I found and read this thread -all of it- last night. I would like to thank all that have contributed with their time and knowledge to this project. It is something I have been dreaming about even before SD came up with the SB.
I completely agree with John Swenson's approach that "player" should have a top notch DAC inside. Although many of us have external DACs I see no necessity whatsoever for it to be this way -- on the contrary, I see MANY advantages if already inside. With the available hardware today it seems quite a few can/will come up with "players" with a digital out to an external DAC. The strengths of this project should come from 1) quality ("audiophile grade") 2) software robustness and functionality 3) versatility. 1 and 2 will be met with the competence of the people involved here. I would like to emphasize the 3rd point. It would be very convenient if the "player" could have: 1) a very good analog input (here again the question if unbalanced and/or balanced: what I like about a modular system is that you would only add the card you need). Still lots of people have radios, hook an ipod/phone, etc. One at least - probably external module. 2) an external digital input, SPDIF. One. 2a) an input selector. 3) digital outputs: now planned USB, SPDIF and Toslink (I would drop the third, and will not use any of them, but maybe for the sake of flexibility.) 4) a linear PSU sold as a module (pcb + trafo) to be installed inside the chassis as an option. If sold as a "kit" no need to worry about CE, etc (i think). Voltages for all cards... 5) big one for me: multichannel analog output. I think this is where DIY audio is moving to, just look at the activity/success of the miniDSP, DCX2496, PC based solutions, etc. I wonder if the multiple DACs on the card John is working at now could be configured for multichannel out. If not, a multiple ch output card would be great. Maybe cards with 4 channels. One card 1 = 2 two way system. Two cards: 3 way system + subs. The chips he chose allow DSP but I am not shure how capable they are and if they could be programmed trough the Wandboards software. Perhaps doing the DSP on the Wandboard be more convenient from a computational/interface point of view. Maybe what I list can be considered is too much for a gen1 or even for a gen2/3 "player". I like the modular concept, although for cost reasons i think it should include as much as possible on the main platform too. I think it is convenient to look at the "player" in a broader context: for some it would be a replacement SB "player", for some a "modern pre-amp", for some a "digital crossover with extras", it just depends how you look at it. S. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ S.Ochoa's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=60021 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=97881 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss