Home Audio receiver Question

[cashflyer]

I've been thinking of replacing my home audio receiver.
I want one that not only receives FM, but that also has the ability to play directly from a USB drive like my car stereo does.

I see several models, such as this one for example, with a USB receptacle on it, but I have a question...
Denon AVR-E200 5.1-channel home theater receiver at Crutchfield.com


The adverts say things like, "listen to a portable music player via the front-panel minijack input" and "iPodŽ integration through front-panel USB input".

Can any of these units play directly from a USB drive, or do they all require an ipod or similar player to decode and send the data stream into the DAC?

[RennSport911rsa]

I cant imagine how it wouldn't...it's not like the USB is decoding anything, it's just the portal for the data to flow through

Best Budget Home Theater Receivers - AV - Surround Sound Receivers $399 or Less


I recently got the Yamaha for a guest bedroom in my home and it is a fantastic unit

[cashflyer]

I guess in my mind, an iPod sends the data, like a "line out" signal. The USB drive cannot do anything on it's own; it is just a storage medium. The Receiver would have to fetch that data some how, like accessing a hard drive. Thus, why I had the question.

I see in your link that the Yamaha and others state they DO access the flash drive directly. Thanks for that!

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by cashflyer

I guess in my mind, an iPod sends the data, like a "line out" signal. The USB drive cannot do anything on it's own; it is just a storage medium. The Receiver would have to fetch that data some how, like accessing a hard drive. Thus, why I had the question.

I see in your link that the Yamaha states it DOES access the flash drive directly. Thanks for that!

A friend of mine bought a receiver which does all this wireless.

It was an upper end HT unit, less than $1,000.............think it was a Denon.

[Scott Douglas]

I never tried plugging a usb stick right into my Pioneer unit. I did play my iPod thru it though.
I haven't tried a usb stick directly into the car either for that matter.
Might be time to try that.

[Scott R]

How nuts do want to go?

The USB stick plugs into the touch panel that I undock from the wall.

[scottmandue]

I play Pandora with my Andriod pluged into the front "video/audio" RCA jacks on my home Pioneer reciever.

My Alpine in my car has a USB and aparently can use the up-down-left-right buttons to access the folders on the USB.

Never tried the USB on the home unit.

[cashflyer]

Originally Posted by Scott R

How nuts do want to go?

Wow... I just want to play my tunes in the hangar without having to load up my antique carousel. (which is how I do it now)

Actually the carousel IS getting pretty long in the tooth, and the hangar is a dusty environment. I'm getting lots of skipping, even on discs that are fin in other players. I like the solid state-ness of the USB drive.

[RennSport911rsa]

Originally Posted by cashflyer

I guess in my mind, an iPod sends the data, like a "line out" signal. The USB drive cannot do anything on it's own; it is just a storage medium. The Receiver would have to fetch that data some how, like accessing a hard drive. Thus, why I had the question.

I see in your link that the Yamaha and others state they DO access the flash drive directly. Thanks for that!

I see what you mean. I.E. will the receiver recognize the USB is plugged in and start 'playing' its data without a source to tell it to play the data? Good question for Crutchfield. My guess is it sees when it is plugged in, gives you an on screen menu that lets you then select play. Speaking of which something to look for....some units ONLY let you access things onscreen. Which can be problematic if you don't have an HDMI connector on your tv. Other units will let you access menus on screen and on their own lcd display...the Yamaha does this thankfully, since currently I haven't "upgraded" this guest bedroom to hdmi yet.

There were few on that list that specifically mention it

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by cashflyer

Wow... I just want to play my tunes in the hangar without having to load up my antique carousel. (which is how I do it now)

Actually the carousel IS getting pretty long in the tooth, and the hangar is a dusty environment. I'm getting lots of skipping, even on discs that are fin in other players. I like the solid state-ness of the USB drive.

My car unit streams bluetooth... dust free but not very HIFI, but then I'm listening to podcast of lectures and don't know if all the noise is the source material or the BT.

They make some pretty good hard drive media players now... let me check.

***

I'm back... kinda complicated... (I have been looking into loading all my CD's onto a hard drive to play through my home theater), you can get a external media player/hard drive but you would need some kind of monitor to look at the menus... a simpler solution might be a beefy MP3 or iPod and plug that into the AUX of the amp (or most have a audio/video port on the front now)... depends on how much you want to spend, how much music you want to store, and how HIFI you want to go... kinda sounds like our cars doesn't it?

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by cashflyer

Wow... I just want to play my tunes in the hangar without having to load up my antique carousel. (which is how I do it now)

Actually the carousel IS getting pretty long in the tooth, and the hangar is a dusty environment. I'm getting lots of skipping, even on discs that are fin in other players. I like the solid state-ness of the USB drive.

I REALLY love my music and movies.

[JAR0023]

I recently updated my receiver to an Onkyo ??626. It handles a USB stick very well. With a TV in the mix all of the menus are displayed. If not they print out on the receiver but you are limited to one level visible. I actually find myself using the Onkyo android app when listening to USB because you can scroll through artists, albums and tracks much faster and each level is searchable. I have a few hundred albums on a 128g stick. The app works if you have the receiver connected to your WiFi router. -J

[beepbeep]

I have a couple of these:

Sonos Play:5 review - Engadget

it works really well. No remote controls, no speaker cables, USB-connections etc.

I can instruct it to play web radio, my own MP3's or music from Spotify. I can do it through IPhone, Pad, laptop or whatever that supports their app. I can group all of them to play the same thing or let them play different things in different rooms. And if I ever think that built-in speakers are not enough (which they are in 99% of case), there is a Sonos Amp that can be connected to external speakers.
Best of all, they are completely stand-alone so I don't have to keep my device feeding the data to them (except if I want them to play mp3's, which they read off a small server). You can switch off your phone/laptop/ipad and it keeps on playing.

I also have a reciever/speaker/media player/stuff combo that I don't bother using anymore. Why fiddle with all the controls when all I need to do is take my phone and say "play that in that room" and boom, it does.

[cairns]

Friends don't let friends buy from Crutchfield. They sell obsolete (they still sell 5.1?) equipment at giga retail prices. There are literally hundreds better for both sales and advice. Here are a few:

Music Direct | Audiophile Hardware, Vinyl Records and Analog Gear | (800) 449-8333

Audio Advisor

AudiogoN - The High-end Audio Community

AudioWaves, the finest in affordable audio

[djnolan]

The ipod is performing the role of an mp3 player. It has a cpu and a memory and turns digital media into a digital signal.

The receiver is just an amplifier with a digital to analog converter- taking in the digital signal from the usb port and amplifying and outputting to the speakers.

If you are in the market for a new receiver you may also want FM and digital FM radio. And XM/Sirius, too. But I guess internet radio is pretty good now, too.

[cashflyer]

Thanks guys.... you have answered my primary question, and have given me some good product ideas to research!!