[kryten123]

Hi All,
 
I want to create a simple way to access and play my music stored on my Network drive from another room in the house.
 
My initial idea was to use Raspberry Pi as a cheap front end method:
 
Home Network -> Raspberry pi -> XBMC -> USB -> External DAC -> External Amp -> Headphones
 
Control XBMC via an app on my Android Nexus 7
 
unfortunately after some research it seems that Raspberry Pi has some USB issues and this causes drop outs and noise in the audio.
 
So, my next idea was to use a Windows 8 Touchscreen PC as the front end.
 
Home Network -> Window 8 Touchscreen PC -> USB -> External DAC -> External Amp -> Headphones
 
However, this method is quite expensive for what is effectively just going to be just a dumb terminal - a simple way to browse my music on my network drive and pipe it down into the external DAC.
 
Does anyone have any simple and more importantly cheaper ideas as to how to achieve this?
I would rather spend my money on high end DAC\AMP than the "dumb terminal"
 
I'd rather not clutter up my living room with a large noisy PC,monitor, keyboard, mouse etc...if I can help it, and keep it simple for my wife to use too.
 
Thanks for any advice\ideas

 

[Battlescarze]

What about buying a used Mac Mini? ....what is your budget?

 

[PleasantSounds]

Quote:

[..]
 
Does anyone have any simple and more importantly cheaper ideas as to how to achieve this?
I would rather spend my money on high end DAC\AMP than the "dumb terminal"
 
I'd rather not clutter up my living room with a large noisy PC,monitor, keyboard, mouse etc...if I can help it, and keep it simple for my wife to use too.
 

 
Well, it's not really a dumb terminal if that's the only thing in between your network and a DAC - it's got to be a home for your media player. 
I'd suggest a tablet PC with operating system of your choice (that will determine which media player you can use and how wife-friendly it's going to be) - this way you can avoid noise and clutter. All that would require is WiFi to connect with your network and USB port for your DAC. 

 

[kryten123]

Quote:

 
Well, it's not really a dumb terminal if that's the only thing in between your network and a DAC - it's got to be a home for your media player. 
I'd suggest a tablet PC with operating system of your choice (that will determine which media player you can use and how wife-friendly it's going to be) - this way you can avoid noise and clutter. All that would require is WiFi to connect with your network and USB port for your DAC. 

 
When I say dumb terminal, I mean that its only use will be to browse my network music and push it to my DAC, where all the audio magic will happen.
A tablet will be a similar idea to an All in One touchscreen but I'm not aware of a tablet that has a USB connector where you can push digital audio data OUT via USB.
I know with the Android Nexus 7, you can pull data IN from an external disk via USB (I think it needs to be rooted)
 
....mmmm I wonder if there are any Windows 8 tablets that might do the job???
 
 
Quote:

What about buying a used Mac Mini? ....what is your budget?

Thanks mate, but I dont use apple

 

[jaddie]

Quote:

 
When I say dumb terminal, I mean that its only use will be to browse my network music and push it to my DAC, where all the audio magic will happen.
A tablet will be a similar idea to an All in One touchscreen but I'm not aware of a tablet that has a USB connector where you can push digital audio data OUT via USB.
I know with the Android Nexus 7, you can pull data IN from an external disk via USB (I think it needs to be rooted)
 
....mmmm I wonder if there are any Windows 8 tablets that might do the job???
 
 

Thanks mate, but I dont use apple

...and we thought you wanted "simple"...
 
I have an Android Nexus 7.  It's a light-up paper weight, I don't even bother to keep it charged anymore.  I also have an iPad...and a few Macs.  If you want simple, high WAF, it doesn't get better.  The money you spend will come back to you in frustration savings, unless you live for being the tech support guy.
 
So...here's what a "dumb terminal" is:
 
 

 

[kryten123]

Quote:

...and we thought you wanted "simple"...
 
I have an Android Nexus 7.  It's a light-up paper weight, I don't even bother to keep it charged anymore.  I also have an iPad...and a few Macs.  If you want simple, high WAF, it doesn't get better.  The money you spend will come back to you in frustration savings, unless you live for being the tech support guy.
 
So...here's what a "dumb terminal" is:
 
 

lol - think I have one of those in my garage
 
I have a Nexus 7 too. I found a thread on here where with custom ROMs the USB out can be enabled and digital audio fed to a DAC - this might be the way to go I think.
I'll need to find out whether a splitter OTG cable will work to power the Nexus and pipe the music to a DAC at the same time.