plug and listen

[C a r b u r o]

Hi all there,

I have a wish...
is there something on the market that works like a little home-decoder
and player for compressed audio files (APE, FLAC, OGG, MPEG...) with
good D/A performances, good RCA pre outs, a diplay for managing files,
with no on-board memory.
I mean with USB and Firewire connections, just to plug in your USB flash
memory or hard disk when you are at home and listen.
Maybe with an upgradable firmware, useful when a new audio format comes.

I wish to plug something like this to my preamp at home... ;)

Thanks for your answers.


PS:
To audio equipment designers: why not to put an usb port on preamps and
integrated amps in the future, with on-board decoding capability?

[Pooh Bear]

C a r b u r o wrote:

> Hi all there,
>
> I have a wish...
> is there something on the market that works like a little home-decoder
> and player for compressed audio files (APE, FLAC, OGG, MPEG...) with
> good D/A performances, good RCA pre outs, a diplay for managing files,
> with no on-board memory.
> I mean with USB and Firewire connections, just to plug in your USB flash
> memory or hard disk when you are at home and listen.
> Maybe with an upgradable firmware, useful when a new audio format comes.
>
> I wish to plug something like this to my preamp at home... ;)
>
> Thanks for your answers.

Microsoft would have you buy a PC with Media Center installed.

The problem of dealing with ever changing media formats has almost certainly
been the reason tha no-one's tried this other than to provide CD players (
and DVD ) that play mp3 too. It's eay to install a new codec on a PC but
just try that on a piece of hardware.

Graham

[C a r b u r o]

"Pooh Bear" > ha scritto nel
messaggio ...
>
>
> C a r b u r o wrote:
>
>> Hi all there,
>>
>> I have a wish...
>> is there something on the market that works like a little home-decoder
>> and player for compressed audio files (APE, FLAC, OGG, MPEG...) with
>> good D/A performances, good RCA pre outs, a diplay for managing files,
>> with no on-board memory.
>> I mean with USB and Firewire connections, just to plug in your USB flash
>> memory or hard disk when you are at home and listen.
>> Maybe with an upgradable firmware, useful when a new audio format comes.
>>
>> I wish to plug something like this to my preamp at home... ;)
>>
>> Thanks for your answers.
>
> Microsoft would have you buy a PC with Media Center installed.
>
> The problem of dealing with ever changing media formats has almost
> certainly
> been the reason tha no-one's tried this other than to provide CD players
> (
> and DVD ) that play mp3 too. It's eay to install a new codec on a PC but
> just try that on a piece of hardware.
>
> Graham

Thanks for your answer, Graham,
I didn't mean a pc, with it's sophistication, unreliability and N O I S E.
I understand what you mean about new codecs, but I think it's not so hard to
develop a linux-embedded system (do you know tomtom go?) easily ugradable,
stable and easy to use.
So hard?

[Ruud Broens]

"C a r b u r o" > wrote in message
...
:
: "Pooh Bear" > ha scritto nel
: messaggio ...
: >
: >
: > C a r b u r o wrote:
: >
: >> Hi all there,
: >>
: >> I have a wish...
: >> is there something on the market that works like a little home-decoder
: >> and player for compressed audio files (APE, FLAC, OGG, MPEG...) with
: >> good D/A performances, good RCA pre outs, a diplay for managing files,
: >> with no on-board memory.
: >> I mean with USB and Firewire connections, just to plug in your USB flash
: >> memory or hard disk when you are at home and listen.
: >> Maybe with an upgradable firmware, useful when a new audio format comes.
: >>
: >> I wish to plug something like this to my preamp at home... ;)
: >>
: >> Thanks for your answers.
: >
: > Microsoft would have you buy a PC with Media Center installed.
: >
: > The problem of dealing with ever changing media formats has almost
: > certainly
: > been the reason tha no-one's tried this other than to provide CD players
: > (
: > and DVD ) that play mp3 too. It's eay to install a new codec on a PC but
: > just try that on a piece of hardware.
: >
: > Graham
:
: Thanks for your answer, Graham,
: I didn't mean a pc, with it's sophistication, unreliability and N O I S E.
: I understand what you mean about new codecs, but I think it's not so hard to
: develop a linux-embedded system (do you know tomtom go?) easily ugradable,
: stable and easy to use.
: So hard?

