Again, I'm not blaming the above-noted problems on you know who I quite honestly don't know where the blame lies. On the other hand, if dropped or misplaced music tracks (a problem I have encountered with many of the WAV and FLAC music files I have ripped over the years), lost album artwork, various format compatibility problems, plus the electronic pops and ticks that seem inherent to the computer audio experience have yet to endear you to the new medium, the latest generation of music servers may offer a glimmer of hope. Indeed, this e-zine counts more than a few such computer-savvy audiophiles amongst its impressive roster of contributors (and it may very well be the case that my personal skill set remains hopelessly ill-suited to mastering the deeper in-and-outs of computer audio). If you consider yourself a computer-savvy audiophile conversant with system set-up and configuration protocols, and don't mind the nuts-and-bolts tinkering that remains part and parcel of the Media Center experience, then this review will not likely be of much interest to you. Rather, I am of the mind that the latter is best suited to computer users who don't mind configuring their playback software and systems to meet their individual storage and playback needs. Please note that I am not criticizing in any way Media Center's sound quality, which I find to be first-rate. Yes, the software's architecture is extremely flexible and affords users a high degree of control when configuring their computer-based (or Baetis Music Server-based) systems, but at times I find the system difficult to navigate. Not to put too sharp a point on things, but I sometimes find Media Center to be counterintuitive in daily use.
Nor am I a fan of JRiver's Media Center software, despite its capacity to deliver excellent sound in a properly configured system. But getting all these elements to align is not a given, and can at times prove a genuine pain.Īlthough my Dell laptop/JRiver 20/Cambridge 851D (the latter having recently replaced a TEAC UD-H01 USB DAC) setup can deliver excellent sound, I am not at all a fan of the frequent electronic pops and ticks that mar digital replay via the Dell. When all the stars align, meaning a musical alignment of one's chosen computer and operating software, one's chosen hard drive(s), and one's chosen DAC, not to mention digital cables and power cords, computer-based music playback can yield impressive results. Navigating the New Digital Highway with the Lumin D1 Audiophile Network Music Playerįor the past year or so, I have grown increasingly frustrated with the theoretical promise but pragmatic limitations of computer-based audio playback.