Thank you for this post.
I bought 4 new Dockstar for 60 € in Germany when they were sold off last year.
Each one has 4 usb ports managed by one usb controller.
Why two Dockstar for the music?
- usually the Dockstar boots on a usb storage (key, hdd). But, I did not want the usb controller to be shared with the usb transport (April Stello U3) to be sure to get the best flow. So the mpd Dockstar boots on the network by tftp (have to say the 2 Dockstar are connected together by the Ethernet gigabit port). So its usb port (and controller) is completely dedicated to the April Stello U3.
- the tftp server function is assumed by a second Dockstar equipped with an usb disk and a small usb wifi key. On this NAS Dockstar, I have also installed an NFS server and a webdavs server. So I can remotely store on it all my music collection also accessible by the mpd Dockstar.
- with some adjustments made on the NAS Dockstar (masquerade), the mpd server Dockstar music playback and playlists are controlled by every house computers (mac/pc/whatever) and smartphones by just entering its ip.
I am delighted with the sound. Thanks to the April Stello U3 + V-dac. It is much much better than my old CEC 480 CD player.
Decoding 44.1 KHz flac files takes ~ 1.5-2.5% time processor - 96 kHz 5% - 192 kHz 11-12%
Of course, I could not make this possible without the help of
Jeff tips and forum.
Actually the GoFlex Net (1 usb port and 2 sata ports) can do almost the same in one piece except for the WiFi.