Things are moving fast; very fast. The proliferation of hard disc based music playback systems that began a few years ago has continued at even a brisker pace then anyone could have been imagined. And with each new generation in this product category, new, and sometimes mind blowing features are added, as well as improved sound quality and improved interfaces. Now with designers across the board allowing for devices to be controlled via Apple iPads and iPhone/iPod Touch units, and some even providing for remote off site access, we are entering a new dimension.  

Specifically, we are entering “the cloud”, a place where we wandering humans can access our media files anywhere in the world with handheld devices, tablets, computers, or any WiFi enabled gadget.  It seems this was a logical progression from multi room systems, which have been around for a few years now.  This coupled with on-demand streaming media services like Pandora, TuneInRadio, and Rhapsody, just to name a few, and these indeed are interesting times.   

Which brings us to Autonomic Controls, who may not be familiar to many consumers, but they are an established presence in the world of networking, multimedia, and system integration. They make a variety of very specialized products that work in a variety of environments and platforms.  Under review here is the MMS-2 music server.The MMS-2 is solidly built, finished in attractive black case work, and is small enough that it is easy to integrate into any hifi or AV rack. The back panel includes USB slots, audio outputs, and a VGA video output. The MMS-2 handles just about every audio file format, including WAV, AIFF, FLAC, Mp3, WMA, etc. It supports 44.1, 48, and 96 Khz sampling rates.   

Set Up and Listening:  

Setting up the MMS-2 was simple and a bit complicated. The simple part was the physical set up. I installed the unit as i would any component, and then I used the supplied adaptor which allowed me to out put digital via my Transparent Toslink cable into the optical input of the Arcam rDAC, which I reviewed here. I then plugged in an Ethernet cable, and powered on. Simple! Next came the trickier part. I visited the supplied browser address for set up but I could not connect to the server. No worries. I called tech support and was up and running in minutes. The very helpful Autonomic support team member manually assigned an IP address to the MMS-2, then walked me through the settings, which included downloading a media sync tool, activating sharing in iTunes via local network, and lastly, syncing content to the MMS-2.  I then logged on to sever via the assigned IP address and saw all the music that had been synced and a playback interface much like you would normally see in a multitude of available music library packages. Embedded artwork also appeared.

When I selected tracks to play via my Dell netbook, connected via WiFi, playback was virtually immediate. So was forwarding, skipping through albums, and pausing. It was as easy as using a CD player, with the obvious advantage of having access to your entire music library. Very cool.  I then downloaded the iPod Touch app. It worked like a charm, even from all the way across the house. Another really great feature was that the MMS-2 synced with the iTunes library automatically, so any changes to the library were also apparent on the server.   

The MMS-2 has some even more interesting options. If you have a TuneInRadio, Pandora, or Sirius XM radio account, you are in luck. My wife logged into her Pandora account and was able to listen through the system by navigating with the iPod Touch. Pandora is a great tool for discovering music and creating custom playlists.  The MMS-2 had one more trick up its sleeve, and that, in conjunction with a MP3 Tunes account you can access the server from any where there is an internet connection. There are limitations for now.  For instance, mp3tunes currently only allows uploading of lossy formats. Autonomic is currently working with other vendors and the ability to access lossless and uncompressed formats is coming. Stay tuned.  

Ok, so we have all these cool features, elegant styling, and iPod Touch control, but how does the MMS-2 actually sound? In a word, excellent; surprisingly so.  I guess the expectation that a feature rich, cool product has to be sonically compromised comes into play. But I was very pleased with the presentation, which was absolutely high end in my book. I thought bettered my Logitech Squeezebox by a slight margin on FLAC playback. The Olive server I recently reviewed was a tougher call. Working from memory, the MMS-2 was just as engaging. I must point out, that the quality of your DAC or AV Receiver will make a difference. I also should note I did not try the analog outputs. I think to get the most of the MMS-2, the best bet is the digital optical output. However, the MMS-2 does out put two discrete streams of music, analog and digital.