All Things To Some People
The Musical Fidelity M1 CLiC Universal Music Controller has its hands in a lot of pies. Beyond getting what you'd expect from a network player/streamer including wired and wi-fi inputs, a host of S/PDIF inputs, an iOS device input, and the ability to connect a USB thumb drive or Hard Disk Drive, the M1 CLiC throws in an old-fashioned USB DAC and a Preamplifier with three analog inputs with a choice of fixed or variable outputs. Yea, I said 'old-fashioned' in reference to the USB DAC since it's run in adaptive mode and it only supports up to 16-bit/48kHz data. But hey, not every network player throws in a USB DAC so you can think of this one as an extra or as not existing at all (if that makes you feel better).
Theory
T+A stands for "Theory And Application" and it also stands for a company that's over 30 years old (founded 1978 in Herford, Eastern Westphalia, Germany). T+A has a complete line of products that includes nearly every piece of the hi-fi puzzle—speakers, amplifiers (tube and SS), preamplifiers (tube and SS), integrated amplifiers, receivers, network players/streamers, all-in-one devices, CD/SACD/DVD players, turntables, and more. T+A has over 180 dealers in their native Germany alone and my only question is, why don't we know more about them in the USA?
There's A World Of Music Out There
The Pioneer Elite N-50 is chock full O features meant to submerge you into the growing stream of digital music. And it can let you drink from many sources. You could say the N-50s musical appetites are, as with most like-devices, voracious which is good news since people considering something like a Pioneer N-50 are voracious lovers of music as well. The N-50 also has a few extra musical tricks up its sleeve.
It May As Well Slice And Dice
The NAD C 446 Digital Media Tuner offers a host of options through which you can play your music; kit with a big caboodle. You can listen to Internet radio, LAST.FM (if you have a paid account), regular old AM/FM, DAB where available, you can stick your USB memory stick in and listen to files from it, you can Play To the UPnP Receiver, stream to the UPnP Client, play music stored on your UPnP/DLNA Network Attached Storage device or Twonky Server, create playlists on the fly from your Android or iOS devices thanks to its UPnP Digital Audio Renderer (DAR) technology, and play music from your docked iPod/iPhone if you have the NAD IPD 2 Dock ($159.95).
When it comes to ripping CDs and downloading music, I've been sitting on the sidelines feeling more than a bit of envy. Stereophile's reviews of various media servers have whetted my appetite, but not so much as to overcome my timidity about getting into a new realm of technology in which I would be a beginner all over again. Still, I've sneaked a few peeks.
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