AVA Media unveils flagship Zara Premium music server

Hot on the heals of its RIP-N-PLAY all-in-one music ripper, store and server, British company AVA Media has unveiled its new flagship model, the £1899 Zara Premium.

Housed in a high-quality aluminium body, the Zara Premium is much slimmer (35x20x3.6cm) than the £799 RIP-N-PLAY and has a host of additional features.

It has two 1TB hard disks installed as standard, offers bit-perfect audio ripping to WAV, and can also encode to FLAC, MP3 or WMA if required. It can also rip CDs to a local hard disk drive or NAS device.

There's sufficient storage on board to store up to 2450 CDs in WAV format or 4250 in FLAC.

The unit can control up to six UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) devices, and will transcode high-resolution audio files to a lower resolution on the fly for playback on non high-res systems such as Sonos.

There's full UPnP control for Linn, Sonos and Roku systems and a built-in network music scanner allows the unit to index music found on other networked devices such as a NAS drive or from a USB device.

Designed and built in the UK, the Zara Premium is available now from retailers listed on the AVA Media website.

Follow whathifi.com on Twitter

Join whathifi.com on Facebook

Andy Clough

Andy is Global Brand Director of What Hi-Fi? and has been a technology journalist for 30 years. During that time he has covered everything from VHS and Betamax, MiniDisc and DCC to CDi, Laserdisc and 3D TV, and any number of other formats that have come and gone. He loves nothing better than a good old format war. Andy edited several hi-fi and home cinema magazines before relaunching whathifi.com in 2008 and helping turn it into the global success it is today. When not listening to music or watching TV, he spends far too much of his time reading about cars he can't afford to buy.

Latest in Music Streamers
A WiiM streamer in action
We asked hi-fi engineers what makes a music streamer sound great – and it's about much more than just chipsets
Atonemo Streamplayer tiny music streamer
This pocket-sized device will bring wireless streaming powers to any speaker or audio kit
Music streamer: Eversolo DMP-A6
The perfect hi-fi streamer exists only in our imagination – here’s how it looks
WiiM Ultra music streamer
WiiM's ultra-versatile and affordable digital hub gets a prime spot in our best music streamers buying guide
Lumin U2 Mini network streamer
Lumin U2 Mini
WiiM Ultra music streamer
WiiM Ultra
Latest in News
Sony WF-C710N earbuds lined up in different finishes
They’re official! Sony finally takes the wraps off its WF-C710N budget wireless earbuds
A flower on a TV screen with a gem in the middle.
TCL's new Mini LED TV range comes with huge brightness gains, reduced blooming and souped-up sound
Sony WH-1000XM4 on a table with a plant
Some of our favourite-ever five-star wireless headphones have plummeted to nearly half price – £172 off!
RCA Roku TV 24-inch (RK24HF1) small TV
My favourite kitchen TV has dropped to under £100 for Amazon Spring Deal Days
Sony XR-48A90K
Amazon has slashed the price of this five-star Sony OLED, but we have found an even better deal
Fiio FX17 in-ear headphones
Fiio's flagship in-ear headphones are packed full of drivers to put your music in pole position