[iriverdude]

I'd use a netbook & NAS. Don't touch USB hard drives with a pole- just bought 1TB HD for storage, thought about going back to USB but bought SATA trayless caddy.

Of course with a netbook you have to use it like a computer for music navigation, not exactly professional look. Perhaps if it was touchscreen, loaded up with Mediaportal another front end. Or if it's not a touchscreen you'll also want a remote.

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd use a netbook & NAS. Don't touch USB hard drives with a pole- just bought 1TB HD for storage, thought about going back to USB but bought SATA trayless caddy. Of course with a netbook you have to use it like a computer for music navigation, not exactly professional look. Perhaps if it was touchscreen, loaded up with Mediaportal another front end. Or if it's not a touchscreen you'll also want a remote.

I disagree with you on both points. Have had no issues with USB hard drives, and I am not concerned about how 'professional' my netbook appears on my desk at work - as long as I am not disrupting anyone else's work with my music, what is the issue ? If you work in a super-uptight corporation, they probably dont allow you to plug anything in beyond their locked-down machines anyway - outside of the CIA, most workplaces are a little more relaxed. I dont work in an office with suits - even the big boss prefers not to wear one when he doesnt have to - but I'd like to think I'm judged on the quality of my work, not the electronics on my desk - YMMV.

NAS would be fine for a home setup, but makes no sense anywhere else.

 

[iriverdude]

Have experienced data loss, and drive not appearing. And considering the drive is backup, reason why I won't use USB.

As netbook & drive isn't exactly tidy, with a extra lead or possibly power supply if it's a 3.5" drive. And as I said for a home system not exactly well done, you'd need a long cable to your amp so that'll have to go under your carpet/floorboards, then a PSU for the netbook, you'd want remote (another USB cable) to lounge back without having to fiddle with the computer.

 

[KingStyles]

True, laptops now have better battery life than ever before. Mine goes 3 hours but a optional bigger battery allows me to go 6. There is a couple of hp I think that go 6 hours stock. Quote:

Asus eeepc 1000HE

That was the netbook I was going to buy, but when i went in the store to buy it, I just couldnt pull the trigger when I started comparing netbook vs laptop. There are some pretty compact full size laptops that arent too much bigger than the asus which is the largest of the netbooks. Im not trying to discourage you from a netbook because the asus is top rated and very nice. Just make sure you know all of your options before you buy. The only thing i would think that might cause latency is the speed of the chip. At a single 1.66 chip its just above the 1.5 I have heard is minimal. If you have your netbook do any upsampling it might be a strain on the processor causing artifacts.

 

[Covenant]

I wouldn't be doing any upsampling or playing anything above 16/44.1 redbook audio. I have a PC setup with EAC and MediaMonkey to rip/encode and get album art for all my music, so my main criteria for the netbook is just to be small, have good battery life, enough storage capacity, and provide the same quality USB digital output as my PC.

I'm hoping the N280 Atom won't have any issues just running Foobar with ASIO4ALL. Actually I'd better check the min system specs of Foobar and ASIO and make sure they can run on a netbook, too.

 

[KingStyles]

As far as I know, from here and other forums, you shouldnt have a problem with that setup. Just make sure they have a good return policy just in case. Im actually happy that I have the laptop so I can run vista rather than xp. The wasapi output plug makes it so easy to setup since it was made to bypass vista audio, but as long as you unmap and bypass the kmixer setting and use asio, you should be fine. A lot of people like that setup.

 

[srserl]

I use my netbook (acer aspire one) with fubar2k & asio4all running on xp. Sound quality is fantastic with my gamma1 dac via usb and a cavalli audio cth amp. I can detect no differences from my xp desktop with the same equipment. The netbook has the 2cell stock battery and will last about 6h if only used for music (wifi turned off and screen goes to power save). Browsing the net over wifi will last about 4h. Larger 2cell and 3cell aftermarket batteries are available, but I have not bothered to upgrade.
If you are going to use a netbook for anything but music, then compare keyboards, as I find the most of the 8.9" netbooks to be awful (small shift keys). All of the 10" models seem to have better keyboard layouts.

 

[Billyk]

Quote:

Sound quality is fantastic with my gamma1 dac via usb and a cavalli audio cth amp.

I am glad to hear that. I am planning on building the CTH this weekend and have a y1 on deck. I am will be using them with my Dell mini among others. I hope to be able to report the same good results.

 

[Covenant]

Thanks for the confirmations guys

I might go ahead and get that 1000HE. I've got several meets coming up, and it'd let me bring a complete rig to them rather than relying on there being laptops present with other people's music, as I've had to do in the past.

netbook > pico dac/amp > IE8 promises to be a fantastic portable/transportable option, too.

 

[denydog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Covenant /img/forum/go_quote.gif I might go ahead and get that 1000HE....

I'm happy with my 1000H ASIO4ALL feeding a Grace m902 via USB.

I swapped in 2GB memory when I first got it, and recently installed a 320GB hard drive. Was fairly easy.