[6sigma]

Watching Jude describe the products he'll be looking for at CanJam (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB-gbUg1azQ) got me out of my holding pattern with my music and listening preferences, but I need some advice.

If I want to create a stack of 2 or 3 components on the side table next to "my chair" (I'm old) for headphone listening, what's my best bet for accessing my music? I've got 600 CD's ripped to FLAC files on a hard drive upstairs. I subscribe to Google Play Music. I use an Android phone (Google Pixel 2 XL).

Do I need a portable music player with a high capacity SD card? Should I use GPM exclusively since my ripped music was uploaded to GPM?

Before picking the right amp, dac, headphones, etc., I want to decide whether the music is on an external drive, on a music player or streamed from my phone.

Thanks. (If this has been specifically addressed previously, just point me to the right forum category or post and accept my apologies for overlooking it.)

(edited to add link to Jude's video)

 

[Grimbles]

If all your music is FLAC'd on a hard drive upstairs, can you stream it to your phone? Presuming so, a Schiit Stack (e.g. Modi 2 Uber -> Magni 3/Vali 2 or up the scale depending on your budget) plugged into the usb out from your phone should work perfectly.

 

[6sigma]

If all your music is FLAC'd on a hard drive upstairs, can you stream it to your phone? Presuming so, a Schiit Stack (e.g. Modi 2 Uber -> Magni 3/Vali 2 or up the scale depending on your budget) plugged into the usb out from your phone should work perfectly.

Thanks for your reply. There's part of my challenge. I ripped those CD's years ago to an old external hard drive & listened with Foobar2000 on a laptop. I haven't used that drive or laptop for several years. It was never set up for streaming. Any suggestions on what I need to do - copy it to a portable audio player? Buy a new laptop & portable hard drive? Buy a NAS?

Again, many thanks.

 

[435279]

These days 600 CD's worth of FLAC files will fit on a 256Gb micro SD card. Keep the files on the HDD too for a backup. Once your FLAC's are on a micro SD card then you have many different ways to play your music.

I would suggest a DAP of some description, or even a smartphone if you have one that takes micro SD cards,

 

[6sigma]

These days 600 CD's worth of FLAC files will fit on a 256Gb micro SD card. Keep the files on the HDD too for a backup. Once your FLAC's are on a micro SD card then you have many different ways to play your music.

I would suggest a DAP of some description, or even a smartphone if you have one that takes micro SD cards,

Thanks for this.

After reading for a bit (since posting) I was about to come to the same conclusion. This idea seems much easier and offers much greater portability/flexibility than trying to set up a media server/NAS, etc.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Watching Jude describe the products he'll be looking for at CanJam (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB-gbUg1azQ) got me out of my holding pattern with my music and listening preferences, but I need some advice.

If I want to create a stack of 2 or 3 components on the side table next to "my chair" (I'm old) for headphone listening, what's my best bet for accessing my music? I've got 600 CD's ripped to FLAC files on a hard drive upstairs. I subscribe to Google Play Music. I use an Android phone (Google Pixel 2 XL).

Do I need a portable music player with a high capacity SD card? Should I use GPM exclusively since my ripped music was uploaded to GPM?

Before picking the right amp, dac, headphones, etc., I want to decide whether the music is on an external drive, on a music player or streamed from my phone.

Thanks. (If this has been specifically addressed previously, just point me to the right forum category or post and accept my apologies for overlooking it.)

(edited to add link to Jude's video)

You can run an Android MiniPC and set it up as a Headless Audio Server. After initial set up your Google Pixel will serve as its interface, so you only need to run it on a monitor and kb+mouse for that set-up and any trouble shooting that might be necessary later. These are small enough and can hook up via LAN cable to access the HDD you have your music on.