Looking for a component that plays files without streaming?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Krankenstien, Nov 12, 2017.

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  1. Krankenstien

    Krankenstien Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    I’m looking for something that seems simple but I can’t seem to find such a thing.

    I don’t like streaming. I just want a component-sized uh, component with a hard drive either built-in or with a place in it to put a hard drive of my choosing. I’d like to rip all of my CD’s and transfer the files to said component. I don’t want to hook it to a tv so it would have to have some sort of display on it. I’d also like to have a remote.

    I just want to place it in with my vintage equipment and not have to rely on any kind of WiFi hookup. I also wouldn’t want to spend a pile of money on such a thing. Maybe $500 or less.

    Is this possible or just a cream dream?
     
    CrazyCatz likes this.
  2. tmtomh

    tmtomh Forum Resident

    Others can weigh in, but as far as I know you can't get what you want for $500 or less. There are items that I believe will do what you want, but they're $1000 and up, with most (I believe) in the $1500-$2500 (and up) range.
     
    formu_la, c-eling and Krankenstien like this.
  3. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    The issue I see is that you will have to hand type in every artist name, album title, song tile, metadata, etc. yourself if you don't have it connected to the internet. Do you just mean wi-fi connection or internet connection in general?
     
  4. Krankenstien

    Krankenstien Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    I have most everything already ripped to my Mac. All the files and info are there. I would just have to transfer it to the hard drive. I actually use my iPad to do what I’m speaking of now using home share but it’s just not handy. I lose connection or it tells me I don’t have permission or I need to charge it. I just want something a little more simple.
     
    tmtomh likes this.
  5. brimuchmuze

    brimuchmuze Forum Resident

    You could get a portable high-resolution player, with a large micro-sd card (up to 256 GB) , and connect to your vintage equipment.

    If you want to spend more this Sony unit (HAP-S1) does most of what you want:

    [​IMG]
     
  6. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Was looking at this last year. Always keeping an eye out just in case my beloved SB Touch were to fail. Does this have a user serviceable hard drive? Swap-able?
     
  7. Krankenstien

    Krankenstien Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    That Sony unit is exactly the type of thing that I was looking for. The price is a bit more than I was considering but it does look like a nice piece. I’ll have to read more about it.
     
    Mike from NYC, tmtomh and c-eling like this.
  8. cordobaman

    cordobaman Rich Corinthian Leather

    Location:
    Erie, PA USA
    Auralic has the Aries Mini + a solid-state drive or the Altair.

    I use the Altair as a pre-amp/DAC, have a 1GB SSD in mine and it works and sounds great. It can be used as a streamer as well if you are so inclined, I stream Tidal.
     
  9. BayouTiger

    BayouTiger Forum Resident

    The Sony was the first thing that came to mind. For a $500 budget I think a portable player is gonna be the ticket. Just not many remote options
     
    tmtomh likes this.
  10. Tartifless

    Tartifless Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    Why not use the usb port of a 200 $ cd player ?
     
    somnar, Higlander, Wngnt90 and 3 others like this.
  11. JohnO

    JohnO Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    The Brennan B2 seems to be just what you described except for the price, and you can use your phone or computer for a remote

    https://www.amazon.com/brennan-Brennan-B2-2Tb-Black/dp/B017Q9MMSU

    B2 Home Page 2017

    There are reviews of this around the web, and some discussion in this forum. I have not seen or heard it.
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2017
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  12. Most of my digital music is on a Mac Mini. It's USB connected to a DAC. I keep the WiFi off until I need it.
     
  13. Krankenstien

    Krankenstien Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    I was actually considering a FiiO X5iii to begin with and I still may go that route. The major drawback for me however is that over time the battery will weaken and I hate the idea of disposable hifi products. I plan on using it a lot.
     
  14. Krankenstien

    Krankenstien Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    This also looks like it could do what I’m looking for. I will read more about it. Thanks!
     
