On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 12:31:53 +0000 (UTC), "db"
wrote:

Yes, try the Yamaha HD CDr1300 - 120 hours of uncompressed audio. SPDIF &
TOSLINK in and out, and all the bells & whistles. 2 year waranty.

Thanks. I took a look at its specification, price and even read the
user manual.

I could buy a PC for much the same price with S/PDIF I/O and a CD
writer. This would have the advantage of an Ethernet port - a missed
opportunity on the Yamaha device IMHO. It could also use cheaper
media.

This approach would have the advantage of using my existing DAC/ADC
and keeping the analogue signals well away from the PC.

(This idea has also been suggested by other contributors to this
thread.)

The main problems I can see a

* The extra effort required to assemble such a system - especially
the software.

* The fan (and disk) noise typical of most current PC systems.

* The inconvenient form factor, which will not fit well with my Hi-Fi
equipment.

However, I was shown a catalogue from Novatech earlier today which
contains PCs that look a bit like 'midi' audio systems, as found in
the high street chains (and typically sold as 'Hi-Fi'). Does anyone
have any experience of this type of system and its suitability for
inclusion in a Hi-Fi system?

Thanks,


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK

On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 15:43:54 +0000 (UTC), "David"
wrote:

You are probably sitting next to it! Add a big disk and Goldwave (or
similar) to your PC and with a decent sound card and your (hopefully still
FM) tuner conected to the back you will never miss a single program again.

All I need to do is teach my PC what I like on radio and get Digiguide to
tell Goldwave to start and stop recording......

Thanks for the suggestion.

The PCs I have access to (which belong to my employer) are both
laptops - one running Windows (for Outlook, Office and some embedded
development tools) and this one, which I mostly use at home, running
Linux. Neither has an analogue stage that is up to Hi-FI standards or
even an accessible line input. They are also far too noisy to run when
listening to music.

This has prompted me to think about building a small embedded system
to convert S/PDIF to and from, for example, an FTP data stream for
sending over Ethernet to a server not in the listening room. Has
anyone tried this or does such a device already exist (at a reasonable
price)?


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK

On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 15:43:54 +0000 (UTC), "David"
wrote:

You are probably sitting next to it! Add a big disk and Goldwave (or
similar) to your PC and with a decent sound card and your (hopefully still
FM) tuner conected to the back you will never miss a single program again.

All I need to do is teach my PC what I like on radio and get Digiguide to
tell Goldwave to start and stop recording......

Thanks for the suggestion.

The PCs I have access to (which belong to my employer) are both
laptops - one running Windows (for Outlook, Office and some embedded
development tools) and this one, which I mostly use at home, running
Linux. Neither has an analogue stage that is up to Hi-FI standards or
even an accessible line input. They are also far too noisy to run when
listening to music.

This has prompted me to think about building a small embedded system
to convert S/PDIF to and from, for example, an FTP data stream for
sending over Ethernet to a server not in the listening room. Has
anyone tried this or does such a device already exist (at a reasonable
price)?


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 16:27:04 GMT, "malcolm"
wrote:

[massive snip]


http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

live feeds and masses of archive programs

.... but not unfortunately Hi-Fi. I do occasionally listen to Radio 3
programmes by this means, but the results are less than satisfactory.
To my ears, there are just too many compression artifacts that I find
highly distracting. Lossy compression may be acceptable for highly
processed 'pop' music into cheap speakers or headphones, but it just
does not work for classical music into electrostatic speakers or
headphones (sorry, Mr. Stax, 'ear speakers' :^). I personally prefer
the treble to have a stable position in the sound stage, not to be
splattered all over it.

I also find the BBC audio on demand player very irritating because it
does not allow me to skip to the sections of the programme that
interest me. This is a real pain if the bit I want is three hours into
a four-hour programme!


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 16:27:04 GMT, "malcolm"
wrote:

[massive snip]


http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

live feeds and masses of archive programs

.... but not unfortunately Hi-Fi. I do occasionally listen to Radio 3
programmes by this means, but the results are less than satisfactory.
To my ears, there are just too many compression artifacts that I find
highly distracting. Lossy compression may be acceptable for highly
processed 'pop' music into cheap speakers or headphones, but it just
does not work for classical music into electrostatic speakers or
headphones (sorry, Mr. Stax, 'ear speakers' :^). I personally prefer
the treble to have a stable position in the sound stage, not to be
splattered all over it.

I also find the BBC audio on demand player very irritating because it
does not allow me to skip to the sections of the programme that
interest me. This is a real pain if the bit I want is three hours into
a four-hour programme!


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK

This has prompted me to think about building a small embedded system
to convert S/PDIF to and from, for example, an FTP data stream for
sending over Ethernet to a server not in the listening room. Has
anyone tried this or does such a device already exist (at a reasonable
price)?

