right im pretty much computer iliterate and about to buy a new cdp but my wife says i should drag myself into this century and start dowloading bla bla.if i was to buy a s/h cdp for £500 ,new £1000+ is it possible to achieve the same quality of sound for the same sort of money with dowloadable music equipment. its all about the sound quality for me. please note i dont even know what equipment i would need and i am finding it very hard to find any literature to explain it all
cd vs downloadable media
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Well, it kinda depends what you're planning on downloading, how you'll be storing it and how it'll be played: there aren't too many sites offering a massive range of CD-quality downloads - and here I'm talking proper WAV files, not those using various compression methods which may or may not sound as good as the CDs. That's a different argument, and beyond the purview of this answer.
Storage? Well, you'll need to decide how you're doing to do that - on the computer or on an external storage device. If it's the former I'd suggest you should still back up your downloads onto a second drive; I'd go for a NAS (network attached storage) solution if you have a home network.
And playing it? Well, if it's a computer you could connect that directly to your amp from the computers headphone socket to normal line-ins, via a digital connection (if the computer has it) to your AV receiver or using a DAC to your amp, or using a USB connection into a suitable DAC and thus on to the amp.
If you store the music on a network storage device, you can access it over the network using the computer as above, or using a dedicated network player (which start from £150 or so) using the analogue or digital connections as above.
I know that's probably raised more questions than answers, but I thought I'd just outline some of the possibilities...
Storage? Well, you'll need to decide how you're doing to do that - on the computer or on an external storage device. If it's the former I'd suggest you should still back up your downloads onto a second drive; I'd go for a NAS (network attached storage) solution if you have a home network.
And playing it? Well, if it's a computer you could connect that directly to your amp from the computers headphone socket to normal line-ins, via a digital connection (if the computer has it) to your AV receiver or using a DAC to your amp, or using a USB connection into a suitable DAC and thus on to the amp.
If you store the music on a network storage device, you can access it over the network using the computer as above, or using a dedicated network player (which start from £150 or so) using the analogue or digital connections as above.
I know that's probably raised more questions than answers, but I thought I'd just outline some of the possibilities...
smbmetal
Well-known member
I'm in a similar situation (apart from I don't have a wife
). I'm looking at the Logitech Squeezebox Touch. I have only a small collection of around 150 cd's so I am prepared to transfer all my music to an external hard drive (in lossless format) and plug that directly into the Squeezebox Touch. This means that you don't need your computer on to play your music, just to convert your music to the hard drive. Like you though it's the sound quality that I'm interested in, but you can get one on 30 days trial to make up your own mind.
thanks that answers my question and more, and i will be sticking with cds for the moment untill i can download music files on a par with cd quality sound
pauladamss:thanks that answers my question and more, and i will be sticking with cds for the moment untill i can download music files on a par with cd quality sound
With regard to SQ, I'm with you. That said, it might be worth experiementing with computer based audio.
I always buy CDs and rip them onto my HDD, except for the odd free .flac download (eg The Slip by NiN).
There are many software based media players you can download for free. I use foobar2000 but there are others you could consider eg iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player, Media Monkey, etc, etc, etc.
Computer-based audio has a number of distinct advantages over the traditional CDP and I suspect that once you experience these advantages you will be considering how best to incoropate your computer (or ripped files) into your audio system.
With regard to SQ, I'm with you. That said, it might be worth experiementing with computer based audio.
I always buy CDs and rip them onto my HDD, except for the odd free .flac download (eg The Slip by NiN).
There are many software based media players you can download for free. I use foobar2000 but there are others you could consider eg iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player, Media Monkey, etc, etc, etc.
Computer-based audio has a number of distinct advantages over the traditional CDP and I suspect that once you experience these advantages you will be considering how best to incoropate your computer (or ripped files) into your audio system.
I still always buy CDs too, rip them using my laptop, transfer the ripped music to my NAS, wirelessly stream said music to my Squeezebox receiver which is hooked up to a DAC/Stereo Amp/Loud Speakers. All controlled by my iPod Touch whilst sitting on my backside writing this post. Simples..........
Oh yeah and SQ is equally as good with this set up as it was with my existing set up which was based around a CDP.
Oh yeah and SQ is equally as good with this set up as it was with my existing set up which was based around a CDP.
If your wife is talking MP3 then don't let her influence your choice.
If you want good SQ then at the very least you need a good DAC between your computer and amp, and of course lossless or equivalent files.
Personally having tried both through the DAC on my CDP, CD still beats lossless but not by much. You could of course buy a CDP with a digital input so that you could use its DAC to stream music from your computer too. That's what I do. But for ultimate listening it's always CD.
If you want good SQ then at the very least you need a good DAC between your computer and amp, and of course lossless or equivalent files.
Personally having tried both through the DAC on my CDP, CD still beats lossless but not by much. You could of course buy a CDP with a digital input so that you could use its DAC to stream music from your computer too. That's what I do. But for ultimate listening it's always CD.
I'd agree here.SQ is still very important hence I still buy CDs for my music. Rip to NAS in Apple lossless for decent quality playback via the Sonos connected to my AVR300 and MA RS6 speakers.
I am going through an overhaul of my system this year and I went for a computer + DAC based solution (Mac-based). this does not necessarily mean it is limited to downloads. And downloads do not mean low or high quality necessarily. It all depends...
High quality downloads (16/44 and higher) - currently very limited choice of sites and music. Linn Records, Naim Records, B&W Society of Sound, HD Tracks etc etc (check out computeraudiophile site, there is a list of all hi-rez sites there).
Low quality downloads (lower than 16/44) - big choice of mainstream music (Itunes, Amazon etc etc) but only up to max 256k.
Computer-based solution can also handle CDs nicely in uncompressed formats. With a good external DAC or even a network of (wired or wireless) streamers it can be the heart of a very high-quality music management and playback system.
Alternatively, you can use a music server instead of a computer. the likes of Sonos, Olive, Naim Unity, Linn DS, Squeezebox etc etc are worth lookin at. New models come out every several months from variosu makes - this field is really developing now.
Research and decide on the music formats you want to use, what do you want your system to do (resolution, formats, networking/distribution, multiroom or not, interface, import, control, back-up, amplification) and step in the 21st century.
When I started my upgrade I too was swamped with all the info and decisions, but it is all manageable. move step by step, do some reseach and if not clear, ask some questions here - there are some very knowleageable and helpful people here, both from WHF and not.
High quality downloads (16/44 and higher) - currently very limited choice of sites and music. Linn Records, Naim Records, B&W Society of Sound, HD Tracks etc etc (check out computeraudiophile site, there is a list of all hi-rez sites there).
Low quality downloads (lower than 16/44) - big choice of mainstream music (Itunes, Amazon etc etc) but only up to max 256k.
Computer-based solution can also handle CDs nicely in uncompressed formats. With a good external DAC or even a network of (wired or wireless) streamers it can be the heart of a very high-quality music management and playback system.
Alternatively, you can use a music server instead of a computer. the likes of Sonos, Olive, Naim Unity, Linn DS, Squeezebox etc etc are worth lookin at. New models come out every several months from variosu makes - this field is really developing now.
Research and decide on the music formats you want to use, what do you want your system to do (resolution, formats, networking/distribution, multiroom or not, interface, import, control, back-up, amplification) and step in the 21st century.
When I started my upgrade I too was swamped with all the info and decisions, but it is all manageable. move step by step, do some reseach and if not clear, ask some questions here - there are some very knowleageable and helpful people here, both from WHF and not.
Gerrardasnails
Well-known member
pauladamss:thanks that answers my question and more, and i will be sticking with cds for the moment untill i can download music files on a par with cd quality sound
One of these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Internet-Streamer-Television/dp/B002LZUHMI/ref=dp_cp_ob_ce_title_2
One of these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Story-Station-1-5TB-External/dp/B002C3S6V8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1275063634&sr=1-1
And one of these: http://www.richersounds.com/product/cd-players-recorders-dacs/cambridge-audio/dacmagic/camb-dacmagic-08-blk
Rip all your cd's to WAV and put on the Samsung Story. Connect the WD Player to your TV via hdmi or component and to your DAC via coaxial.
You will be hard pushed to beat the sound with a CD player under £1k. And this will have cost you not much more than £400! Once you have used it for a while, you will not be bothered using cds for anything other than ripping to your HDD.
One of these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Internet-Streamer-Television/dp/B002LZUHMI/ref=dp_cp_ob_ce_title_2
One of these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Story-Station-1-5TB-External/dp/B002C3S6V8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1275063634&sr=1-1
And one of these: http://www.richersounds.com/product/cd-players-recorders-dacs/cambridge-audio/dacmagic/camb-dacmagic-08-blk
Rip all your cd's to WAV and put on the Samsung Story. Connect the WD Player to your TV via hdmi or component and to your DAC via coaxial.
You will be hard pushed to beat the sound with a CD player under £1k. And this will have cost you not much more than £400! Once you have used it for a while, you will not be bothered using cds for anything other than ripping to your HDD.
i take it the above system allows you to download tracks from the internet and am i right in thinking you would use your tv for for track info internet use ect. is the dacmagic a good dac or are there better ??
The_Lhc
Well-known member
pauladamss: is the dacmagic a good dac or are there better ??
The two are not mutually exclusive you know, the Dacmagic IS a good DAC but you can get better. Maybe not at the same price or with the same feature set though.
The two are not mutually exclusive you know, the Dacmagic IS a good DAC but you can get better. Maybe not at the same price or with the same feature set though.
would the squeezebox touch be any good as a starter then maybe add a better dac at a latter date.also i have read that the touch isnt great at playing downloaded tracks from an hard drive can i download my cds onto an online site and play them through web using the touch. ????
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