NAS Music Only Setup?

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So I've been collecting a lot of free digital downloads from building up my LP collection... again. I listen to my turntable a lot. but, I do stream a lot too when I'm cleaning up and tinkering around my condo. So, I've been thinking I need to redeem these downloads, but didn't really want to download them to my desktop in the study since I never listen to music in there. Then I heard about a NAS system and this seemed to be the perfect solution... but kind of expensive as I'll only be using it for music and most of the systems I've read about are all purpose every type media streamers and backup. I won't use any of that, just streaming music.

Anyone have a suggestion on the type of set up that would be ideal for such use? Here's the stand disclaimer that I did search the forums for this question and found many posts about NAS but nothing that was really useful, more specific replies to other questions.

Anyway, your experience and help is appreciated.
 
Alternatively, a RaspberryPi running Volumio, with a USB HDD attached, either with a DAC attached directly, or USB DAC.
 
I have a Netgear CM500, no USB out. So the cheap route is out. Some great links, thanks CPT Paranoia. I've read through those threads and based on the experiences, I think the smart money is to do it right the from the start and go NAS. A lot of the other discussed set ups were pretty complicated with many pieces. I'd like to keep it as simple as possible.
 
I"m in my first year with a Synology NAS. It is parked next to my router and connected by an ethernet cable. Two 2tb hard drives in a Raid configuration. Nothing but music. About 1.8TB space available and nearly full so I'm spending time to weed out duplicates and albums I'll never listen to. I use the software that Synergy provided to manage things. All the music shows up on the network. I've got a PC connected to one music system and it is also hardwired to the router. Music system 2 is in the basement, I've got a hand me down laptop with JRiver software that reads the Nas drives over Wi-Fi. The lap top feeds an external DAC that is connected to my preamp. When my wife needs the laptop I connect a chromeCast Audio to the DAC. I can connect to the music anywhere through my cell phone . A bit of a learning curve, but I am pretty happy . A bit pricey. I do not do any streaming yet.
 
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Logitech Media Server (LMS) can run on many NAS platforms like Synology. It then feeds endpoints like the popular Raspberry Pi platform for playback. Along with lesser devices from Chromecast and higher performance models from Sonore like the ultraRendu.

LMS also supports the major streaming services (Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz, etc.) along with internet radio. All via watch/phone/pad based remote control.
 
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I am currently going through this as well, My router has the storage device USB plug, so I installed a 256GB thumb drive for my "jukebox" where my music is stored, I have Kodi access it, running on a disused Kindle fire tablet providing audio from the headphone outputs into my preamp.
I have a Kodi remote running on another kindle fire. so I can control the music from anywhere in the house.
I an looking into an android box for a better solution for the player at the audio rack
 
My Synology NAS is currently music only (but I'm hoping to migrate my photos there in the future should Apple Photo allow NAS storage). So on the music side I also have a Cambridge Audio CXN that allows various streaming services, plays music stored on the NAS using the Cambridge Audio app and has Apple Play. It also serves as a DAC for my CD player. I have yet to include a backup drive for the NAS instead relying on its RAID configuration for redundancy. If I start storing data other than music on the NAS I'm going to implement a backup where I can store the backup drive offsite.
 
I'm similar to those above with the Synology setup. We are about to move into our new house we've been building for the past year and I've got pretty much every room networked back to the master BR closet where my rack is mounted up high. I have a dedicated music room upstairs which is where 90% of music will be listened to at but, overall, my setup is pretty simple and effective for my needs.

A 12U server rack has the Synology DS216j with two 4tb drives in RAID 1. In the same rack is where the punch down panel is for the locations in the house that are hard wired, a 24 port 1GB switch, 8-channel camera DVR, and battery backup. It will also house the internet modem and router once that is installed

Music room has a Dell 3020 SFF i7 computer using the USB output to my Onkyp P-3000R preamp which takes care of the DAC. Computer runs JRiver software to access all the FLAC music files. I mainly use the Gizmo app on my phone and tablet to access all the music so I don't have to always use the computer keyboard to do so. Spotify works the same way with the phone app controlling the desktop app. I also use the computer for browsing upstairs which is how I did in the other house.

Living room isn't really going to have anything more than a basic Yamaha receiver and a pair of either a/d/s L300c's or maybe Klipsch KG 2.2 just for music downstairs. Nothing major. I'll use a Chromecast Audio tied into the Yamaha to stream Spotify. I didn't want some huge a$$ system downstairs cluttering everything up. I might tie in one of my old laptops under the cabinet so I can access JRiver.

Garage will be about the same as the living room but will be a Carver C-2 preamp, M-200t amp, Chromecast Audio, and a basic computer with a monitor. It will access the same stuff as the living room does, JRiver and Spotify.

Overall pretty simple and reasonably inexpensive to set up. Ripping CD's into the server/NAS is what takes the longest; I had about 1300 which is nothing compared to some. Nice part is, you can go to a friends house that also has a bunch of CD's and borrow them for awhile to add to your server. lol
 
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