matthewpiano
Well-known member
dave_k:
And here's a fourth vote for the Sansui
So when are you getting a Marantz SA7001 KI Signature then? ;-)
And here's a fourth vote for the Sansui
So when are you getting a Marantz SA7001 KI Signature then? ;-)
I'd suggest you get an amp and some speakers first of all. You can then use your laptop/pc as a source to begin with using a straightforward 3.5mm to RCA cable. Then you'll have time to decide if you'd prefer to go down the cd player route, stream music wirelessly, add a DAC or whatever.
At the minute i'm trying to decide between these options myself, but am still just enjoying music straight from laptop to amp by analogue cable. I know i can get better sound, but i don't want to rush out and buy a CD player before i give the laptop/ software option a shot.
There is something quite nice about loading a CD and just sitting back and listening to an album though. I think it's the the tactile experience of it. I can only imagine a turntable is even better in that regard.
Oh and the sansui amp is a lovely tactile hands on amp too...
At the minute i'm trying to decide between these options myself, but am still just enjoying music straight from laptop to amp by analogue cable. I know i can get better sound, but i don't want to rush out and buy a CD player before i give the laptop/ software option a shot.
There is something quite nice about loading a CD and just sitting back and listening to an album though. I think it's the the tactile experience of it. I can only imagine a turntable is even better in that regard.
Oh and the sansui amp is a lovely tactile hands on amp too...
See above post MP
Still making up my mind, and still watching CDPs on the bay...
Also on the look out for the matching tuner for the 217...
Still making up my mind, and still watching CDPs on the bay...
Also on the look out for the matching tuner for the 217...
Keep an eye out for the TU-317 Dave, I picked one up (by coincidence, also fully serviced) for about £45 a couple of years back. It's on the shelf upstairs waiting to go into service when I have the room for wiring it in.
Apologies for the multiple posts earlier - I was on the train and the wireless service went a bit flaky. Back home now and normal service is resumed.
Back home now and normal service is resumed.
Back......oh you get the idea!
Apologies for the multiple posts earlier - I was on the train and the wireless service went a bit flaky. Back home now and normal service is resumed.
Back home now and normal service is resumed.
Back......oh you get the idea!
Isn't it funny that the first thing people do is blow the budget? I am no different.
You really don't need a DAC in My First Hi Fi. Why would you want to spend £230 of a £350 budget on that?
I'd go further and say you also don't at this point need separate amp and speakers let alone a CD player.
You already have a PC with all of your CDs ripped so that is a good start. £350 is tight budget and I would recommend you look at powered speakers with a music streamer, most if not all music streamers these days already come with a half decent DAC in built. Check out Wiki and you will see that the same few DAC chips pop up in manufacturer DAC boxes, but the price tags vary wildly.
Just over £350 would get you a Squeezebox Classic £150 (with decent Burr Brown DAC inside) and a pair of Audioengine A5 powered speakers (£250). If you could find a little more money (£300) you could stretch to the new Squeezebox Touch, which not only has has a better DAC, a reportedly good touch screen interface, but also can run as a stand alone server with an HDD attached, freeing up your PC for other stuff.
As an aside this also opens up the whole world of internet radio - 192kps Radio Paradise has been a joy to discover.
Upgrades? There is the whole cabling/interconnects thing. The A5s could redeployed in another room when more budget comes (I use mine in my home office). You could add a sub if you like to go low. You could add a DAC (I added a DACMagic) although check out on Wiki and you may see that many expensive Hi Fi DACs share DAC chips with that integrated in much cheaper kit.
You could later go the whole route and look at more expensive ADM 9.1s fully active and powered speaker typre route, or still just get a traditional good amp and passive (non powered speakers). The Squeezebox devices can be redeployed.
Sonos is good streaming alternative and easy to get going with but more costly.
Suggested elsewhere getting digital extract from PC direct to an Apple AEX, then onto amp/apeakers or again powered speakers, is another way, but will tie up the PC and also lock you to iTunes and exclude FLACS that always perform far better than than compressed MP3s and MP4s that most rip to. It can also be fiddly to set up . You also need a PC that can provide digital out. The beauty of a streamer is that they just need a wired or wireless stream stream of 1s and 0s from any hard drive, then they do the rest in the box providing correct output to powered speakers or amp.
Check out reviews for Squeezebox Classic and Audioengine A5s. You will also have a very minimal system.
Good luck. It may be confusing but in principal you need to decide whether to go traditional Hi Fi separates or computer based audio, or a combination.
You really don't need a DAC in My First Hi Fi. Why would you want to spend £230 of a £350 budget on that?
I'd go further and say you also don't at this point need separate amp and speakers let alone a CD player.
You already have a PC with all of your CDs ripped so that is a good start. £350 is tight budget and I would recommend you look at powered speakers with a music streamer, most if not all music streamers these days already come with a half decent DAC in built. Check out Wiki and you will see that the same few DAC chips pop up in manufacturer DAC boxes, but the price tags vary wildly.
Just over £350 would get you a Squeezebox Classic £150 (with decent Burr Brown DAC inside) and a pair of Audioengine A5 powered speakers (£250). If you could find a little more money (£300) you could stretch to the new Squeezebox Touch, which not only has has a better DAC, a reportedly good touch screen interface, but also can run as a stand alone server with an HDD attached, freeing up your PC for other stuff.
As an aside this also opens up the whole world of internet radio - 192kps Radio Paradise has been a joy to discover.
Upgrades? There is the whole cabling/interconnects thing. The A5s could redeployed in another room when more budget comes (I use mine in my home office). You could add a sub if you like to go low. You could add a DAC (I added a DACMagic) although check out on Wiki and you may see that many expensive Hi Fi DACs share DAC chips with that integrated in much cheaper kit.
