Jamie

I know flashplayer adobe will not work on my ipod we are doomed

ricardo

All my music is ripped from purchased CD to FLAC, then a separate variable bit-rate copy made in MP3 format (for mobile and car use).

I use Exact Audio Copy to do the ripping, so it checks that the copy matches other people's copies using the AccurateRip database.


For music playback the lossless FLAC files are streamed into a SqueezeBox and then the analogue signal into a Yamaha AV amp - but the Yamaha pre-outs go to a pair of separate mono power amps for the main stereo speakers. Each of those amps drives a Yamaha NS1000M speaker - old now but sort of legendary... There is also a Yamaha sub, plus the centre and rear Mordaunt-Short speakers. Speaker placement (especially the sub) has been done very carefully to suit the wedge-shaped room - it is normal height at one end where the PJ screen is and double height at the other, so in one sense the room is part of the system.

The physical arrangement compromises pure music listening since it is still fundamentally an AV system, but I can live with it.

I'd love to be able to download FLAC, but there is a lot to be said for having the CDs as a physical backup.

TelBoy

Just as it was about to fall off the front page, sorry.

I'm as big a hi-fi nut as anyone on here, but it's obvious to me that the days of "real" hi-fi are numbered, at least for the masses.

Which is a shame. No iPod dock in the world can replicate the effect of a properly set up hi-fi, and no MP3 can knock a good record into the weeds.

But as has been said before, it's all about instant gratification these days. When putting on a cd is too much hassle for many, you know you're fighting a losing battle.

But i reckon cd will be around for a while longer, maybe as a niche market along with vinyl. But it's a shame that convenience has taken priority over quality. Sign of the times.

Funkii Munkii

Great thread bar the Apple intrusion

So many points to agree with on here, I have 3 to 4 set ups in my house covering all bases.

My seperates are my pride and joy and by far the best system to listen to.

I have my separates in the dining room and still to this day I look to improve the sound, Technics Pre and Power Amp, Dragon cassette deck (still commands a fortune on e-bay) a top end Sony QS SACD player and a Pure DAB tuner all coming out of four lovely Missions, one pair Freedom 770 MkV must be coming up to 25 years old and the clarity is something else, coupled with a pair of punchier M74'is is near perfect for me.

But that still doesn't stop you looking for something better, I'll often be on e-bay looking for a bargain, I'd quite happily buy a 20 year old 2nd hand Amp but would never consider a 2nd hand i-pod. Seperates can be a thing of visual and aural beauty whereas an i-pod/mp3 player never will be.

I have a seperate AV amp and speakers in the lounge, I once ran everything through the Yammy AV amp when I moved home and had the one living room, the AV amp is fine for watching movies but it was horrific for music even when switched to 2 channel it was so weak and lacked so much depth and clarity that music needs, I ended up sticking an amp in the kitchen with 2 Mission 72i's and the SACD player, p1ssed on the Yammy.

Decent speakers and a sub on the pc, and a Sony mini system with DAB, i-pod dock in the kitchen, which isn't bad, I wired up the 74i's for a bit of fun and it rocked.

All of that said, I love my i-pod as well, perfect for the car and flights.

I think all formats can live happily under one roof as long as they are used in the correct context, although you cant Bi-wire or Bi-Amp an MP3 player .

I had a play with a Beresford DAC which my Bros in law swears by, to be honest it made no difference through the Technics pre/power combo coupled with the SACD player but through his Harmon Kardon set up there is a noticeable difference.

Graphic Equalisers anyone ??, looked down upon by many enjoyed by many others, all down to your ear I guess, I'm running an Old Technics 8055 to fine tune, but was recently give a Technics Digital Sound procesor GE90 which I am still to hook up in place of the EQ, just to see what it sounds like, EQ's still get quite a bit of attention on E-bay some of the higher end models going for some good money.

If I ever win the Lotto A large chunk will be spent at a decent Hi-Fi emporium after popping to a few main dealers to pick up some wheels to carry all my new Hi-fi home .

