Play digital files without network?

[ericd]

I know there must be an answer to this already posted but I can't find it.

 

I thought this would be dead easy but none of the options I can see seem to support it.

 

All I am looking for is a player that can play music files from an attached external SSD drive. That's all.

 

I thought the Squeezebox could do it, but it can't.

 

I thought a Bluesound would do it, but even their own help site advises against it. I don't want to mess around with networks, wi-fi etc.

 

At the moment I plug my portable DAP into my amp and it works fine except obviously the storage capacity is limited. I'd like the same kind of thing but be able to have all my digital files stored on a large capacity SSD.

 

Surely there's a device that does this simple thing well and reliably? With or without DAC is fine.

Edited May 14, 2020 by ericd

[Decky]

Oppo or any other player with a USB input. You will need a TV or monitor to make play selections tough. 

Edited May 14, 2020 by Decky

[ericd]

28 minutes ago, Decky said:

Oppo or any other player with a USB input.

Thanks Decky. I also assumed this, but it turns out that not all players with USB input do this well. The SBT for example will play OK from a small flash drive or SD card, but not a large capacity SSD drive (eg 1TB). I also tried with a powered external HDD  and the SBT did not like it at all. It should work in theory but the forums are full of similar frustrations and generally advise against using this method and recommend going by wifi network instead (which just wouldn't suit my situation). Bluesound's own help forum says the same thing for their player.

 

Have you had better experience with the Oppo?

 

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by ericd

[pwstereo]

1 hour ago, ericd said:

The SBT for example will play OK from a small flash drive or SD card, but not a large capacity SSD drive (eg 1TB).

Is that a shortcoming of the OS on the player not being able to see larger drive partitions, or is it a formatting issue with the drive? Have you tried using FAT32 as the format of the drive?

Have you checked for firmware/software updates for the player/device that might enable working with larger drive sizes?

 

[rocky500]

How about a Aries Mini?

Only Apple iphone/ipad compatible. But could possibly buy a cheap ipad 2nd hand to use to control it?

 

https://darko.audio/2018/08/absolute-beginners-whats-better-than-a-sonos-connect/

[blybo]

3 hours ago, ericd said:

I thought a Bluesound would do it, but even their own help site advises against it. I don't want to mess around with networks, wi-fi etc.

I know @betty boop coonects a HDD to his Bluesound, but AFAIK, you are still going to need WiFi to control it from your phone/tablet.

[betty boop]

2 minutes ago, blybo said:

I know @betty boop coonects a HDD to his Bluesound, but AFAIK, you are still going to need WiFi to control it from your phone/tablet.

yes thats all i do... I dont know to be honest if the blue sound can work at all without a network.

 

I do know it can generate a network of its own to connect to via phone and iPad but suspect needs a network still. 

 

@ericd I used a sony media player box thing that you had to load media onto(via network  but once done it didn't need a network to work or play music. so devices out there ...  id check in with @Geoff@HeyNow Hi-Fi am sure can confirm on the blue sound side as pretty up with things there. 

[pwstereo]

You could do it with a Raspberry Pi 4 and player software, but it's just so much easier with a network and remote management via a phone/pc/tablet.

 

Things like Volumio can have a local touch screen on the R Pi, but I think it's clumsy compared to the app on a phone or a browser on other devices. The Volumio on R Pi setup has a local hotspot that your phone can connect to, but it's intended for the first phase of setup and config, not intended as an ongoing management connection.

 

What about an old and cheap laptop running some player software? You'd not need a network for that.

[aussievintage]

All modern phones can do this.  Android anyway Plug an OTG adapter between the phone and the drive, and connect an audio cable, use use bluetooth to connect to an amp.  If you want to connect the audio via USB as well as a connect a drive you might be able to do that using a USB hub.

[ericd]

Thanks for all the tips. I maybe wasn't specific enough about what I did and didn't want in my initial post, due to not knowing the correct terminology.

But all appreciated.

Cheers

[rocky500]

13 minutes ago, ericd said:

Thanks for all the tips. I maybe wasn't specific enough about what I did and didn't want in my initial post, due to not knowing the correct terminology.

But all appreciated.

Cheers

You mentioned no network, so not sure if the Aires Mini can be used without and just using an iphone or ipad to control it? Talking direct and controlling the mini.

Edited May 15, 2020 by rocky500

[ericd]

Yes I might look into that, I notice you can install a SSD internally so it might be just what I am looking for.

 

The SBT just seems like too much messing about to get this to work properly, which I would have realised had I done my research in advance. I just assumed it would be plug and play, no more complicated to set up than a CD player. I'm cursed when it comes to anything to do with wifi networks. It's purely personal preference. I don't intend to use streaming services, just play files I download from bandcamp. Using a phone or tablet to search and choose the album and press play is the extent of what I need.

 

EDIT- OK, going to be a bit more patient and give the SBT a chance before abandoning it.

 

Thanks for the input, got me to realise any mode of setting up digital playback is going to take a bit of effort to set up!

