Trolling

[Antoine]

In the end it is very simple. Compile a list of pluses and minuses per solution, weigh them, add them and you'll find the best solution for yourself. Opinions of other people don't matter at all, except maybe when these possibly say something about it's resale value. And when I say opinions I of course don't mean genuine experiences, people could help you improve your user experience by sharing theirs and how they 'got there'.

I for one read too many issues of a Mac/JRiver based AIR setup so I'd steer away from that. The Windows/JRiver AIR setup otoh is incredibly stable and for me AIR itself is also nowadays. There are also many tools that can batch convert media files to and from different formats e.g. the brilliant dBPowerAmp.

In practice I don't see a difference between a small, silent fanless headless PC and a lower end NAS (they're in essence both simple computers) except the PC gives you a much better value. It's hardware is faster, richer and better and it's software possibilities are endless. Of course if you're a computer illiterate or don't like setting it up once, this might change the balance.

I'm glad to see you're communicating with Devialet as you of course know that complaining on an Internet forum doesn't help, or better said, change anything. It could of course help you feel better for a short while getting it of your back.