Audiostore Mini Appliance

Description

Versatile, compact, energy efficient streaming budget server streamer. In-built CD ripper option. 2024 revisions

Compact, quiet and energy efficient. The fanless Audiostore Mini offers improved performance over the original VortexBox Appliance (recommended by HiFi Choice)

Low power consumption, ultra-silent with SSD versions. (Hard drive versions maybe audible close by)

– Budget system with full Nova Software features
– Onboard analogue output to 192khz (3.5mm stereo cable required)
– Connect USB DACs and network players (to 384K/24bit)
– Size: W226 x H62 x D314mm (Same width as many mini-hifi systems)
– Horizontal or vertical use (No stand)

110/240v AC adapter supplied. Power consumption approx 12-15w
Play to wireless players from Sonos, Logitech (Squeezebox), Linn etc.
Play to USB DACs, (to DSD256) or use directly connected to powered speakers or a HiFi system
Built-in CD drive allows automated ripping of music and album art. (Note that ‘tray’ CD drive’ requires two hands to operate correctly)

Our optional DAC32 and DIGI32 network players offer high quality playback around the house

This is a budget unit. Fit and finish is better on our more expensive units!

Accessories provided: External power unit, 1M network cable

How do I use this? – Connect to your router. Add a USB DAC (or use the on-board output). For best results add an isoREGEN before the DAC (or a network player such as microRendu)

For large libraries please consider our faster systems (Audiostore Prestige etc for high performance Roon use)

Review(s) posted

I very much like the system I bought from you – Andrew
I bought an Audiostore Mini about a year ago, together with a Sonore Rendu and Sonore Optical Module. The sound quality is excellent and much better than my previous (Onkyo based) streaming set up. The game changer though is the functionality that is available with the operating system. Access to all principal radio stations, streaming services and own music is really great. It takes a while to get used to the interface but when you are it’s really fabulous. Martin was on hand as necessary to help me. I subsequently purchased a Dac 32 and Digi 32 so I could use the system in other rooms too, and may well yet buy another. I would highly recommend, and I think if you after both sound quality and value you won’t go wrong with buying from Audiostore.

Excellent Plug and Play solution – John
This is an excellent choice for a plug and play solution to ripping and storing your CDs. The service was excellent and the Mini just connected straight away and worked without any problems at all. I wish I had purchased one a long time ago. I am now enjoying my music instead of looking at a pile of CDs and wondering where the one I wanted went. A really good buy. John

Plug and play – very easy and works brilliantly – Nick Clark
This device is very easy to set up on a home network. My Naim Mu-So system recognised it straight away. Ripping CDs is also a doddle: just stick one in the front slot and the system does all the rest: ripping, tagging and indexing music. There are also apps included for manually editing the tags if you want to make changes. Sound quality is great. Noticeably better than the same music played on Spotify.

Great for Sonos – Steve Wilkinson
I’ve just moved house and updated an old wired multi-room system with 5 of the new Sonos Amps. I’ve just added the Mini server and it works fantastically well. I copied across old MP3’s in minutes and they just appeared in the Sonos app as a music source via NAS. I then ripped a CD and again it just appeared in Sonos, nothing needed to be set up by me. This is a really nice piece of kit,just enough options to allow customisation for the user but initial setup and use is a doddle. I’ve also used the audio out of the server directly into the Sonos amp as this allows me to play iPlayer catch up and hi-res files which are both missing from the Sonos system. I used the iPeng app to control this direct playback, again setups up in minutes and “just works”. The server is well built and arrived quickly. Martin was extremely helpful pre-ordering on email and phone. Can’t recommend enough.

Excellent piece of kit – John Freezer
Moving house and downsizing so decided I needed to digitise all my cd’s. After reading several reviews and articles on line I contacted Martin at Audiostore and the rest is history! I chose the Audiostore Mini for its size and simple looks and Martin has been extremely helpful during my learning curve. The appliance works brilliantly and the software could not be easier to use. Martin was very helpful in recommending a network player also – Squeezebox Radio to be precise, and this is also a joy to use. The Squeezepad App on our iPads works like a charm. Inevitably there have been some issue with the software picking up some erroneous data regarding album titles and artwork – again, Martin has been extremely helpful in that regard. I am using a tagging software called Jaikoz which I can also highly recommend. All in all, I am very happy with my purchase and have no hesitation to recommend this appliance to anybody who wants to go down the digitising route.