SRSport

Ok so hypothetically you have £10,000 to spend on a sound system do you,
1) £5000 surround sound and £5000 on HIFI
or
2)£10,000 on surround sound and use the superior system for music.

With no.2 you get a surround system that offers surround sound that is worth twice as much as the £5000 set up and would offer significant improvements on you music as well (compared to the £5000 surrounds setup), maybe equal to a £4000 hifi system.

It wouldnt be quite as good as the £5000 system for hifi but overall you are getting much better value for money...aren't you? As you loose out on £1000 value for music but gain £5000 of surround value.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

To my mind if you are spending that sort of money you can have the best of both worlds by building a decent audio system and piggy backing surroud onto itv ia an external processor sets of extra amps and speakers for the surrround set up.

Spend aorund 10K wisely and you will have a system that will shame most people's systems from either side of the divide.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Love 'em; The more adjustability the better. Especially when you can adjust each band's bandwidth curve (1N, 2N, 1Q 2Q etc). A GE90 would look quite natty under my SU-X901.

Very handy in a room with odd accoustics.

SRSport

So similar to no2 but more the other way around? HiFi based with external decoding etc.

Only reason I ask is that I live in hope that one day the question will apply for real and I think your suggestion is a pretty good one.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

I have the technics GE90, its in the pic i posted earlier on the thread. The sound difference using the GE90 graphic equalizer is immense, you can fine tune it to suit different styles of music.

I love the Technics seperates system that i have but i decided to down scale, its fine if you have a large room that can take 4 or 5 large class AA seperates and a big hi fi stand but its overkill for the room i`m doing up as an AV room. The sound that a technics seperates system produces is stunning especially with some quality speakers. Mine still performs the same as the day when i first bought it, the build quality is superb.

Funkii Munkii

I might be selling it soon, it just doesn't look as good along side the SU A800M2, whereas the 8055 does
Like I said I need to try it out before parting with it, and even then it will be hard, I'm a bloody hoarder

Funkii Munkii

Don't do it, you'll regret it

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

The amp i have is the SUA 900MK2, it was the top of the range amp at the time, ive read some fairly recent reviews that say its probably the best stereo amp that technics produced.

Ive already bought a replacement, its a Teac Reference 600 system. It was more about space, i wanted to neaten things up and make the room more compact and clean looking.

mart360

There are many esoteric bits of kit out there, some i would love to audition - own, others are pure snake oil.

Ive always fancied a pair of Wilson Watt & Puppys, but tbh, i doubt i ever will.

Unfortunately with hi-fi, there is a lot of influence with personal taste, what sounds good to one sounds flat to another. One mans valve amp is another mans integrated receiver

Some is influenced by our own perceived values. (it must be good because it cost more) :. Ive seen uber expensive Van den Hull interconnects, trounced by budget offerings from Tandy lol ..Blind listening tests that blow holes in manufacturers claims. thats always a good one to see.

And then there is the the downright bizzare. Speaker cables utilising troughs of mercury for the ultimate in loss free signal.

Giwn that no one has perfect hearing, its always going to sound different to somebody else. i have a 5db dip at around 18k, so midrange to treble can sound a bit flat

At the end of the day, if it sounds good to you and gives you pleasure, then that's all that matters...

Mart

ScoobyDoo555

5db dip at around 18k??

That's not a dip - that's a fookin chasm!!

but that said, hearing loss at 18Khz is pretty good - unless you're a child!!

Dan

Bubba po

I can't hear above 14.5 kHz. That's what a life of Rock'n'roll does for you.

Bubba po

How can a dip at 18kHz make midrange sound flat? Most adults' hearing tails off at about 16kHz anyway! And even when it does, the brain does a fantastic job of synthesising the high frequencies by analysing the frequencies it actually receives from the ear and reproducing the harmonics by processing.

