Using an iOS/Android device as a music server for a Linn DS
Posted: 2011-11-05 09:37
I tried an interesting thing this week. I tested an app on my iPad (2-64) that streams music over upnp to my DS. The app, "media:connect", is pretty useless with all it's limitations in the free version, but it is good enough for a test.
I started the app and downloaded some mp3* files to the server from my NAS. Only three items per folder works, so don't go overboard with the downloads. I only had four albums in mp3 on my NAS, so I could only try 12 songs. When this is done the music is avaliable to the DS. I used Plugplayer for this, as it is so easy to switch servers with it. I added the 12 songs from the media:connect server to my playlist and then the same songs from my NAS.
The difference when playing the songs on my ADS/1 is very interesting indeed. For me there is a substantial difference in both musical performance and sound. Running music from the iPad server reminds me a lot to when I tried a good SSD (Intel G2) in my NAS. Maybe not as good as the SSD, but it's a very similar type of difference. It actually made the mp3 files playable, it extracted music from almost "dead" files. I think my NAS/network is in reasonably good shape, but this is still a better solution, even when running over a wireless network. I find this very interesting! For me it's a reminder that extracting performance from a streaming solution/system is still in it's infancy. I guess there is a lot more to come over the years.
Is there anyone out there who want to try this? If so, what do you think? If you don't have a iOS device, there are similar apps for Android. I did see someone on the Linn forum that had tried a similar app on some Android device. (There was no mention about performance.) If you try this, please answer the poll and report back what device/OS you are running and what apps used. Come on, this is fun stuff! :-)
*I tried with FLAC files, but it didn't work. As this is specified to work I can only assume it's a limitation in the free version. If anyone can get FLAC files to work, please let us know how you did it. I think they work by default in the Android apps.
I started the app and downloaded some mp3* files to the server from my NAS. Only three items per folder works, so don't go overboard with the downloads. I only had four albums in mp3 on my NAS, so I could only try 12 songs. When this is done the music is avaliable to the DS. I used Plugplayer for this, as it is so easy to switch servers with it. I added the 12 songs from the media:connect server to my playlist and then the same songs from my NAS.
The difference when playing the songs on my ADS/1 is very interesting indeed. For me there is a substantial difference in both musical performance and sound. Running music from the iPad server reminds me a lot to when I tried a good SSD (Intel G2) in my NAS. Maybe not as good as the SSD, but it's a very similar type of difference. It actually made the mp3 files playable, it extracted music from almost "dead" files. I think my NAS/network is in reasonably good shape, but this is still a better solution, even when running over a wireless network. I find this very interesting! For me it's a reminder that extracting performance from a streaming solution/system is still in it's infancy. I guess there is a lot more to come over the years.
Is there anyone out there who want to try this? If so, what do you think? If you don't have a iOS device, there are similar apps for Android. I did see someone on the Linn forum that had tried a similar app on some Android device. (There was no mention about performance.) If you try this, please answer the poll and report back what device/OS you are running and what apps used. Come on, this is fun stuff! :-)
*I tried with FLAC files, but it didn't work. As this is specified to work I can only assume it's a limitation in the free version. If anyone can get FLAC files to work, please let us know how you did it. I think they work by default in the Android apps.