The PC mags are all very into "lifestyle" systems at the moment using micro
form factor mother boards and a lot of passive or controled cooling to keep
noise to a minimum. Case manufactures are springing up all the time and are
producing some pretty good looking kit, Some even include an infra-red
reciever for remote keyboard/mice which could be converted to r/c the audio
functions without too much effort. Given that the PC would probably be used
on a network with keyboard and monitor removed once it was up and running
(Use RAdmin to control it from another PC) then it should blend into a hi-fi
set up reasonably well.
For your application the hard drive could be contained within the PC
(rather than a remote server) and it could, for the most part, be used as a
hard disc server. Goldwave or similar could handle simple timed recordings
from R3 in your abcence.
It would be an interesting project - cost would be around £800 I suspect
...........which suddenly starts to make the off the shelf hard disc
recorders look good value.

Just a thought but many years ago there was a fad for using VHS video
recorders to record Hi-Fi audio from an FM analogue feed Quality was very
good and it gave up to 8 hours recording time. Can TiVo be made to do the
same without the imitations of a linear tape format? Any TiVo owners out
there know whether it'll take a hi-fi stereo feed?

This has prompted me to think about building a small embedded system
to convert S/PDIF to and from, for example, an FTP data stream for
sending over Ethernet to a server not in the listening room. Has
anyone tried this or does such a device already exist (at a reasonable
price)?

The PC mags are all very into "lifestyle" systems at the moment using micro
form factor mother boards and a lot of passive or controled cooling to keep
noise to a minimum. Case manufactures are springing up all the time and are
producing some pretty good looking kit, Some even include an infra-red
reciever for remote keyboard/mice which could be converted to r/c the audio
functions without too much effort. Given that the PC would probably be used
on a network with keyboard and monitor removed once it was up and running
(Use RAdmin to control it from another PC) then it should blend into a hi-fi
set up reasonably well.
For your application the hard drive could be contained within the PC
(rather than a remote server) and it could, for the most part, be used as a
hard disc server. Goldwave or similar could handle simple timed recordings
from R3 in your abcence.
It would be an interesting project - cost would be around £800 I suspect
...........which suddenly starts to make the off the shelf hard disc
recorders look good value.

Just a thought but many years ago there was a fad for using VHS video
recorders to record Hi-Fi audio from an FM analogue feed Quality was very
good and it gave up to 8 hours recording time. Can TiVo be made to do the
same without the imitations of a linear tape format? Any TiVo owners out
there know whether it'll take a hi-fi stereo feed?

"Chris Isbell" wrote in message
news snip?
However, I was shown a catalogue from Novatech earlier today which
contains PCs that look a bit like 'midi' audio systems, as found in
the high street chains (and typically sold as 'Hi-Fi'). Does anyone
have any experience of this type of system and its suitability for
inclusion in a Hi-Fi system?


I've never used one myself, but these look like hi-fi separates. I can't
seem to find the info on the site about what sound inputs/outputs it has but
it does have at least 1 PCI slot.

Apparently TEAC market a system made by these guys.

http://www.hushtechnologies.net/

Ben

"Chris Isbell" wrote in message
news snip?
However, I was shown a catalogue from Novatech earlier today which
contains PCs that look a bit like 'midi' audio systems, as found in
the high street chains (and typically sold as 'Hi-Fi'). Does anyone
have any experience of this type of system and its suitability for
inclusion in a Hi-Fi system?


I've never used one myself, but these look like hi-fi separates. I can't
seem to find the info on the site about what sound inputs/outputs it has but
it does have at least 1 PCI slot.

Apparently TEAC market a system made by these guys.

http://www.hushtechnologies.net/

Ben

In message , Chris Isbell
writes
On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 12:31:53 +0000 (UTC), "db"
wrote:

Yes, try the Yamaha HD CDr1300 - 120 hours of uncompressed audio. SPDIF &
TOSLINK in and out, and all the bells & whistles. 2 year waranty.

Thanks. I took a look at its specification, price and even read the
user manual.

I could buy a PC for much the same price with S/PDIF I/O and a CD
writer. This would have the advantage of an Ethernet port - a missed
opportunity on the Yamaha device IMHO. It could also use cheaper
media.

This approach would have the advantage of using my existing DAC/ADC
and keeping the analogue signals well away from the PC.

(This idea has also been suggested by other contributors to this
thread.)

The main problems I can see a

* The extra effort required to assemble such a system - especially
the software.

* The fan (and disk) noise typical of most current PC systems.

* The inconvenient form factor, which will not fit well with my Hi-Fi
equipment.

However, I was shown a catalogue from Novatech earlier today which
contains PCs that look a bit like 'midi' audio systems, as found in
the high street chains (and typically sold as 'Hi-Fi'). Does anyone
have any experience of this type of system and its suitability for
inclusion in a Hi-Fi system?

Thanks,



Have a look at www.mini-itx.com

I use the VIA M-series mini-itx board and it is very good (if you can
manage with a 900MHz processor). It has SPDIF out and a pretty good
audio section.

There's some attractive small cases on the website above as well.
--
Chris Morriss