
The Touch can be connected wirelessly or wired (Ethernet). The Touch has both coaxial S/PDIF and Toslink (fiber optic) digital output connections.
Once you have the Touch up and running there are several different ways to control it:
1) Via the touch screen and the IR remote
2) Via your computer using the Squeezebox server software which runs in a browser window.
3) Via your computer using one of several third party Squeezebox controllers. I use Moose to control my various Squeezeboxes.
4) Via a smartphone or tablet using one of several different third party controllers such iPeng which runs on an iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.
By the way the hardware is the easy part, the hard part is making sure that your CD rips are done properly with proper tags and cover art.
And most importantly: BACK UP EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Jazzfan!
My wife and I had a lengthy discussion re our priorities, and she does not want me to turn into a computer geek - hense no computer audio for the time being. She would prefer that we upgrade our 2 channel components - amp and preamp. She like the Classe CA-M300 and Ayre 5XE-MP. I like the same amp but am leaning towards the Classe CP-800...
i have a imac connected to a yamaha reciecer via toslink cable, i use the yamaha's DAC. i just use itunes and mostly apple lossless files. not too bad. i use my itouch as a remote for itunes which is very handy.