The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.
- Thread starter Ed Selley
- Start date
Ill say that with the exception of my roon I’m an all mac house myself. I think had I not gone roon I’d have my music on a NAS, but for roon the NUC, or a nucleus is really hard to beat in how it interacts. Also my roon NUC, with a 2tb HD, cost me about €200 less than the NAS I’ve bought since for video and computer back ups, with two 8tb HDs.
jamieanderson1968
Well-Known Member
Yup, I keep going back and forth between NUC and NAS. No rush to make a decision since I need to wait a bit on the cash. Right now I am leaning towards NAS because I can access it from outside the house for pictures etc. as well.
tomheo
Member
Hi @AngryVal,
I've had a Synology DS415play for a few years now and have been happy with it (from what I remember, it was the first 3rd-party NAS/drive that supported Time Machine). I use it for my Time Machine backups (both remote and wired) and use it as my primary storage for all the computers in my home. I also have my FLACs stored on it and have no issues with Roon or BluOS.
I also have redundancy with their version of RAID and then another layer of redundancy with a cloud back-up. Everything's relatively easy to configure via a browser-based UI and you can play with various widgets they have.
Here's a selection wizard to sort of help you figure out which model - NAS Selector | Synology Inc..
Make sure you get good hard drives for it though...I've had the best luck with Hitachi Ultrastars (purchased renewed on Amazon), which are enterprise-grade hard drives, but be sure you get something that's designed for a NAS or even better, something enterprise-grade.
Other brands I considered were Drobo (simple but I wanted a bit more freedom) and QNAP (seems to have faster processors but more geared towards techy people).
Hope this helps, and good luck!
-Thomas
Thackeraye
Well-Known Member
Mine is a QNAP. Agree that it can be a bit more in-depth. Mine does support Time Machine backups, but they don't seem to work. I think this is more down to me than the machine, but if Synology's solution is easier to implement then it's probably better. Mine is also my main file storage space, and it looks like I can set it up as a Roon core - there is an app available for it.
displayname
Well-Known Member
I know this is mainly a vinyl forum, but I wanted to jump in here to advocate for everyone to consider building up a good digital side of the chain as well.
Tonight I popped in Genesis We Can't Dance, which is an album I only have on CD (or streaming). I still love this album, and I will eventually hunt it down on vinyl, but the CD is still so great. It's a really enjoyable and rewarding listen. I think there is still value for a lot of us to have digital, so if you've been on the fence about investing in digital, I think it's completely worth it to have to supplement any music you don't have on vinyl.
Tonight I popped in Genesis We Can't Dance, which is an album I only have on CD (or streaming). I still love this album, and I will eventually hunt it down on vinyl, but the CD is still so great. It's a really enjoyable and rewarding listen. I think there is still value for a lot of us to have digital, so if you've been on the fence about investing in digital, I think it's completely worth it to have to supplement any music you don't have on vinyl.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
Agreed. Right now I have my main digital setup in my living room (separate DAC hooked up to Aries Mini) and my turntable in my office. Eventually I’ll get them in the same room when we get a house but it’s nice for now to sit in the living room and listen to music sometimes. Digital has slowed my vinyl buying a LITTLE and now I find myself picking up some cheap CDs every now and then to rip. Don’t know that I would use a CD player but the digital streaming and NUC combo has been awesome to have.
displayname
Well-Known Member
I still buy CDs from time to time, and I like having a CD player for when the mood strikes. It has a little more of that magic than streaming for reasons I can't explain. But I also really like being able to have the ability to listen to a CD, stream and vinyl pressing of the same version of an album. It's fun, especially for when people ask about vinyl vs digital.
jamieanderson1968
Well-Known Member
I still buy the odd cd, maybe once every couple of months, even though I have not had a CD player for music in about a decade. I just rip them to my music drive. You can sometimes find great deals on deluxe or expanded editions, plus they often come with a great write up or detailed liner notes.
Thackeraye
Well-Known Member
I think I neglect my digital stuff in my current system. I only have a Chromecast audio puck into my amp, and it doesn’t get used anywhere near enough. I think because I only get an hour or so a day to listen to stuff I just gravitate towards vinyl. Think I need to up my digital game in my new system.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
I still definitely buy a lot of vinyl. But especially with working from home for the foreseeable future, I have music on pretty much all day long now. Roon + Qobuz gets their money worth from me now.
Thackeraye
Well-Known Member
Is there any way you can search the Qobuz library before you sign up? Would be interested to see what they have available.
displayname
Well-Known Member
I will say my main system still gets the bulk of its use via vinyl. But, like MikeH, the office gear is digital only and actually gets more use than my main system, simply because I'm in there more.
displayname
Well-Known Member
I guess I should add that altough I have quality gear in the office, it's a far cry from the main system. Headphones only, and just not nearly the same level of investment. It's not really dedicated listening, and I'd rather focus on the main system when it comes time to spend money.
But I wouldn't mind going up a level or two in hradphones at some point.
But I wouldn't mind going up a level or two in hradphones at some point.
Thackeraye
Well-Known Member
I would say digital for me just now is Spotify off my phone into good Sony noise cancelling headphones, and a Sonos in the kitchen. Both do the job, but I could do a lot better.
They give you a one month free trial when you sign up for the first time so if it didn’t have what you wanted would just make sure to cancel before the month was up.
Thackeraye
Well-Known Member
Smashing. Think I can sign up in the UK and keep it going when I move to Oz, so I’ll look into it closer to the time.
If Qobuz still aren’t oz ready you can also look at tidal, they too offer a 30 day trial and tidal connect looks like a great option if you have the right gear and you’re a sub-Roon user!
MikeH
Well-Known Member
My systems are kind of half and half now. My Thorens TT + Grado gold 3 + Jolida + Rotel integrated amp + Wharfedale Dentons are in my office while my Singxer DAC + Aries + KEF R300 and just a somewhat generic Sony receiver are in my living room along with my backup TT and my backup preamp. Since I upgraded to a sonos surround sound system in my living room now, I’ll eventually replace the receiver for something better but not in a rush to. I don’t really need the receiver anymore for anything except turntable + digital but since it’s really my second setup I’m fine with how everything is right now.
displayname
Well-Known Member
You are the prime candidate of who I was thinking about with my post. I'm not saying replace your vinyl. Just saying if you get curious, you might be pleasantly surprised.
