I'm quite old fashioned with my hi-fi and home cinema I like playing my CD'S at the best quality I can. A good CD Player and stereo amp can make a world of difference however I want to be able to recreate this quality without having to change cd's. For me a hard drive Cd player would be the answer but there don't seem to be these things readily available. I don't know much about streaming if anything but I don't think it's necessary I have one room with speakers amp ect and just want one device to play my cd's collection without needing to change cd's or upgrade my whole system for streaming. Is this possible?
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When should you upgrade your hi-fi? How to control ‘upgradeitis’
CD Collection
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expat_mike
Well-known member
Scott Clutton said:
The functionality of a hard drive CD player is provided by the following for example:
1 - a USB hard drive http://www.whathifi.com/olive/4hd/review or http://www.audioaffair.co.uk/cocktail-audio-x30-all-in-one-hi-fi-system
The issue for me is playing from USB, if a good CD Player makes such a difference to a cd then do you not need a good device to play your stored music from a USB device?
expat_mike
Well-known member
Scott Clutton said:
A CD transport should provide the functionality to extract a bitperfect copy of the music from the CD, so that it can be transferred in digital format to a DAC. This is no different in principle to a usb memory drive or memory stick, where the data is ready to be transferred to a separate DAC. Chord have just won four awards for DACs which will allow you to connect a music source via usb , so the DAC end of the chain is easy to sort out.
A CD player contains the transport plus DAC, so that you can just connect it to your preamp.
It is becoming more common to see amplifiers with usb inputs, so in theory you could use one of these, and plug in a usb drive.
If you do not want to change amp, then a music server may represent your least disruptive option.
Ok thanks, a DAC would not give control over say a hard drive as a media library I guess though so a music server may have to be the way forward?
muljao
Well-known member
On any laptop if you install a program like say "Musicbee" or jriver etc, you can download or rip your cds to cd quality (flac or similar file type)
You can get a usb DAC (ranging from 20 pounds to infinity pounds) and play your cds from your computer directly to your amp/speaker set up
Depanding on how good your dac is you may get even better quality sound than your existing cd player
You can get a usb DAC (ranging from 20 pounds to infinity pounds) and play your cds from your computer directly to your amp/speaker set up
Depanding on how good your dac is you may get even better quality sound than your existing cd player
Is a Brennan B2.
Can be used as a complete system, it has amps built in, or connected to an existing system via digital or analogue line/pre outs.
Simple to use, lossless ripping and playback and it works like a bit of hi-fi, not a collection of computer bits. You get lots of extra functionality with an internet connection but it is not essential, it has an onboard database of over 3.5m cds so it will recognise and lablel most discs.
Google Brennan B2, cost is around £500.
Can be used as a complete system, it has amps built in, or connected to an existing system via digital or analogue line/pre outs.
Simple to use, lossless ripping and playback and it works like a bit of hi-fi, not a collection of computer bits. You get lots of extra functionality with an internet connection but it is not essential, it has an onboard database of over 3.5m cds so it will recognise and lablel most discs.
Google Brennan B2, cost is around £500.
Frank Harvey
Well-known member
One of the easiest options you can get would be the Innuos Zen Mini.
This is a 'half width' box with either a 1TB or 2TB hard drive and a CD ripper. Pop your disc in, it'll rip it in 4-5 mins, grab metadata and artwork, spit the disc out and you're done. Occassionally, you'll find slightly incorrect data or an unrecognised album if it's pretty new. Most products like this you'd need to boot up a computer on the same network and access the file via your PC, but the Innuos has bespoke software allowing you to do this very easily via web broswer on a phone or tablet.
Due to trying to make as good a quality product as possible, it is purely digital. You can plug this into a USB equipped DAC if you have one, or, if you want to plug it into a normal hi-fi amplifier, you can add a DAC like an AudioQuest DragonFly to the USB output and then an analogue cable to your amp. The Zen Mini is then controlled by any number of apps via your network that you can download to your phone or tablet. It'll also allow you to stream TIDAL, Spotify, or Deezer, and give you access to internet radio too. It'll act as a streamer too, so any other music stored on your network can be streamed to it.
They're not the cheapest option, but the extra is worth it for their bespoke software, and their excellent back up service.
This is a 'half width' box with either a 1TB or 2TB hard drive and a CD ripper. Pop your disc in, it'll rip it in 4-5 mins, grab metadata and artwork, spit the disc out and you're done. Occassionally, you'll find slightly incorrect data or an unrecognised album if it's pretty new. Most products like this you'd need to boot up a computer on the same network and access the file via your PC, but the Innuos has bespoke software allowing you to do this very easily via web broswer on a phone or tablet.
Due to trying to make as good a quality product as possible, it is purely digital. You can plug this into a USB equipped DAC if you have one, or, if you want to plug it into a normal hi-fi amplifier, you can add a DAC like an AudioQuest DragonFly to the USB output and then an analogue cable to your amp. The Zen Mini is then controlled by any number of apps via your network that you can download to your phone or tablet. It'll also allow you to stream TIDAL, Spotify, or Deezer, and give you access to internet radio too. It'll act as a streamer too, so any other music stored on your network can be streamed to it.
They're not the cheapest option, but the extra is worth it for their bespoke software, and their excellent back up service.
jjbomber
Well-known member
Scott Clutton said:
The money no option answer is an Oppo DVD player with an external hard drive connected to the USB. This is controlled by the remote control or app. No need to get out of the chair and the quality will blow your socks off! If money is a consideration, a second hand Oppo will be fine.
Of course, you could buy a juke box ........
The Innuos Zen mini looks interesting - seems a bit pricey at the moment - certainly seems to score on ease of use if you have access to usb dac. Not been able to find any reviews on it yet.
tonky
tonky
Al ears
Well-known member
jjbomber said:
As an Oppo 105eu user myself I would second this option. It is one of the ways I use mine.
muljao
Well-known member
A cheapie way to stream would be to rip cds to something like windows media player 12 or music bee. Buy a Chromecast Audio and attach it to your amp. Download bubble upnp if you have a smart phone (it costs about 4 euro to get full functionality) and use art phone as a remote to send music from your computer to your amp through the Chromecast
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