| ReQuest ARQ2 Digital Music System |
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| Saturday, 01 February 2003 | |
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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. The
rear panel features a multitude of connections including analog inputs
and outputs, coaxial and toslink digital outputs, video out, detachable
power cord, keyboard port, RS-232, VGA, USB, IR input and Ethernet
connections. The ARQ2 measures 17 inches in width, 14.5 inches deep,
one-and-three-quarters inches in height, and weighs 17 pounds. The ARQ2
retails at $3,500 with a 60GB hard drive. The ReQuest also comes with a
keyboard and a 64+ key remote control, which is surprisingly easy to
use despite the large number of keys.
The multitude of back panel connections described above hint at the
flexibility and connection options available to you with the ARQ2. The
ReQuest units can be connected to and controlled by Crestron, AMX, Elan
or Audioaccess units, or your PC. Actually, it doesn’t even have to be
your PC. I took advantage of the ReQuest’s internal web server by
hooking the ReQuest up to my broadband connection through my router and
was able to access it from any computer on the web. The built-in web
server allows you to browse your music catalog over the web and even
listen to or download music as well.ReQuest offers its digital music servers in a variety of capacities up to the recently introduced 960GB model, which should handle even the largest of music collections. ReQuest also offers Zone units. These can be used to either expand your capacity or provide independent playback in different locations. The Zone units use ReQuest’s NetSync process to synchronize the Zone unit to the main unit. This process utilizes the ReQuest’s Ethernet port and can be run over local networks or the Internet. This means that every time you add music to your main ReQuest, the optional Zone unit or units will also have the music ready for you, whether they are down the hall or across the country. The Setup The setup was a bit intimidating at first, as the ReQuest is like no other audio product I have owned or even seen. It is important to note that ReQuest products are normally sold through custom installers who will set the unit up for the end user, although that is not always the case. I first used the metal knobs to remove the front panel and slide the hard drive into the unit. I then connected the ReQuest to my music playback system; I hooked up both the analog and digital connections. Next, I connected an Elan via the touch panel. This six-inch touch screen easily connected to the ReQuest through the video out of the ARQ2. The Elan's panel IR emitter was then connected to the ReQuest. The ARQ2 comes with software for most major touch panel control units. Lastly, I connected the ReQuest to my computer, this allows for the unit to be controlled by the PC, swaps files with the computer, goes online to look up CD titles and can even be used as an Internet radio server. After the unit is physically connected, you need to get your own music onto the ReQuest. You can load your own music, purchase pre-loaded music from ReQuest, or even send your CDs to ReQuest and they will load them for you on one of their high speed "RipStations." Loading your own CDs onto the ReQuest music server couldn’t be easier. Simply open the music tray, insert the CD and close the tray. If the CD is recognized by the ReQuests internal database of more than 750,000 recordings, it immediately rips the CD to the hard drive at approximately four times normal speed. If the CD is not recognized the unit, if connected to the Internet, will go online to get the data. If the CD is too obscure and the data is not available, you can title the CD using the remote. If you don’t want to load the entire CD, you also have the option to choose only the tracks you want. The line inputs also allow recording from any source with analog line level outputs. Lastly, you can copy audio files from your computer to the ReQuest ARQ2 with ease. Music can be stored in multiple formats, the highest quality being the lossless CD-quality WAV format, but most users will store their music in the MP3 format. The MP3 format provides different levels of compression, from 64 kbps at the low end to 320 kbps at the high end. The ARQ2's default is 320 kbps. The level of compression affects the amount of music you can store on the unit, as well as the sound quality. The 60GB unit reviewed can store 111 hours of uncompressed WAV files, but if you utilize the highest-quality MP3 compression at 320 kbps, you can store 417 hours in the same space. The new 960GB unit can hold an amazing 6,600 hours of music at 320 kbps, or approximately nine months of continuous music, without hearing the same song twice, at a cost of $25,000. Once you load your music onto the ReQuest, you have the option of creating playlists. The playlist feature allows you to compile various lists of songs in any order you like, a dinner music list, a workout list, a party list, music for the children, etc. These playlists can be easily created from the remote or even from your office computer over the Internet. Using the ARQ2 I normally used the ARQ2 with the Elan via touch-screen. The ARQ2 is compatible with all the major touch-screen panels. You can download the software for your panel, greatly reducing programming costs. If you are not going to use a touch panel device, I would connect the ARQ2 to a display device to benefit from the information that would otherwise be on the touch panel screen, such as the name of the track, album and artist you are listening to, length of the track, next track to be played, etc. A future system update will even allow you to display the album cover. If this is too much information, a variety of psychedelic screen savers are also available. The display allows you to fully utilize the ReQuest’s intuitive menu system, which makes finding and playing music a breeze. You can select music from the ARQ2 by artist, album, playlist, song or even use the ReQuest as a CD player. I found myself accessing my music mainly by playlist or album. Albums can either be accessed by pressing the "Album" key and scrolling through the list of albums, or by pressing the "Artist" key, then selecting the artist desired, which will then display a list of albums by that artist. The playlist feature is similarly easy to operate. If the playlist is already set, simply highlight the playlist and hit "Enter." To create a new playlist, simply highlight the songs you want on your list and press the "Select" button. After you have selected the songs, go to the menu screen and select "New Playlist," then "Selected Songs" -- that’s all there is to it. The lists can be easily edited at any time. I have used this feature to create playlists for home workouts, dinner parties, and even a few different playlists for different moods. The playlists are very cool as you can create a group of songs for your listening pleasure. It doesn't matter whether the songs are all on one album or each song is on a different album. Unlike a CD changer, ReQuest allows you to place songs in any order, without regard to what disc they came from. In a traditional CD changer it can take up to 30 seconds to go from one track to the next when they are on different discs, yet with the ARQ2, there are no delays whatsoever. This feature reminded me of making my own compilation tapes in high school so I could have my favorite tunes together, except the ARQ2 has reduced the daunting task of the past to a absolute breeze. I kept the ARQ2 set at the default encoding rate of 320 kbps for all but one album. As of now, I have 2,096 songs or 167 albums on my ARQ2 and still have nearly 70 percent of the 60GB drive available for more music. Using the Ethernet port on the ReQuest, I connected to my Linksys router, which in turn connected it to my computer and the Internet. Through this connection, I could transfer audio files to and from my computer and even control the ARQ2 and create playlists. Because my router is connected to the Internet, I can access, control and even listen to the ReQuest from any computer connected to the Internet. How cool is that? (Not very, if you are an executive at one of the big 5 music conglomerates.) This type of connection is also used to expand the ReQuest through the ReQuest Zone units. While I didn’t have a Zone unit to evaluate, they are a terrific addition. The Zone units are exactly half the height of the normal units and do not have CD trays or displays. The Zone units can be operated independently and placed in another portion of your house or even in an entirely different location. You could have the main ReQuest unit in your house in California and place the Zone unit in your vacation house on the slopes in Aspen. The Zone, assuming both units are connected to the Internet, will automatically synchronize with the main unit utilizing ReQuest’s NetSync feature, downloading all the music from the main unit. The Zone will then also serve as a backup should anything fail on the main unit. If you haven’t gathered from this long-winded description, this thing is the real deal. In the immediate future the ARQ2 series is being renamed and will be shipping under its new name, Fusion. Other than the name, the only other changes will include a slightly different front panel, higher capacity hard drives (up to 160 GB) and quieter fans. All other Fusion features remain identical to the ARQ2 units. |