Evolution Stu

iTrader: (2)

Not at all, me too. The Zeppellin for my MP3's is good, real good, but its not HiFi, just acceptable noise.


Funnily enough, I recently had a similar dilemma, there was a topic about it on here somewhere.


I have recently upgraded my storage drives at home as I am starting to collect lossless format m,usic to stream downstairs to my main system and of course have started recording 1080P video too so space is fast being consumed. LOL

Ref backing up your home machines, I have 4 at home and back them all up to my media server every morning when everyones asleep.
For those of you thinking its a ballache and huge money, its not if your using a decent system to do it on. Consider this media server that i use.
http://www.hp.com/united-states/camp...asmart-server/

Mines running 2TB of storage with full duplication (So 4x 1TB disc's) and it is fast enough to stream 2x 1080P movies to two separate systems at the same time.
It is VERY impressive indeed for the cash.

RobJenks

No Mate your not.
Big speakers, Big amps , quality source are the fundamentals of an involving sound end of.
I have - All sealed and locked away in storage - with with my Rex
Infinity Kappa 9's
Metaxas Solitaires (2) Power amps and Pre amp with separate power supply
Linn Sondek + +
I miss it .

cster

Maybe a little bit harsh.
Perhaps today's generation are a little more multi media.
When I was younger, nothing gave me more pleasure than sitting in front of my own-built system listening to my music, but then again, what else was there to do?
No portable systems to compare with iPods, nor the video technology in varying forms that have become relatively very cheap through economies of scale etc.

JackClark

I think the future is bright, huge data centres, cheap massive personal storage and fast internet, download quality will increase. Amazon and Apple could cope now.

Geezer

Audiophiles will always bemoan anything that isn't absolutely top notch,like any other technology, but things like Spotify and the iPod and associated docks have made music much easier for everone, that is at a quality that is acceptable.

I would never put on a CD, too much hassle, (for me) but I have my Touch in a good dock and I listen to much more music than I used to. Ok, the sound out of the Bose is appreciably better than the cheap crap we had previously, but for 99% of people, how much better does it need to be?

If you are a sound geek, MP3s are bad news, for the music industry and bands wishing to get their music out there, it's great news.

Geezer

Funkii Munkii

They still comand upwards of £300 with the pre amp, for me there was never much in it with the 800 and the 900, I preferrred the agressive lines of the 800 over the VU meters of the 900

I was watching a SU-A909 on fleabay but the owner pulled it a couple of days from the end, a very tidy updated version of the 900.

Then there were the C1000 and 3000, never seen or heard either in the flesh (big Vu Meters again) but they had good reviews at the back end of the 90s and the latter went for £3K

ScoobyDoo555

Interesting article about album listening in the news today.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12209143

Jamz3k

Due to this thread I got out my hifi gear for the attic! Sounded great.

Chris Rea - Auberge and Beautiful South - A Song For Whoever, AWESOME!

Evolution Stu

iTrader: (2)

Two amazing tracks which I will dig out tonight and play. My biggest surprise, sound wise, was playing Dido's album on my new system! WOW!

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Replayed via what though.... a PC??? May as well stick with MP3.

oobyJu

iTrader: (2)

sold lots my vinyl bought cd's now never buy cd's is vastly inferior to flac taken from good vinyl so now only buy vinyl again (listening to 180gram sabotage atm) and the sound........pisses on mp3 regardless of bitrate or system as the information just isn't there to be reproduced but then i am over 40 lol

Jamz3k

CD may be dead but it sure is alive in my backroom thisafternoon! MP3 is utter **** fact!

vindaloo

People tend to spend the dosh these days on sound/cinema systems. As with all things, there's a compromise. Dynamics/bass extension vs soundstage and ultimate detail maybe?!

A mate stores all of his CDs as uncompressed WAV files. He would use FLAC or similar but the convenience of MP3 seems to have killed off FLAC on personal or ICE systems. Disk storage is so cheap these days though...

J.