|
This Month's Featured Equipment Reviews |
|
|
|
Media Server Forum Topics: |
|
|
|
Classic Media Server Reviews |
|
|
|
Music Servers
|
Monday, 01 March 2004
,
Written by
Bryan Dailey
Introduction
Playing
your MP3 files isn’t just for sketchy speakers and poorly developed
free software on your computer any more. Sales of Apple’s iPod are
through the roof and now a new category, the music server, is gaining
popularity. Talk of the computer and your home theater being one and
the same (AKA: convergence) has been going on for quite some time and,
with the NC-500 Nettunes Audio Network Receiver, Onkyo has taken
another step closer to making the personal computer a fundamental part
of your home theater system. For $399 (or $499 with two D-N3XA 2-way
bass reflex speakers), the Onkyo NC-500 Net-Tunes™ Audio Network
Receiver gives you powerful access to audio files stored on your
computer from a remote location in your home or office. It also
provides enhanced support for Internet radio and allows you to listen
to both WMA (Windows Media) and MP3-format Internet radio stations. An
AM/FM tuner allows you ...
|
|
|
|
Saturday, 01 February 2003
,
Written by
Brian Kahn
Introduction
The
ARQ2 is ReQuest Multimedia’s second-generation digital music server
that not only stores and catalogs your entire music collection on its
internal hard drive, but also allows you to easily and quickly access
any song from damn near anywhere in your house and beyond. This type of
product represents the next generation music server, following the
mega-CD changer. The ReQuest exterior is unassuming, industrial in
appearance and clearly designed to be tucked away in an equipment rack.
The metal-bodied unit is finished in dull black with a simple front
panel containing power and status LEDs with the IR receiving window on
the left edge, a small LCD display to the right, and a CD tray door and
eject button. Lastly, there are small metal knobs on each side of the
panel that secure the panel to the units. The side panels are
perforated at the rear to provide airflow for the internal fan. ...
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, 01 January 2003
,
Written by
Richard Elen
Introduction
Escient’s
new Fireball is an early example of something that is going to become a
lot more common in the future, believe me: it’s an audio component that
links today’s broadband internet audio experience to your home audio
system and with your existing CD collection.
Essentially
a dedicated audio server with a 40 GB hard drive, analog and digital
I/O and network connections, the Fireball, list price $1,999, allows
you to capture audio from the built-in CD drive or from external
digital or analog sources, ripping the content to MP3 files and storing
them on the internal hard drive. In addition, the Fireball interfaces
with the Internet, either by phone line, Home Phone Networking (HPNA)
or broadband. The Internet provides Internet radio, along with a
transparent interface to the CDDB CD database, which provides track
information and cover art. There is also an information and shopping
interface that allows you to find out information about ...
|
|
|
|
Friday, 01 December 2000
,
Written by
Kim Wilson
Introduction
Lansonic™, a division of Digital Voice Systems, Inc. (DVSI), a leader
in the field of voice compression, has introduced the first unit in
what may be a brand-new product category. The DAS-750 Digital Audio
Server is a high-performance audio product that stores and plays music
files, decoding all the standard MP1/MP2/MP3 compression rates, ranging
from 32 kbps to 448 kbps (kilo bits per second), as well as
uncompressed WAV files. Depending on the configuration, the unit ranges
in price from $695 to $ 2,595.
Unlike a PC that emits high levels of hum, noise and heat, the DAS-750
is far better suited for storing and playing a wide range of music
files, since it employs 20-bit crystal A-to-D and D-to-A converters.
Analog output is measured at 96 dB SNR from 0-22 kHz, which is
considerably better than the typical computer soundcard. The DAS unit
also contains a programmable 40-bit Digital Signal Processor to ...
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, 01 February 2000
,
Written by
Kim Wilson
Introduction
If managing your CDs has gotten out of hand, as jewel cases both empty
and full are found lying all around your room, the Escient Tunebase
2000i CD Library Management System is a welcome solution. In addition
to the Tunebase 2000i controller, the Escient system can control up to
three 200-disc CD changers, for a total of 600 CDs. The basic system
with the controller and one Sony CDP-CX220 changer runs $3,000.
Unlike previous CD management systems, it's not necessary to spend
hundreds of dollars to program song titles and artwork from your CD
collection into the system. First off, the Tunebase2000i is delivered
with text and artwork for 2,500 popular CDs. If a CD is inserted into
the changer that is not recognized by the system, it calls (via the
built-in modem) Escient's main library to download the appropriate
data. The Tunebase2000i allows users a variety of ways to play back
CD's, ...
|
|
|
|
|