it isn't and Graham is wrong - many dvd players, for instance, can be
software upgraded (just start it up with new software on a cd that's inserted)
and frankly, it is the only sensible way to go - the obsolence card has been
played
too many times by the industry - consumers don't buy it anymore ;-)

Rudy

[C a r b u r o]

> it isn't and Graham is wrong - many dvd players, for instance, can be
> software upgraded (just start it up with new software on a cd that's
> inserted)
> and frankly, it is the only sensible way to go - the obsolence card has
> been
> played
> too many times by the industry - consumers don't buy it anymore ;-)

Very interesting...
Can u suggest some players with this feature?
Thanks.

[Kalman Rubinson]

On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 20:06:36 +0100, "C a r b u r o" > wrote:

>
>> it isn't and Graham is wrong - many dvd players, for instance, can be
>> software upgraded (just start it up with new software on a cd that's
>> inserted)
>> and frankly, it is the only sensible way to go - the obsolence card has
>> been
>> played
>> too many times by the industry - consumers don't buy it anymore ;-)
>
>Very interesting...
>Can u suggest some players with this feature?

I have upgraded two Denon players this way. Downloaded files from the
website, burned CDRs and stuck them in.

Kal

[Ruud Broens]

"Kalman Rubinson" > wrote in message
...
: On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 20:06:36 +0100, "C a r b u r o" > wrote:
:
: >
: >> it isn't and Graham is wrong - many dvd players, for instance, can be
: >> software upgraded (just start it up with new software on a cd that's
: >> inserted)
: >> and frankly, it is the only sensible way to go - the obsolence card has
: >> been
: >> played
: >> too many times by the industry - consumers don't buy it anymore ;-)
: >
: >Very interesting...
: >Can u suggest some players with this feature?
:
: I have upgraded two Denon players this way. Downloaded files from the
: website, burned CDRs and stuck them in.
:
: Kal

Most of the Philips players can do likewise.
Rudy

[Arny Krueger]

"Ruud Broens" > wrote in message

> "Kalman Rubinson" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 20:06:36 +0100, "C a r b u r o"
>> > wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>> it isn't and Graham is wrong - many dvd players, for
>>>> instance, can be software upgraded (just start it up
>>>> with new software on a cd that's inserted)
>>>> and frankly, it is the only sensible way to go - the
>>>> obsolence card has been
>>>> played
>>>> too many times by the industry - consumers don't buy
>>>> it anymore ;-)
>>>
>>> Very interesting...
>>> Can u suggest some players with this feature?
>>
>> I have upgraded two Denon players this way. Downloaded
>> files from the website, burned CDRs and stuck them in.
>>
>> Kal
>
> Most of the Philips players can do likewise.

Which begs the question why this would have any purpose other than:

"Ooops, we goofed!"

[Harry Lavo]

"Arny Krueger" > wrote in message
...
> "Ruud Broens" > wrote in message
>
>> "Kalman Rubinson" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 20:06:36 +0100, "C a r b u r o"
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>> it isn't and Graham is wrong - many dvd players, for
>>>>> instance, can be software upgraded (just start it up
>>>>> with new software on a cd that's inserted)
>>>>> and frankly, it is the only sensible way to go - the
>>>>> obsolence card has been
>>>>> played
>>>>> too many times by the industry - consumers don't buy
>>>>> it anymore ;-)
>>>>
>>>> Very interesting...
>>>> Can u suggest some players with this feature?
>>>
>>> I have upgraded two Denon players this way. Downloaded
>>> files from the website, burned CDRs and stuck them in.
>>>
>>> Kal
>>
>> Most of the Philips players can do likewise.
>
> Which begs the question why this would have any purpose other than:
>
> "Ooops, we goofed!"

In the digital world, it seems "to err" is too human.

You would rather they save face and never fix an error, Arny?

[Kalman Rubinson]

On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 17:59:06 -0500, "Arny Krueger" >
wrote:

>> Most of the Philips players can do likewise.
>
>Which begs the question why this would have any purpose other than:
>
>"Ooops, we goofed!"

