hi peeps,
as i sit here listening to some good ol' grateful dead thru my htpc>kernel streaming>chaintech>dac1>new dynaudio bm5a's (that I'm lovin'), im perusing the web about playback options. My current htpc is one i built in 03 to be able to play back my 24-bit recordings. It works well, i use girder ir remote software to load playlists into winamp, i can put in a dvd with 4 shows and press 1,2,3 or 4 on my remote and play it in winamp, no other interface necesarry.
However, I'm building a new 4.5TB raid6 storage server, and would love an easy way to pipe the music into my living room.
The squeezebox sounds good for this, but i would love if it could support 24/96, as all my masters these day are 24/96. But in reality, 99+% of my music collection is 16 bit, so i could be ok with having to use my htpc to play 24/96 (i just dont really need another computer running 24/7, even tho it is silent pc, it still dents my electric bill im sure. so heres my questions:
1. can somebody describe the difference between squeezebox 1,2, and 3? i see used older models on ebay for cheaper. I will be using wired lan, i dont need wireless g or any wireless for that matter. Really, 24-bit support is not critical (since the SB3 cant do 24/96, and i'd need a separate solution for that anyway).
what would be a good choice for an all-in-one dvd/cd player that can do the following:
-redbook cd>unresampled spdif out
-24/96 dvd-a>unresampled spdif out
-decent dvd-v playback quality
I've read nick's threads about the oppo, seems its limited to 16-bit, so can the denon players mentioned here do 24/96 unresampled spdif out? its kind of critical for me, as i will have the squeezebox for all the 16-bit stuff, and audio playback on this. a single player that would replace my current dvd player and handle 24/96 would be ideal, as i dont want a ton of components cluttering up under my TV.
I'm also open to newer-gen htpc builds, like myth tv, etc. somehting with a super easy interface. I'm sure theres a linux build out there that runs with a lite footprint on the epia board i have and smokes the current solutions for formats and usability.
PS. 5/18/77 Lazy lightning = melting my brain