The next component, your opinions please.

[draperture]

First post.

I am interested in a digital playback unit that would use a memory device such as USB.

This would replace the CD player in an Adcom system and would need a composite output.

Anything out there?

Thanks.

 

[dpaws]

Be aware - some players that advertise USB support can only accept a FAT32 formatted USB drive which would limit your storage capacity to 32GB.

 

Fine for MP3's but fairly useless for a lossless / FLAC music collection.

 

[bill_s]

Absolutely wrong regarding fat32 HD size limit. Without getting overly technical, the accepted limit for a fat32 HD is 2TB. Just realize that Microsoft Windows Format tools will not format a disk larger than 32GB, they prefer you use NTFS. So, though you cannot format a fat32 disk larger than 32GB using Windows, you can if you start a command line session, i.e. the MS-DOS Prompt. There are also 3rd-party MS Windows-based partition/format tools that will do the format if you do not want to use the MS-DOS command line.

 

[GrahamJohnMiles]

Interestingly, the latest Compact Flash 5 48 bit addressing standard allows for a CF storage capacity of 144 Petabytes. That would store everything written by mankind three times over. If it comes in our lifetime we'll be able to have every piece of music ever recorded in Hi-Def on a single card. I expect we'll also be able to say goodbye to mp3 at that point.

 

[mayhem13]

All of the Oppo players and the Marantz NA7004 can playback from a USB drive BUT as mentioned above, these drives must be Fat32 formatted. No worries though as there's plenty of freeware that allows you to do it from a PC.

 

The Oppos have some really cool features and the optical SACD/BD/DVD A drive is a nice added touch but searching through files is clunky and must be done using a monitor or TV

 

The Marantz allows for control via an iPad or similiar but I'm not sure if it displays like the ITunes remote app or a file tree like the Oppo.

 

My opinion would be given the cost of these, a repurposed PC would be the better option equipped with a playback front end that offers iPad/Android control.