  15. Krankenstien

    Krankenstien Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    How do you control it? Do you use a monitor of some type?
     
  16. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    See if you can land a Yamaha CDR-HD1500, although it only has a 400GB hard drive. The current day thing would be a Cocktail Audio 2TB unit, but not for $500.

    Personally, I'd get something with USB capability, and buy a 4TB external HDD or two, depending on the size of the collection.
     
  17. tmtomh

    tmtomh Forum Resident

    That's actually a very good suggestion - except without an attached TV or monitor, it's very difficult or even impossible to navigate all the music files and folders on the hard drive that is attached to the player via that USB port.

    @Krankenstien , the main difficulty with what you're seeking is that most of the gear - especially the more affordable gear - designed to store music files on a hard drive also is designed to be remote-controllable from an iPad or smartphone, because a screen of some kind is needed in order to navigate the folders and files containing all the music on the hard drive. Because of cost, and also just because of the dimensional limits of a component's faceplate, a component is not going to have a very good visual interface for navigating and selecting files - and the interface is going to be tough to see if you're sitting more than a few feet away. This is why most currently manufactured units offload the visual interface to the remote control.

    Now, if you are willing to hook up a TV or monitor to a reasonably priced disc player that has both HDMI output (for the monitor) and USB input (for a hard drive), then you should be able to use the player's standard remote to navigate an attached hard drive, via the on-screen display on the TV monitor.

    But be warned: many players have horrid visual interfaces; they don't necessarily support all file types (like for example Apple Lossless); they don't necessarily display the album art and ID tag info on your music files (they might just display the file names instead); and they don't necessarily support gapless playback (an issue for live albums etc).

    If you are intrigued by the idea of a disc player plus monitor and USB-attached hard drive with your files on it, the recently discontinued Oppo BDP-103D (or 103) could be a nice option. It has a decent screen interface, supports Apple Lossless files, has a pretty good built-in DAC, and supports gapless playback from an attached USB drive. And it can be had for under $500 on the used market.
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2017
    Sevoflurane likes this.
  18. Diskhound

    Diskhound Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    The reason you can't find what you are looking for is that no one else would buy it. Time to get over the aversion to network streaming and to having decent size screen to navigate your collection. If you can do that then you can stick something like a $500 Bluesound Node 2 in your vintage rack and operate it via a tablet. The music files can stay on the computer you use to rip them as long as it too is on the network.
     
  19. JohnO

    JohnO Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    I'm not touting the Brennan, but it is easy to overlook its function (according to its specs) that it will play WAV or MP3 from a USB attached hard drive, in addition to what it directly rips and stores itself. As I noted, I have not even seen one yet.
     
  20. BayouTiger

    BayouTiger Forum Resident

    If using a phone or tablet is an option as a remote, then options increase dramatically. But for that to happen Wi-Fi comes back into the equation.
     
  21. At first I controlled the Mac Mini with Mac Pro Laptop and the "Share Screen" feature at my listening chair. Currently I have a monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard. The monitor is 75" which is nice for Youtube music videos and concert DVD's.
     
  22. Bubbamike

    Bubbamike Forum Resident

    One question, did you rip your collection with ITunes? Are the tags and artwork embedded in the files or do they live in the ITunes database? If the later you'll have some issues.
     
  23. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    Are the music files that iTunes creates even able to be played by these "components"?
     
  24. SquishySounds

    SquishySounds Yo mama so fat Thanos had to snap twice.

    Location:
    New York
    Used laptop will be cheapest and easiest.
     
  25. formu_la

    formu_la I'm not a robot

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    This unit is obsolete. The newer one is available for a while:

    https://www.amazon.ca/Sony-HAPZ1ES-Hi-Res-Player-System/dp/B00FFZD29Q

    Not that is helps with your budget though.

    As for a FiiO, it is a good thing, and I don't believe the battery life will be an issue for many years, but I am not sure if you can control it from an app. The older ones you can't.
     
    tmtomh likes this.
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