Or "Ooops, we could not see into the future." The updates I
installed were for new features.

Kal

[Arny Krueger]

"Harry Lavo" > wrote in message

> "Arny Krueger" > wrote in message
> ...
>> "Ruud Broens" > wrote in message
>>
>>> "Kalman Rubinson" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>> On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 20:06:36 +0100, "C a r b u r o"
>>>> > wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> it isn't and Graham is wrong - many dvd players, for
>>>>>> instance, can be software upgraded (just start it up
>>>>>> with new software on a cd that's inserted)
>>>>>> and frankly, it is the only sensible way to go - the
>>>>>> obsolence card has been
>>>>>> played
>>>>>> too many times by the industry - consumers don't buy
>>>>>> it anymore ;-)
>>>>>
>>>>> Very interesting...
>>>>> Can u suggest some players with this feature?
>>>>
>>>> I have upgraded two Denon players this way. Downloaded
>>>> files from the website, burned CDRs and stuck them in.
>>>>
>>>> Kal
>>>
>>> Most of the Philips players can do likewise.
>>
>> Which begs the question why this would have any purpose
>> other than: "Ooops, we goofed!"
>
> In the digital world, it seems "to err" is too human.
>
> You would rather they save face and never fix an error,

Never had a CD player that had an error that a firmware change could fix.

I guess that comes from not buying high end products, eh?

[Arny Krueger]

"Kalman Rubinson" > wrote in message

> On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 17:59:06 -0500, "Arny Krueger"
> > wrote:
>
>>> Most of the Philips players can do likewise.
>>
>> Which begs the question why this would have any purpose
>> other than:
>>
>> "Ooops, we goofed!"
>
> Or "Ooops, we could not see into the future." The
> updates I installed were for new features.

In the case of simple products like a CD player, I can live a product that
does everything that was claimed for it when I bought it.

[Kalman Rubinson]

On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 19:33:39 -0500, "Arny Krueger" >
wrote:

>In the case of simple products like a CD player, I can live a product that
>does everything that was claimed for it when I bought it.

It did but let me give you a specific example. The Denon player was
shipped with the current version of the proprietary Denon-Link. When
added features (mch DVD-A and SACD digital output) were approved by
the necessary outside agents (Sony and others who were in no hurry to
do so), Denon made them available for download and installation.

I think this is admirable in principle and in practice.

Kal

[Ruud Broens]

"Arny Krueger" > wrote in message
...
: "Harry Lavo" > wrote in message
:
: > "Arny Krueger" > wrote in message
: > ...
: >> "Ruud Broens" > wrote in message
: >>
: >>> "Kalman Rubinson" > wrote in message
: >>> ...
: >>>> On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 20:06:36 +0100, "C a r b u r o"
: >>>> > wrote:
: >>>>
: >>>>>
: >>>>>> it isn't and Graham is wrong - many dvd players, for
: >>>>>> instance, can be software upgraded (just start it up
: >>>>>> with new software on a cd that's inserted)
: >>>>>> and frankly, it is the only sensible way to go - the
: >>>>>> obsolence card has been
: >>>>>> played
: >>>>>> too many times by the industry - consumers don't buy
: >>>>>> it anymore ;-)
: >>>>>
: >>>>> Very interesting...
: >>>>> Can u suggest some players with this feature?
: >>>>
: >>>> I have upgraded two Denon players this way. Downloaded
: >>>> files from the website, burned CDRs and stuck them in.
: >>>>
: >>>> Kal
: >>>
: >>> Most of the Philips players can do likewise.
: >>
: >> Which begs the question why this would have any purpose
: >> other than: "Ooops, we goofed!"
: >
: > In the digital world, it seems "to err" is too human.
: >
: > You would rather they save face and never fix an error,
:
: Never had a CD player that had an error that a firmware change could fix.
:
: I guess that comes from not buying high end products, eh?
:
maybe some high end glasses would help ? it did say *dvd* players ;-)
an example is the Philips DVP 5900 multiformat player, about Euro 110,
recently released, now an update is available for divX 6 supporting
socalled media format extentions - that format wasn't around when the
player was developed, so what's this "fix an error" got to do with it ??

R.