Good MP3 player for Hi-Fi

[rendu]

Hello, is there any good MP3 player with hard drive out there for less than 150 Eur?

I do not understand why the big companies; Marantz, Denon, Pioneer, etc... do not make these products just like they make CD players. I would like an MP3 player with the quality of a CD player, simple as that. There are many CD players for that price which give reasonable sound quality. However, for MP3 there is nothing at this point level, you have to go to the music servers which cost around 1000 Eur. Either that or something like streaming (BAD) or use an IPOD or PC with all kind of hassle to get a decent sound. I still have to play my MP3s through the IPOD with the mini-jack.

 

[chudleighpaul]

Since when has MP3 been Hi Fi?

 

[professorhat]

Out of interest, why is streaming bad?

 

[rendu]

1) mp3 is hi-fi from the moment that human ears decided that they cuold not make much difference. your question is same as asking since when cd is hi.fi when we already have SACD.? 2) Streeming is bad from the moment you need even another machine and a non-hard media for transmision (Never seen a test for best air). 0?Anyway those answers dont help

 

[professorhat]

Granted they don't help, but not sure what you're looking for - I can guess that the reason there is no device you're looking for because there isn't really a market for it. After all, most people who listen to MP3s tend to only use them on their portable devices which they then use in a dock. Those with separate hifi sources would tend to want a higher quality source of music than MP3 (such as CD, or lossless digital music). I can't tell you if that's really the reason Denon and Marantz don't make these things, but it would be my guess.

I still don't understand why streaming is bad though I'm afraid - I've no idea what you mean by "a non-hard media" or "a test for best air"...

 

[rendu]

Thanks for the reply, I still appreciate any discussion regarding the subject.

I believe that nowdays many people like myself have gotten used to managing the music library easily without need to change CDs manually. Also with the possibility to create playlists. This is the main reason why I use my IPOD to play my music through the receiver. What I would like is the same functionality but from a proper hi-fi product that will give a quality similar to a CD player. There are some big brands such as Arcam that have released music servers which is the same concept but the prices they ask are totally out of reach. What I would like is just a simple MP3 (and this means, ACC, lossless or even WMA) player with hard drive that has decent quality in terms of music reproduction. Now you can achieve this with IPOD + digital dock + DAC .... but it is not really ideal and it is quite expensive.

My main concern with the streaming is that you need to have a PC turned on in addition to the receiver/player that will attach to the amp. Then, transmission of the information is normally via Wi-Fi and I suppose that this has limitation in terms of quality. I always had the feeling that any data through cable will always be better quality than through the air (I may be wrong thought). Hope this clarifies.

Thanks, P.

 

[professorhat]

What about the Brennan JB7 (review here)?

With regards to streaming wirelessly, I get your point on having to have a PC on (though Sonos' solution obviously doesn't need this), but due to the way this is streamed over a wireless network, you won't lose any quality. The worst scenario would be if the network didn't have enough bandwidth, you would have music that stuttered as the information could not be transmitted quick enough. With a strong Wireless G (or better N) network though, there shouldn't be any issues.

 

[John Duncan]

 

[rendu]

professorhat:

What about the Brennan JB7 (review here)?

With regards to streaming wirelessly, I get your point on having to have a PC on (though Sonos' solution obviously doesn't need this), but due to the way this is streamed over a wireless network, you won't lose any quality. The worst scenario would be if the network didn't have enough bandwidth, you would have music that stuttered as the information could not be transmitted quick enough. With a strong Wireless G (or better N) network though, there shouldn't be any issues.

Yes, that is the idea... similar to the Brennan but taking out the amp, the speakers and a few hundred pounds so that you are left basically with a musical MP3 ripper/player just like a CD player.

 

[The_Lhc]

The Brennan doesn't come with speakers...

 

[John Duncan]

And nor does the iPod in your signature...

 

[rendu]

Right, and the iPod is what I am using now but, I believe is quite far from the quality of a real CD player. You need to add too many expensive things to have something of similar quality.... ipod dock (ex. the onkyo) + DAC....

Most CDs/DVDs now already read MP3 discs.... the only thing they need to do is add a hardrive, some additional functionality to navigate and ..... VOILA!

 

[John Duncan]

You could add the Onkyo dock (£124 is the cheapest I've seen it) and plug it straight into your AVR280, which will have as good a DAC in it as most external ones.

 

[rendu]

JohnDuncan:You could add the Onkyo dock (£124 is the cheapest I've seen it) and plug it straight into your AVR280, which will have as good a DAC in it as most external ones.

Yeap, I knew that option but really is a pity that there are not real hi-fi products out there to do this... 125 pound for just a dock seems like a lot.... Thanks anyway.

 

[John Duncan]

How much do you think a device you describe (with hard drive, OS, network connectivity to allow Gracenote updating etc) should cost?

 

[The_Lhc]

JohnDuncan:How much do you think a device you describe (with hard drive, OS, network connectivity to allow Gracenote updating etc) should cost?

Less than the price of the hard drive, from what I can work out.

 

[kinda]

Don't a lot of CD players now play MP3s if youburn them to disk, or mahybe even via USB? My car CD player does so, and I use this to fit more songs onto a disk.

Alternatively there are devices like the Brennan mentioned, Olive, Naim Uniti and a new one on the WiFi forum I can't remember the name of. Some are a bit expensive though.

But what about a Sonos ZP90 connected via ethernet cable to a quiet NAS device? Hard drive separate to player, but no streaming or air involved. And not that expensive.

You could even use WAV or FLAC through it to increase quality. Surely MP3 is only needed where song storage space is at a premium?

 

[Anonymous]

MP3 is really for use on a portable device and when using a media centre/server its always best practice to use lossless files such as wav and flac

I have a Popcorn Hour A200 which cost me £160 and that bit streams PCM via HDMI to my Yamaha 667 and the quality is very good (ive never seen a mid-high end Stereo system in action though)

there is also a device you can buy which allows you to plug into the USB slot of an iphone and then at the other end is a optical cable. It was one of the products of the year.

I have all my media stored on a 4TB Synology DS210j which uses 25w an hour and that is on 24/7 (£25/pa)

 

[rendu]

the_lhc:JohnDuncan:How much do you think a device you describe (with hard drive, OS, network connectivity to allow Gracenote updating etc) should cost? Less than the price of the hard drive, from what I can work out.

http://whathifi.com/News/WD-announces-combined-media-centre-and-server-complete-with-built-in-1TB-storage/

This is what I am looking for but:

1) Hi-fi brand - From a know hi-fi brand.

2) Music - Focused only in music only, just like a CD player with the quality of a CD player. No need for the HD or video or other multimedia capability. Just a pure music player, not even need for CD only dedicated to play music stored in the hard drive in whichever format.

Does not seem to have to be that expensive, right?

 

[xtsili]

I totally understand Rendu. This is what I am also looking for and can't find. There are actually the Olives, the Marantz NA7004, the Yamaha NP-S2000, the Cambridge AudioSonata NP30, all excellent music players with exorbitant prices though (the built-in DACs I assume raisethe cost).

I guess when the market picks up and these devices become mainstream, prices will become more reasonable.

For the moment devices like this http://www.whathifi.com/Review/Lacie-Lacinema-Classic-HD/ offer more bang for buck.

To conclude, I am wondering, compared to the LaCies, WD etc the aforementioned dedicated networkplayers how much better do they sound?