All in one without amp

[Viking]

Hi everyone. I'm looking for possible alternatives to a Brennan JB7 without going down the computer route. I already own a Brennan but was thinking of a similar machine which would be an upgrade. I don't really want a machine with a built in amp as I've just bought a Nad C356BEE and feel this is good enough. I'd like to be able to copy all my CD's onto a hard disk, stream music and play music randomly via my existing amp. I'd be looking for something which gives excellent sound and good amount of storage. I've been looking at the cocktail audio x30 but again it has a built in amp and this must put up the price of the unit. Also, not sure that MP3 is the best quality. Have heard there are other options but I'm unsure of what they are. Is ripping CD's the same as copying? If so why not just say that!

Hope someone has the answer to this.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Viking]

Just looked at the new sony's comming out. Any good? Do they have storage and can you copy CD's onto them?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[matt49]

Just looked at the new sony's comming out. Any good? Do they have storage and can you copy CD's onto them?

Thanks for any advice.

Do you mean the Sony HAP-Z1ES? It has an integral 1TB hard disk, and you can add an external USB HDD for back-up or extra capacity. It's not cheap though. It ought to be dead easy to live with. You have to rip (or 'copy', if you prefer) your CDs using a computer, but then you just drag and drop the ripped files onto the Sony's HDD.

If you want something with an integrated CD drive, a Naim UnitiServe might be the answer. But again, a lot of money for what you get.

Matt

 

[SpursGator]

Hi everyone. I'm looking for possible alternatives to a Brennan JB7 without going down the computer route. I already own a Brennan but was thinking of a similar machine which would be an upgrade. I don't really want a machine with a built in amp as I've just bought a Nad C356BEE and feel this is good enough. I'd like to be able to copy all my CD's onto a hard disk, stream music and play music randomly via my existing amp. I'd be looking for something which gives excellent sound and good amount of storage. I've been looking at the cocktail audio x30 but again it has a built in amp and this must put up the price of the unit. Also, not sure that MP3 is the best quality. Have heard there are other options but I'm unsure of what they are. Is ripping CD's the same as copying? If so why not just say that! Hope someone has the answer to this. Thanks in advance.

Your NAD has a built-in DAC, so no matter what you use, it is going to sound the same (assuming you connect it digitally to the NAD). Your 'source' is the DAC - you are feeding it ones and zeros, free of nuance. Whether it's a CD or an exact copy of the same CD that you made on a computer or streamer, it's going to sound the same. The only differences between your different options will be user differences - size of the HD, ergonomics, remote control. etc. The sound will be the same.

If you use the analogue outputs from a streamer, its a different story - but then, why buy that amp, since it's an amp+DAC combo.

A copy of a CD means a bit-perfect duplication of all of the bits. This means that a full-length CD will take up about 700-800 MB of space on a hard drive. A 'rip' is a copy in the sense that you copied the music, but not necessarily all the bits - depending on your settings, your 'rip' might have been compressed to save space. Some types of compression (such as FLAC or Apple Lossless) is data compression designed only to save space - when uncompressed, the exact bits of the CD are replicated. This is sort of like a zip file - it's about half the size but you don't lose anything.

Other types of compression are 'lossy' methods (such as mp3 and AAC), in which a lot of the less-important bits are discarded to make it much smaller. But it isn't a copy - you actually lose some of the data. How much of the data you lose (and how much smaller it gets) depends on the sampling rate of the compression (e.g., 128k mp3, or 320k AAC). So all other things being equal, a higher sampling rate will result in better sound but larger files.

Most audiophiles keep some kind of lossless version of their music (I use Apple Lossless). But 320k AAC, for example, sounds really good and many people can't tell the difference from the CD.

So how you store your music matters to sound quality, but where you store it does not - it is the DAC and the quality of the original file that determines sound quality. In your situation I strongly suggest buying a small computer (like a Mac Mini) and hooking it up to your NAD's DAC. It does everything a streamer does, but so much more.

