[Bosk]

Hey guys,

Just wondering if anyone has had the chance to try one of these yet?
640H Music Server

As a Cambridge owner myself I'm keen to hear what the sound quality is like, it certainly boasts a more audiophile approach particularly the powersupply used and also mentions the ability to store uncompressed songs.

 

[Jam_Master_J]

That looks intriquing. I was one step away from getting a 640CD but this would be much better for me. I'm also getting the 640 amp for my new speakers. This device looks excellent. I'll hold out for some reviews though.

 

[jjcapurro]

I hadn't heard about this yet... hmmm... must... hide.... wallet... OOOOH! McIntosh Server! Damn it Head-Fi!

Cheers,
Jeremy

 

[Bosk]

The Azur amp definately won't disappoint you from my impressions.

If the 640H delivers sound quality on par with the 640C though I can imagine it being HUGELY popular.. but I'm somewhat skeptical. Even with a great DAC, the information is still being read from a hard-drive rather than a CD and the extra "stuff" like the built in motherboard/processor must surely generate extra electrical noise which could have a detrimental effect.

Still, I'm hopefull it'll be more listenable than typical PC soundcards... not that it would be too hard!

 

[PsychoZX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bosk The Azur amp definately won't disappoint you from my impressions. If the 640H delivers sound quality on par with the 640C though I can imagine it being HUGELY popular.. but I'm somewhat skeptical. Even with a great DAC, the information is still being read from a hard-drive rather than a CD and the extra "stuff" like the built in motherboard/processor must surely generate extra electrical noise which could have a detrimental effect. Still, I'm hopefull it'll be more listenable than typical PC soundcards... not that it would be too hard!

Reading from the hard drive could also be a good thing such as no read errors when playing back a cd.

 

[dcfis]

any update on this?

 

[mrarroyo]

I almost purchased it, my problem is the 160 gB HD size. I need at least a 400 gB or better yet a 600 gB.

 

[Captain]

I had one and sent it back after a week. Really buggy software and it had real problems reading off a external hard drive. When it did get albums across some tracks were missing, but I found them on other albums and it thought single tracks were whole albums. It also made compilation albums of its own choice. I sent about 10 emails to Cambridge asking for help, I finally got a answer off them about 2 weeks after I sent it back. It is also very slow at copying things over and crashed a few times. You also need to use it with a key board and monitor to transfer music across, big hassle if you are transferring music from your PC as you will need 2 of each. I wanted to use my DAC-1 with it, but you can not put any thing on top as it needs 10cms clearance as it gets very hot. I would not have had any were to put the DAC due to shelf shortage. I only used it as a transport and never really listened to it as I wanted to throw it out of the window most of the time. You have been warned.

 

[Trogdor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain I had one and sent it back after a week. Really buggy software and it had real problems reading off a external hard drive. When it did get albums across some tracks were missing, but I found them on other albums and it thought single tracks were whole albums. It also made compilation albums of its own choice. I sent about 10 emails to Cambridge asking for help, I finally got a answer off them about 2 weeks after I sent it back. It is also very slow at copying things over and crashed a few times. You also need to use it with a key board and monitor to transfer music across, big hassle if you are transferring music from your PC as you will need 2 of each. I wanted to use my DAC-1 with it, but you can not put any thing on top as it needs 10cms clearance as it gets very hot. I would not have had any were to put the DAC due to shelf shortage. I only used it as a transport and never really listened to it as I wanted to throw it out of the window most of the time. You have been warned.

So you were happy with it?

Btw, why do people think reading off the hard drive some how induces jitter? Remember, the file is first read into an internal buffer and clocked, not directly off the hard drive.

A HiFi music server is definitely the wave of the future...

 

[Captain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trogdor A HiFi music server is definitely the wave of the future...

I think the problem with this new hardware (Hard drive servers) is people think it is happening, running like clock work and we are living the dream.
Problem is the technology is still not right and companies need to start pushing out there hardware to recoup the money they have already invested. Unless you pay out real big bucks you are only going to get a half baked version. Better to wait a year or so when I am sure hard drive servers will be a lot cheaper and do what they are meant to which is work properly. This is usually the case with most new technology.

 

[Trogdor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain I think the problem with this new hardware (Hard drive servers) is people think it is happening, running like clock work and we are living the dream. Problem is the technology is still not right and companies need to start pushing out there hardware to recoup the money they have already invested. Unless you pay out real big bucks you are only going to get a half baked version. Better to wait a year or so when I am sure hard drive servers will be a lot cheaper and do what they are meant to which is work properly. This is usually the case with most new technology.

Well Cap, I belive the technology is most certainly here but its the execution of course that is the problem....I'm very surprised at the music servers I've seen thus far. First off, I don't see why you need a CD player in it. Also, storage should be expandable, i.e. either through hot-pluggable slots OR even a SAN based version (I know that sounds crazy but that's what I would setup, so if I run out of space, I just tack on another SAN box and boom, I got another couple of TBs to use).

I suppose you could do alot of what I say with a stand alone PC, the issue is DAC and high-end audio outputs. I suppose a wireless streaming to a high-end DAC with balanced outputs would do the trick.

 

[Captain]

I tried a few options to play music off my hard drive and through my HiFi. I am not using a headphone set up, so equipment noise was a issue so lap tops and computers were out(still the best option regarding flexibility with a DAC plugged in). Wireless still gets some interference and was a bit irritating, as said a server sent me to the point of insanity. My final option was sell the DAC-1 get a new CDP and this lot.........

[size=large]Burn baby burn
[/size]

 

[Captain]

Just thought I would bring this thread up again, as I have been sent a Firmware upgrade disk from Cambridge Audio. Apparently some of the key upgrades are.

System Stability,
CD ripping improved,
USB performance (Faster USB transfer rate 50Mb/s),
More reliability for backing up and restoring content,

Who know I now may like it now, but I doubt I will ever find out. Got to many blank Cd's now

. It dose look like they have addressed some of the problems though, shame they did not before putting it on the market.

 

[Bosch]

More and more digital components run complex software / operating systems. As a programmer, I know it takes a huge effort to verify that even a simple program works 100% of the time, and is therefore bullet-proof. The cowboys coding the firmware these days need to sharpen their act up, otherwise people are not going to adopt these new gadgets until V3 or V4 are released....i.e. months after first hitting the shops. Bye bye early sales revenue.

 

[uzziah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain I think the problem with this new hardware (Hard drive servers) is people think it is happening, running like clock work and we are living the dream. Problem is the technology is still not right and companies need to start pushing out there hardware to recoup the money they have already invested. Unless you pay out real big bucks you are only going to get a half baked version. Better to wait a year or so when I am sure hard drive servers will be a lot cheaper and do what they are meant to which is work properly. This is usually the case with most new technology.

i'm not sure i understand how or why anyone would find this prefferable to a pc? or even a pc-file-server accessed remotely? am i missing something? do folks just not want to deall with eac, foobar, all that? seems so much easier and more functional to me