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Published June 15, 2001

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The Nirvis Slink-e and CDJ Software

When I wrote about the Sony CDP-CX400 Mega CD Changer, I was pretty enthusiastic. In fact, I bought two. I loved their heavy-duty construction, their flexibility and even thought their sound quality pretty decent -- especially when I considered that the changers actually cost less than CD storage for the 400 discs they held. My only real complaints concerned my desire for even greater functional flexibility and my dream of attaching two or more of the changers to a single high-quality DAC.

Several readers wrote in suggesting I look at Nirvis's website (www.nirvis.com) -- just one more reason why I love this job. Sure enough, Nirvis offers products that solve just about all my niggling little complaints. If you're looking for a way to control multiple digital sources, you need to check these guys out.

For one thing, they offer a modular digital switching center, the DXS, that'll route up to 16 coax and TosLink digital inputs into as many as 8 coax and TosLink digital outputs. It can sense when a new digital input becomes active and witch to it automatically, or can be manually controlled via an IR remote or RS-232 computer interface. The base-unit (one 4-input module and one 4-output module) sells for $519; additional modules are $85/each.

But the product that really excited me was the $249 Slink-e, a home automation device that allows your computer to talk to S-Link/Control-A1/Control-S A/V equipment, as well as to any device which uses a remote control. The Slink-e can also receive commands from IR remotes, allowing you to order your computer around via remote control. The Slink-e uses RS-232, so it can interface with any computer or operating system.

What is this thing called love?

In conjunction with CDJ (CD Jukebox), a free program downloadable from Nirvis's website, Slink-e enables you to control up to 12 S-linked CD players, as well as your computer's MP3 player -- and even RS232-compliant home automation functions (you can download the necessary software from HomeSeer (www.keware.com)). You can link together multiple Slink-es and control up to 96 digital sources, should you need to.

The Slink-e itself is not all that impressive looking. It's a small black box, powered by a 9V wall-wart. It has four S-Link bus connections and a DE-9 serial cable connection, which attaches it to any RS-232 port on your computer. For my audition, I linked two 400 CD Sony CX-CDP400 Mega CD changers to my Compaq laptop.

The Slink-e is amazingly flexible, so you may choose to use it differently from the way I set mine up. Still, the basic configuration steps remain the same, no matter how you configure it in the end.

The first step is to download the CDJ software, which takes about twenty minutes on a landline. The next step is the slow one; the programs identifies all your digital files, whether on your computer or in a changer. This takes about two hours per 400 CD player and can be done offline. Once CDJ has scanned all of the discs, log on to www.CDDB.com, where the program will identify all of your discs. This process goes quickly and is reasonably reliable -- out of my 800 discs, perhaps 10 were not identified or were not identified correctly.

Now's when things get interesting. Slink-e has now identified your sources and has individually listed all your files and discs and all of the songs on them. You can now play with your data in a variety of ways.

You can drop and drag a simple playlist of complete CDs or of individual songs. You can search for discs by group name or title or key word. You can create new lists, save lists, or call up old lists. If you want, you can even display album art while a particular disc is playing. You are in control -- and do I ever mean control!

Just who can solve its mystery?

I first got the system up and running for a party I gave when Debbie Starr, Stereophile's erstwhile copy-goddess (i.e., Managing Editor), graced NYC with her presence. In a matter of seconds, it allowed me to program an entire evening's worth of party music with the unexpected benefit of keeping Robert Baird from rifling through the less-played nooks and crannies of my CD collection during a lull in the music. There weren't any lulls in the music -- in fact, when the party wound down, I still had over two hours of music programmed for the evening.

The next morning, while contemplating the day's first cup of coffee, I programmed an entire morning's worth of sophisticated and eclectic music and then proceeded to enjoy it as I went about the day's chores. What a cool setup.

It was that early Sunday morning when I began to explore all of CDJ's options. I mentioned that it'll download the album art, which is neat in a whiz-bang sort of way, but it'll also link you to www.lyrics.com, so you can discover that Hendrix was kissing the sky not this guy.

You can also select individual songs that you never wish to hear. Imagine being able to listen to Roses In the Snow without having to suffer through "Miss the Mississippi" and "The Boxer."

Want to hear a disc? Just type in the first few letters of its name and it will pop onto the screen. Then you simply drag and drop it into your playlist.

You can also rearrange your playlist while it's playing (only the song playing will remain unaffected). Want to listen to music non-stop? You can arrange playlists to alternate players and have them start play as the last song ends.

Looking for a song you can't quite remember the name of? CDJ supports complex Boolean queries in any field.

It'll also calculate playing time for playlists and monitor the playback.

Why should it make a fool of me?

It's pretty obvious I love it. What has surprised me is how intensely my wife does not. First, I suspect she isn't really happy that our laptop is now a permanent fixture of the hifi. I'm not all that wild about it either -- it's expensive and noisy. But I suspect that computers will increasingly occupy our music reproduction systems, or to put it more accurately, that the difference between computer and audio component will increasingly grow smaller. Just look at Linn's Kivor archival digital system -- is it computer or component? It's both, actually.

Then there's the moral argument. My wife is incredibly offended by the very idea of mixing and matching songs from different albums. It's one reason she doesn't listen to music on the radio. "I like to know what's coming next," she said. Even if that means having to hear "Miss the Mississippi" and "The Boxer" every time she hears Roses In the Snow? "I never said I didn't like the delete function," she replied. "Every CD player has that."

You figure it out -- it beats the hell out of me.

I also think my wife dislikes the difficulty tradeoffs. I love the fact that I no longer have to go to the CD rack and find a CD, load it in the player, and, only then, listen to it. With Slink-e and the mega-changers, all I have to do it type in a few characters, drag, and drop. My wife thinks the addition of the computer makes this overly complex -- I think it simplifies things. We'll probably never agree.

I tried to explain this to Conrad-Johnson's Lew Johnson and he sided with my wife. "I think I prefer having a physical relationship with my software," he said. "You never even touch it."

Perpetual Technologies' Mark Schifter, on the other hand, got it. "I hate CDs," Mark said. "I just happen to love the music that's on 'em. If I could get rid of the physical CDs, I would. After all, they're never filed properly and they're staring to proliferate on every flat surface in my listening room. I can't wait to get 'em out of here."

Before you consider the Slink-e/CDJ, you'll need to think about your relationship with your CDs. If you are reassured by handling the discs -- and I do understand this -- the combination may not be for you. On the other hand, if you can't wait to be unencumbered, order one right away.

It's a whole new way to connect with your favorite music.

...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com

Nirvis Systems Inc.
1438 Milvia Street
Berkeley, CA
94709 -1917
Phone: (510) 525.2850
Fax: (510) 558.7309

Email: sales@nirvis.com (sales), info@nirvis.com (general info), help@nirvis.com (support)
Website: www.nirvis.com

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