Ways to play my music collection on my main speakers

[mc ukrneal]

So I have been trying to figure out what the best way to do this is. I have an external hard drive with lots of music, increasingly in flac format. I'd like to listen to that collection whenever I want. But I am not sure the best way to do this. I am assuming that I need some sort of software as an interface. So here are the possibilities (though maybe not all of them are possible). Forget about streaming off Pandora/Spotify/etc., as that is not the primary goal at the moment.

Possibilities:
1. There is a way to connect an external drive directly to my system (receiver/tv/dvd player/etc) and use that interface.
2. I buy a cheap laptop/chromebook/etc, download software as needed (media monkey, for example) and use that.
3. I have found that Sony makes a product that would do this. Also found something called Olive One. There do seem to be issues, not least of which is that they aren't cheap. But certain aspects of the interface seem clunky. I'm also not clear how well they work with external device. #2 would be cheaper, not sure if sound quality be as good.

Maybe I've missed something? Anyway, this stuff is not something I've spent much time thinking about, so any guidance/thoughts would be appreciated.

[Parsifal]

Connecting your hard drive to your amp is probably not going to work. There are amps which are designed to access tracks from a thumb drive, but the method is accessing tracks is very clumsy and probably doesn't support FLAC. I couldn't imagine it would be convenient with a big disk with many tracks.

You can buy an external DAC which connects by USB. Then you could use your hypothetical cheap laptop with a simple program like foobar2000 to read a FLAC file (or whatever format) and stream it over USB to the DAC. The DAC connects to an amplifier using standard audio cables. I have one which I like, the NAD D 1050, which has standard audio outputs as well as a headphone output. It has its own driver that you must load, then it will accept audio from any program you please, foobar2000, iTunes, etc. There are MANY products available that do the same thing. The sound quality is determined by the DAC, and does not depend on the laptop. My main criteria is that I want one which has it's own power supply. If it relies on USB for power it is using feeble, noisy power to run its audio amps, which can't be good. You could also send audio from the analog outputs of the laptop, but that would almost certainly produce inferior sound.

If may also be able to use blue tooth to send audio to an amplifier wirelessly from your laptop (if the amp supports it). In the past bluetooth had a reputation for poor quality due to data compression, but these days there are better blue tooth standards that can produce much better fidelity.

Your CD player or amplifier may have either Coax or optical SPDIF inputs. Then you can get a gadget which connects to your computer by USB and converts it to SPDIF. Almost any amp intended for use with a DVD player has this capability, since almost all DVD players send audio to the amp by digital connection. Again you need a computer.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Download Foobar 2000; it is the best piece of software in the history of the universe. Play your FLACs using that. Others can provide advice on how you can improve audio output--e.g., sound cards, DACs, etc.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

... Then you could use your hypothetical cheap laptop with a simple program like foobar2000 to read a FLAC file (or whatever format) and stream it over USB to the DAC. The DAC connects to an amplifier using standard audio cables.

OK, Question. I am contemplating buying a pair of AudioEngine HD6 powered speakers ( http://audioengineusa.com/Store/Powered-Speaker-Systems/HD6-Powered-Speakers ) for a second system. How about a USB DAC with 3.5mm output to simplify my life a bit--can you recommend something? Is 3.5mm a big step down from standard audio cables? (This system will be taken out and put away as I need my couch in my office for actual work/meetings sometimes--so I think 3.5 mm would be a lot more convenient) I really love my Fiio X-1, and would seriously consider one of their DACs, but don't know which one...

[Parsifal]

OK, Question. I am contemplating buying a pair of AudioEngine HD6 powered speakers for a second system. How about a USB DAC with 3.5mm output to simplify my life a bit--can you recommend something? Is 3.5mm a big step down from standard audio cables? (This system will be taken out and put away as I need my couch in my office for actual work/meetings sometimes--so I think 3.5 mm would be a lot more convenient) I really love my Fiio X-1, and would seriously consider one of their DACs, but don't know which one...

In principal it is ok, but I have always found the 3.5mm phone plug makes tenuous electrical contact. I'd hate to have a 100 Watt per channel amp blasting my speakers and my ears with static from a jiggling phone plug.

[mc ukrneal]

Ok - So I could do External Drive to Computer to Dac to Amplifier. I would have to buy the computer and DAC. I'm guessing this is several hundred dollars at the least (and possibly many more). This makes sense.

Alternatively, did I understand correctly that it may be possible to go from computer to DVD player via some sort of gadget? What would that gadget be? I like this case, as it's just a matter of some cheapo computer, since it will have no other use. And I think I have a pretty decent Samsung DVD player, but would I be right in thinking the first option will give me better quality (although I guess it depends on the quality of the DAC as well)?