Essential just buy one ! – Martin Jackson
I bought one to replace a Nas drive/ Twonky media nightmare ( don’t ask ). I use it connected by optical cable to A Naim Unitiqute. it works better than the Naim Ever did, no delays and better sound quality, plus it leaves my network free for other things . The only thing you need to know is that it improves the sound quality of ripped cd’s, immensely , i also bought a Net dac. which is also superb. Martin was very helpful,with all enquiries…. Honestly Just buy one.

Excellent Service – Stephen
I have now had this machine for some months and must say that the whole experience has been excellent. Martins hand holding in the early days was superb and made the set up process very simple. Since then the machine has performed very well and with the squeezebox software on a nexus tablet has been a seamless process. Excellent value for money, excellent service, simple to use.

all in one solution – Roberto Amling
I ordered a Vortexbox mini 1TB after talking to Martin on the phone. I needed a one box solution for all my digital music files including DSD files. I choose the mini because the form factor matches my Cyrus amp and beeing a fanless design suited my needs in that regard. after recieving the Vortexbox, setup was breeze, I am familiar with the Squeezebox Server and i have control aps on my iPad. the box was easily recognized in my network and I transfered my music library. My dac that plays DSD files and DXD and even if 99% of my files are PCM flac files, compatibilty was important. I was amazed that even DSD 128 played fine. then i started trying to fiddle with the settings in the GUI and kind of messed up the network settings, but Martin was cool as a cucumber pointing me in the right direction and even me having no knowledge of Linux commands, the issue was fixed in minutes. So i have a product that does exactly what i need, its dead silent, plays all my files and the guy who sold it knows his stuff and is very helpfull. Thanks!

Great product,great service,great price – Steve
I’ve been using a DIY version of the Vortexbox for some time and only recently decided to vortexbox Mini 2014 version. The unit arrived quickly and was well packaged. Some are wary of buying into linux based media servers as they presume it will be complex to set up and maintain. This is not the case with the Vortexbox. It took me 5 mins to set up and I was then listening to IPlayer,Spotify and even Qobuz using the IPeng remote from the Apple App Store. I use the unit into th Dragonfly dac. The Vortexbox found the dac immediately and there was not requirement to add software. If there had been, then the Vortexbox User forum is very responsive to any issues the user may have. The Vortexbox Mini is an excellent device that makes me smile every time I use it. It is superb value for money and continues to get even better with each update.I would recommend it wholeheartedly to those who look this way. Steve

Value for money – Will McGregor
Having settled on Vortexbox a while ago – my hardest decision was which model. To be fair other then aesthetics I could not really see what the premium products give over the standard ones and this device was perfect. Stand it vertically on a bookshelf and just pop in CD as you buy them – very easy. Admittedly i had a couple of network issues initially – and took a few reboots and cable swaps to get it on the network – but after that it has been fine. Downloading the free FING app for iphone/ipod or android was very useful in resolving this – but these issues are as likely to be your own network topology as opposed to a Vortexbox issue. I am using Sonos and this works fine. I cannot more highly recommend the support I received – phone calls to help out late on Friday night when i was expecting to wait until Monday. I guess the end of the day though – as good as the product is – the market is still limited – you need some Knowledge. I could in all truth not recommend it to my parents for example – would be too techy for them – they should buy a Brennan. I know this would be too much for some people. But for flexibility, future options and value for money it’s hard to beat this.

Love it. – Danny Dawes
Yes, I have a Mini 1TB with CD slot, and its excellent. I have finally loaded my 600 CDs, edited the odd wrong tag, added the odd missing cover, and, wow. I now have all my music on one device, which sits in my lounge, out of the way, running 24 x 7. No noise, no heat. Nice. I also use the VBA as a NAS to backup my family’s laptops (Mac, Win7, WinXP), plus ITunes reads the VBA as a shared device – another cool feature. Pretty much works out of the box, and when I needed help Martin from VBUK was extremely helpful. It’s really brought my SB Touch to life – and yes, I love the Touch as well!