Edited May 15, 2020 by ericd

[Decky]

6 hours ago, ericd said:

Thanks Decky. I also assumed this, but it turns out that not all players with USB input do this well. The SBT for example will play OK from a small flash drive or SD card, but not a large capacity SSD drive (eg 1TB). I also tried with a powered external HDD  and the SBT did not like it at all. It should work in theory but the forums are full of similar frustrations and generally advise against using this method and recommend going by wifi network instead (which just wouldn't suit my situation). Bluesound's own help forum says the same thing for their player.

 

Have you had better experience with the Oppo?

 

 

Yes I did -Oppo works fine with NTFS or FAT32 formatted drives. I used BDP105 as a HDD player/streamer for a while. The issue is with HDD formatting and what the player software can recognise. FAT32 has a limit on drive size and OS can further limit the partition size. It is generally applicable only to smaller USB thumb drives.   NTFS should be fine on all drive sizes and shapes, so the best thing is to look for players that support that on their USB input. 

[firedog]

7 hours ago, pwstereo said:

Is that a shortcoming of the OS on the player not being able to see larger drive partitions, or is it a formatting issue with the drive? Have you tried using FAT32 as the format of the drive?

Have you checked for firmware/software updates for the player/device that might enable working with larger drive sizes?

 

The SBT and RPi can do it, but they sometimes don't have enough power to power an external device that doesn't have it's own power supply. The SBT also doesn't work well with large capacity drives (large in terms of 10 years ago tech).

I'm pretty sure the SOtM streamers, the Volumio Primo, and the pro-ject  Steam Box S2 Ultra, can all stream from external storage attached via USB.  These are all newer device desinged for this. Should work OK. 

Edited May 15, 2020 by firedog

[pwstereo]

15 hours ago, firedog said:

The SBT and RPi can do it

Yeah, I use a R Pi 3B+ and DAC hat myself with an attached USB drive. It works a treat.

[ericd]

7 hours ago, pwstereo said:

Yeah, I use a R Pi 3B+ and DAC hat myself with an attached USB drive. It works a treat.

What size USB drive can you use without problems?

[pwstereo]

21 hours ago, ericd said:

What size USB drive can you use without problems?

Personally I've only used a 1 TB external USB drive on mine. But I found this information on the official Raspberry Pi suppirt forum.

"There is no practical size limit, but limits may be imposed by the file system (for example FAT32 only supports up to 2TB by default, and file sizes less than 4GB). The ext4 file system is very popular in Linux, and there are no drives that are too big for that (now, or in the foreseeable future). The exFAT and NTFS file system used in Windows also work fine on a 4TB HDD (but will require you to install some additional software).

[aussievintage]

10 minutes ago, pwstereo said:

The ext4 file system is very popular in Linux, and there are no drives that are too big for that (now, or in the foreseeable future).

yeah, it can handle about an exabyte.

[Student of Mohan]

OPPO BDP-95 with 2TB NTFS external HDD via eSATA output to DAC via coax (24 192 max) still works a treat.

BUT, the BDP-95 coax output is NOT bit perfect if audio over HDMI output is enabled (think this is by default). Turn off HDMI audio out in settings and coax becomes bit perfect. Do not know if this is the case with later models.

Remote is an afterthought, should have replaced it immediately, not gapless playback and folder view for selection is a bit of a pain but it sounds great and is reliable.

 

[Bones2]

I'm using an Aries G1 with a powered HDD attached.

In order to run the iOS app to have file management on a remote device, I have attached a cheap wi-fi router to the Aries which talks to the iPad.

This is not connected to the NBN or the rest of home network.

Minimal network setup required.

 

 

 

[PeterB7858]

Hi, I have a Cambridge CXN V1 streamer and it works fine with a 1TB SSD plugged directly into its type A USB slot. You could access your music directly using the CXN remote and the screen but it comes with a WiFi dongle and it is much easier to control via their StreamMagic IOS app. It’s a bit clunky but it works. 
I tried WiFi from my MacMini running Audirvana (located in another room) but the wireless N dongle struggles with 24/192 files. 
I have also tried using a dedicated MacBook Pro with Audirvana connected to the CXN via USB (sounded unbalanced), Ethernet (sounded good with Supra Cat 8+ cable) and optical (couldn’t get it to work) but it was a complex solution and, in the end, I think the direct input SSD sounds just as good. 
The CXN automatically upsamples any audio input to 24/384 using their proprietary algorithm so, to me, Audirvana became a bit redundant. 
Many streamers seem to come with type A USB inputs for local HD connection, and to date, my investigations seem to suggest that this will provide the best sound with minimum fuss. 
Any thoughts, anyone?

Regards, Peter

CXN (as digital preamp) into rebuilt Plinius III power amp running PMC Twenty5.21's with REL T/7i.

[lemarquis]

I sympathise with the Network thing. Just wondering why you wouldn't just connect a PC or laptop via USB to a DAC then into the amp? You could attach any number of external drives to the computer and run something like JRiver on the computer. Or am I missing something? 

[ericd]

You are right. I thought a computer was overkill for such a simple task. But as it turns out it would probably be the easiest and cheapest solution . A Raspberry Pi type thing would be ideal but just looking at the set up tutorials gives me a headache.

 

In the meantime, I'm trying to learn to stop worrying and love the network. Contrary to my assumptions, setting up a network is actually easier than the type of arrangement I initially had in mind.