I'm curious what others do. Is most everyone still just using discs and a cd player?

[Parsifal]

This thing will convert from USB to a coax or optical digital link which can plug into an audio component such as a A/V receiver or CD player with a digital input. (It is very common for a CD player to have a digital output, one with a digital input, allowing it to work as a DAC, is more rare).

https://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Beach-Advantage-Digital-Adapter/dp/B0036VO4X4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477060249&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+to+optical

[San Antone]

This thing will convert from USB to a coax or optical digital link which can plug into an audio component such as a A/V receiver or CD player with a digital input. (It is very common for a CD player to have a digital output, one with a digital input, allowing it to work as a DAC, is more rare).

https://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Beach-Advantage-Digital-Adapter/dp/B0036VO4X4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477060249&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+to+optical

I use a similar device, NuForce small DAC wired into a receiver powering speakers.  Sounds good enough.

[drogulus]

    I use the same media player I use for movies. I attach a bunch of HDDs/flash drives through a hub to my media player (WDTV Live) into my Marantz receiver which handles the audio and passes video to my TV.

[drogulus]

    If you don't want to pay hundreds for an OOP USB to HDMI media player that plays everything you can get just about the same functionality for ~$50 with this:

   

     Micca Speck G2 Ultra-Portable Media Player

     Why HDMI into your AVR and not another digital connection? It's so you don't have to have separate systems. You can, but it's efficient to have an audio/video system optimized for music, which is much better for home theater duties than a home theater optimized system is for music. Because I do it that way my system sounds right with everything.

     All I really know about the Micca Speck is that if my Western Digital dies I have an inexpensive well regarded replacement that will serve until a suitable 4k player appears.

Video    Codec    Resolution/Bitrate
MPEG1/2/4, AVC/H.264, WMV9/VC1    
1920x1080p 30fps 20-50Mbps
RMVB    
1280x720p 30fps 30Mbps
Files: MKV, AVI, TS/TP, MP4/M4V (up to 4GB in size), MOV, VOB, PMP, RM/RMVB, MPG, M2TS, FLV, WMV
Music    Formats: MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, APE, AAC, ATRA
Bit rate: 32kbps – 320kbps
Photos    Formats: JPG, JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG
Video Output    Analog AV: 720×576 (PAL), 720×480 (NTSC)
HDMI: 480p, 720p (50Hz/60Hz), 1080i (50Hz/60Hz), 1080p (50Hz/60Hz)
Audio Output    Analog Stereo audio output level: 2.0V ± 0.2VpFrequency Range: 20Hz-20KHz ≤2dBSNR: >80dB (1kHz 0dB)Dynamic range: >80dB (1kHz 0dB)THD: ≤0.04%
HDMI PCM Digital Stereo
External Storage    Supports USB hard drives or flash drives with NTFS or FAT32 file system and MBR partition table, up to 2TB
Supports SD and SDHC flash memory cards with NTFS or FAT32 file, up to 32GB system
Dimensions    3"(W) x 2.5"(L) x 0.6"(H)
Weight    5 ounces
Power    AC 90-230V, 50/60Hz, DC 5.2V 2A

[mc ukrneal]

    If you don't want to pay hundreds for an OOP USB to HDMI media player that plays everything you can get just about the same functionality for ~$50 with this:

DO I understand correctly that I can just plug this into my receiver (via HDMI slots)? Is so, is the quality the same as if I played the cd on a cd player (also plugged into the receiver)? Or is there a loss of quality for any reason? Plugging a portable drive into this gadget and then into the receiver sure is cheaper, but I am unclear what quality difference (if any) there would be.

[drogulus]

DO I understand correctly that I can just plug this into my receiver (via HDMI slots)? Is so, is the quality the same as if I played the cd on a cd player (also plugged into the receiver)? Or is there a loss of quality for any reason? Plugging a portable drive into this gadget and then into the receiver sure is cheaper, but I am unclear what quality difference (if any) there would be.

     Audio shouldn't be any different than a good sound card. They don't say which chip, but a guy on Amazon says it's a Realtek, and on Amazon guys are always right.

     I don't know if this is as bulletproof with video as my thing, but it's supposed to be good. Just so you understand this is a not a streaming player or Android/KODI box, just a USB file player with a video menu screen. With my streaming done on my TV that's all I need.

     One other possibility is an LG Blu Ray player. The media player LG uses will devour anything though USB.