If you really don't want to go the computer route, I would suggest shopping for the machine that gives you the best useability features and space. As long as you are using its digital outputs, sound quality will not be much different between them.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[Viking]

Thanks guys so much for your suggestions, I really appreciate it! The Nad I have is the C356BEE without the Dac. Would you suggest that the sound will noticably improve if I added the Dac to the amp, or is it a bit of a trend thing? It would certainly be a lot cheaper than other options. If I went for another mass storage device, I would basically like something easy to use (no slow starting and loading up before I can play music) which is why I'm not sure about a mac.

Thanks for your help

 

[BillDay66]

Not one box, but a Sonos Connect and a NAS would do everything you want

 

[Viking]

Ok thanks for that. Will check it out. With regards to the Dac for the Nad, I was wondering if anyone knows if the Dac is better than the one the Brennan has built in. I've tried to find some info but it's a bit technical and confusing. If I were to put the Brennan into another Dac then into the Nad amp would this improve the sound or is it a waste of time and money?

Thanks again.

 

[John Duncan]

Not one box, but a Sonos Connect and a NAS would do everything you want

Or a Sonos Connect and an AVA Rip n Play, which acts a bit like a Brennan...

 

[Viking]

Just checked out the AVA Rip n Play and got all excited to think that there was a machine worth looking at. Then discovered that I'd still need to use a computer to manage files and choose music to play. If it had a buit in screen or even a simple LCD screen to search in a similar way to the Brennan, it would have ticked all the boxes.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[Dommer]

There are a few devices that are all in ones but without the power amp. Musical Fidelity comes to mind. It's a streamer and DAC. You just attach the amp to that. I think Cyrus also might have such a device.

Yes you will want a DAC of some sort as it will give you far superior spin quality over just an analog signal from a computer.

If you go with a Mac Mini you don't have to power it up each time. It just stays on in sleep mode and takes seconds to wake.

rip your CDs using lossless formats like FLAC or WAV or AIFF.

 

[Viking]

Thanks a lot for your help here. Just a thought, the Brennan already has a Dac inside it (as do most computers and sound devices), but my Nad doesn't (it's the Nad C356BEE not the Dac one). Would it be advantageous to fit the Nad with a Dac, is it any better than the Brennan and is it really neccasary to fit another Dac. Surely the Brennan's Dac is doing the job it should. The Nad one might be better (I don't know), but it feels like adding one more Dac after another!

 

[BillDay66]

Any digital source you want to connect to your amp will have a dac inside it, it's not a big deal. A stand alone dedicated DAC is intended as an upgrade for the same digital sources. I'd forget that for the time being.

Have you got a smartphone, tablet or iPod touch? If so a sonos connect will connect to the inputs on your amp, your music files will be stored on a network attached storage device which plugs into your router along with possibly a sonos bridge ( quite often free with the connect ) and once you've ripped all your music (I'd second all the advice to go lossless) to the NAS once, that's it, all controlled by iPhone / tablet, no need to turn any computers on ever plus easy access to spotify etc.

finally put the Brennan on eBay! Should cost you no more than £400 less what you could recoup on the Brennan.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

I don't really want a machine with a built in amp as I've just bought a Nad C356BEE and feel this is good enough. I'd like to be able to copy all my CD's onto a hard disk, stream music and play music randomly via my existing amp.

I think Bluesound Vault might interest you:

http://www.bluesound.com/products/vault

It has internal 1TB HDD, but you can stream from a NAS if you have one at home too. It has built in optical drive to rip your CDs to FLAC. It features internet radio and other internet streaming options (like Quobuz) if you're into this stuff. It can be controled remotely from your Android or iDevice. And it doesn't have power amps on board. The price is around $1000, so don't know if too much or just OK. Check it out.

I'd be looking for something which gives excellent sound and good amount of storage.

Incidentally there's a fresh review of the Vault at AudioStream:

http://www.audiostream.com/content/bluesound-vault

Maybe it will help?