NEWS: Armour unveils 160GB music server

Armour Home Electronics has taken the wraps off its new Systemline hard disc drive music server, available now for £1250.

The 160GB device allows users to store, navigate and play their CDs, selecting music by genre, album or artist, and to listen to internet radio. It can be integrated into a multiroom system and controlled from anywhere around the home.

The Systemline has three separate audio outputs, so up to three users can simultaneously listen to the music of their choice – ideal if you’re always arguing with the rest of the family about what you want to listen to.

There’s a USB socket on the front panel for hooking up any compatible portable MP3 player, and the 160GB hard drive offers a choice of five different recording bit-rates, from uncompressed linear PCM all the way down to 68Kbs. This allows the user to store 300 albums at the highest (uncompressed) standard, or more than 40,000 songs at the lowest bit-rate.

The unit incorporates a CD player that can, via an internet connection, display artist, album and track information. You also get standard phono connections (2 in/3 out), optical and electrical digital inputs and three optical digital outputs. For video, there are three composite video connections, one S-Video and one VGA socket.

As for audio playback, the Systemline will handle WAV, WMA, MP3, MP4 and uncompressed PCM files.

Technorati Tags: Hard drive, MP3, CD player, PCM, internet radio, MP3, multiroom, network audio, MP4, streaming, Wi-fi

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.