USB Media player?

I'm not sure if what I'm looking for exists on it's own. I have seen sound systems with a USB input so that you can place music onto a USB flash drive,plug it into the sound system and select/play your music, I already own a decent sound system but it only has the usual optical/RCA etc inputs (it's a Sony DA1200ES)

At the moment, I use a bluetooth to 3.5mm unit and stream from my phone,but the signal isn't the best.

I know they do similar units for TVs that don't have a USB input, it can be used to play movies from a USB and output through a HDMI.

I'm looking for a device with a USB input, and a 3.5mm/optical or RCA output with a screen and a few control buttons so I can place MP3s and music on my flash drive and play it through my sound system.

Any help would be appreciated.

What about a Raspberry Pi and a USB sound card?

NiHaoMike said:

What about a Raspberry Pi and a USB sound card?

Click to expand...

I considered this but would like something where I don't need to have an external monitor or anything like that

You could program it so that you don't need a display to use it. Just a few buttons attached to some GPIOs will do. Or just grab one of those cheap composite LCDs if you really want a GUI.

Turns out what I'm looking for does exist, but it's the price of a good PC:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-930-000089-Squeezebox-Touch/dp/B002N203SW

I could rig up my own by buying an external media player designed for a TV as well as a 4.2inch monitor from a security camera and put it together for 1/20th of the price if no other commercial versions are available.

I don't know why a product like what I'm after doesn't exist at a decent price,they've done it for TVs, something like this would allow people to convert their old receivers and stereos into ones that can play modern MP3s.

would a smartphone or ipod like device work?

The_Jizzler said:

would a smartphone or ipod like device work?

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Up until now I've been using an android via Bluetooth or Aux cable but the Bluetooth is a poor connection as is the aux

The analog ("aux") inputs on a digital receiver digitize the signal to drive the digital amplifiers, so no wonder the quality is poor. It doesn't help that the analog connections are effectively being deprecated so they tend to skimp on the ADCs, especially in cheaper units. Thus, you'll want to use S/PDIF or HDMI.

It does sound like a Raspberry Pi or similar plus a USB sound card would be the way to go. You'll only need the USB sound card if your receiver doesn't have HDMI. A HDMI audio extractor is another solution.