There is no remote control you’ll need a tablet computer or smart phone for that. It also eliminates the need for a separate shelf on your equipment rack. I suspect that many audiophiles will appreciate that configuration, since it eliminates the need for two separate components, as well as a cable to connect them. The Tiki combines the player part of the server with an internal DAC. The Tiki’s bright blue rear panel is fairly austere, too there are left and right channel outputs (both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA jacks), a ground-lift switch, which may be useful in minimizing noise, an Ethernet input, an IEC power connector, and the on/off switch. Except for a large engraved “Plinius” label and a blue pilot light, the Tiki’s front panel is blank. You can have any color Tiki you want as long as it’s black or silver. The Tiki follows the styling design used in most other Plinius components: a front panel that curves back into the sides of the unit. From Wikipedia: “A NAS unit is a computer connected to a network that provides only file-based data storage services to other devices on the network.” If you have to buy a NAS to use with the Tiki, it can be a sizeable additional expense, depending on the number of drives involved and the size of the drives. First, you must have a wired Ethernet network in your home as well as Wi-Fi, and second, you need a device called a network attached storage unit (or NAS for short) connected to your network. Like any design choice, there are tradeoffs. I would add that using network storage for your music files lets you load and retrieve those files from any device attached to the network. Plinius cites its reasoning for picking network storage for the Tiki as isolation, clock configuration, simplicity of design, cable lengths, and multi-room capability. In its $4495 Tiki server, the New Zealand company Plinius has opted for the network-storage option, which is why they call the Tiki a network audio player. Some servers store it on internal hard-disk drives, some store it on solid-state drives which have no moving parts, some store it on external hard-disk drives, while others store it on a network, where it’s available to all devices which can access that network. One area that has several possible configurations is where your music is stored. Like most anything in audio, there are a variety of ways the server and the DAC can be implemented. To listen to this form of recorded music, you’ll need two items: 1) a server, which displays the music in your collection, lets you pick which music you want to listen to, and then plays that music for you and 2) a digital-to-analog converter, or DAC, which converts the digital PCM stream from the server to an analog signal that your amplifier can handle. Computer-audio music files are the hot topic in audio magazines these days.
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