[captacoustic]

At the risk of sounding as ignorant on this as I really am, I am wondering how to get FLAC files from my external Windows hard drive to my home system?
 
Some background:
 
I have hired a company to rip about two-thousand CDs to FLAC and store them on an external hard drive. I would like to be able to play them on my home system. The heart of it is a Marantz AV SR5006 receiver which has Ethernet capability.
 
I also own an Astell and Kern AK120 that can apparently serve as a DAC, though I'm still not sure what that does or if I would need it?
 
I have the trial version of Jriver on my computer and it seems like this might be a tool I could use?
 
I am a music lover and musician but I can't speak geek tech at all. Thanks in advance,
 
Wayne

 

[PurpleAngel]

Connect external hard drive to computer.
Run S/PDIF (optical or coaxial) cable from computer to Marantz.
Set Marantz's input to S/PDIF (optical or coaxial).
Install and used program Foobar2000 (with WASAPI component add-on) to play audio files.

 

[captacoustic]

PurpleAngel, you broke that down into digestible steps!

Appreciate it. I'll start exploring this stuff.

My computer is in a separate room. Can I run the optical about 25 feet OK? Maybe it's best to plug the external hard drive into a laptop and then run an optical from the laptop into the Marantz?

Wayne

 

[PurpleAngel]

PurpleAngel, you broke that down into digestible steps!
Appreciate it. I'll start exploring this stuff.
My computer is in a separate room. Can I run the optical about 25 feet OK? Maybe it's best to plug the external hard drive into a laptop and then run an optical from the laptop into the Marantz?

Laptop should be fine.

 

[cel4145]

Laptop should be fine.

Agreed.

And if it's a newer laptop that has an HDMI connector, you can also use that to connect to the receiver instead of optical.

Also, it may go without saying, but just in case: be sure to make a backup copy of that external hard drive with another external hard drive (or to a computer).

 

[Muinarc]

If you feel brave, I looked at the manual for that receiver, and it does support various streaming options.

You can check out:

Connecting it to a home network on page 19.

Operating the receiver as a DLNA media controller page 75.

I am not sure if Jriver has DLNA support, but I do know and have used the DLNA server function in Media Monkey and it worked quite well. Foobar2000 can also do this but it is not very user friendly and you said you were not a tech geek