You could later go the whole route and look at more expensive ADM 9.1s fully active and powered speaker typre route, or still just get a traditional good amp and passive (non powered speakers). The Squeezebox devices can be redeployed.
Sonos is good streaming alternative and easy to get going with but more costly.
Suggested elsewhere getting digital extract from PC direct to an Apple AEX, then onto amp/apeakers or again powered speakers, is another way, but will tie up the PC and also lock you to iTunes and exclude FLACS that always perform far better than than compressed MP3s and MP4s that most rip to. It can also be fiddly to set up . You also need a PC that can provide digital out. The beauty of a streamer is that they just need a wired or wireless stream stream of 1s and 0s from any hard drive, then they do the rest in the box providing correct output to powered speakers or amp.
Check out reviews for Squeezebox Classic and Audioengine A5s. You will also have a very minimal system.
Good luck. It may be confusing but in principal you need to decide whether to go traditional Hi Fi separates or computer based audio, or a combination.
You aren't left with just i-tunes if using the airport express. install the airfoil application and you stream any 3rd party service through the AE as I described previously.
Thanks so much for your input which has realy got me thinking.
I have come to the conclusion that using a CD as a source really isnt a sensible option for me as I would have to invest a tight budget on a CD component & burn my downloaded files back to CD which seems rather pointless.
So in the interest of spending my budget on components that really matter I have to focus on the essentials of playing my music through the best possible system whether that be active speakers or seperate amp and speakers.
It seems i can do that several ways (a) Streaming in some fashion or (b) connecting to a laptop or from my mp3 player.
Whilst streaming adds convieniance it also costs money. Attaching my laptop or mp3 player directly to my amp or active speakers would allow me to invest all of my cash in those two areas.I can always add a streaming device at a later date.
If I do that via the 3.5mm headphone socket( I have a non apple player so no dock) will i degrade the sound quality and listening experiance. Over say connecting my laptop to a usb DAC or Streaming via say the Squeezebox Touch?
I hope you can see where I'm heading and thanks for your patience!
I have come to the conclusion that using a CD as a source really isnt a sensible option for me as I would have to invest a tight budget on a CD component & burn my downloaded files back to CD which seems rather pointless.
So in the interest of spending my budget on components that really matter I have to focus on the essentials of playing my music through the best possible system whether that be active speakers or seperate amp and speakers.
It seems i can do that several ways (a) Streaming in some fashion or (b) connecting to a laptop or from my mp3 player.
Whilst streaming adds convieniance it also costs money. Attaching my laptop or mp3 player directly to my amp or active speakers would allow me to invest all of my cash in those two areas.I can always add a streaming device at a later date.
If I do that via the 3.5mm headphone socket( I have a non apple player so no dock) will i degrade the sound quality and listening experiance. Over say connecting my laptop to a usb DAC or Streaming via say the Squeezebox Touch?
I hope you can see where I'm heading and thanks for your patience!
Thing is unless your lappie already has toslink/spif out (optical), as do Macbooks and many late model PCs, you will still have to invest in a card or such like to extract digital output from PC. And then also an Airport or similar. By the time you have done that you will have already spent nigh on the same as a streamer (£150 ish) which will do it all for you including digital to analogue conversion and pre amp services.
Connecting laptop vis 3.5mm jackdirect to amp will work but will leave you at the mercy of quality of internal soundcard in PC, which I reckon you will instantly want to upgrade,placing you in first para above.
You might as well connect iPod direct to an amp or dock direct to powered speakers such as the A5s. This is an easier and prolly better-sounding solution than relying on the PCs internal sound card. PC sound cards in the main are built down to a cost as the manufacturers spend more on video cards in the competitive lappie market.
I work for a very large PC manufacturer.
Connecting laptop vis 3.5mm jackdirect to amp will work but will leave you at the mercy of quality of internal soundcard in PC, which I reckon you will instantly want to upgrade,placing you in first para above.
You might as well connect iPod direct to an amp or dock direct to powered speakers such as the A5s. This is an easier and prolly better-sounding solution than relying on the PCs internal sound card. PC sound cards in the main are built down to a cost as the manufacturers spend more on video cards in the competitive lappie market.
I work for a very large PC manufacturer.
Alec
Well-known member
I'm broadly with simonclayt (i like to look in when all the hard work has ben done
). If your budget is tight and the idea of future upgrades/expansions appeals, you do not need a dac or separate amp even. Tho to some degree that will depend how much the look your system is to you. There is no reason also why you could not get a CDP in future if you wanted.
If, on the other hand, you want to say "i only want to do this once", you may want to save for a bit longer.*
Not that i am suggesting you do that, it is just something to consider.
If, on the other hand, you want to say "i only want to do this once", you may want to save for a bit longer.*
Not that i am suggesting you do that, it is just something to consider.
Yes i can understand what you say about the soundcard.
So as a first step i could connect my mp3 player via 3.5mm headphone to the A5's or to a seperate amp/speaker set up without comprimising the sound quality. If so this may be a sensible first step alowing me to invest my budget in the best amp/speakers i can and then add the ability to stream later in the year when i can add a squeezebox touch for example.
I only then have to consider whether I go for the A5's or seperates.
So as a first step i could connect my mp3 player via 3.5mm headphone to the A5's or to a seperate amp/speaker set up without comprimising the sound quality. If so this may be a sensible first step alowing me to invest my budget in the best amp/speakers i can and then add the ability to stream later in the year when i can add a squeezebox touch for example.
I only then have to consider whether I go for the A5's or seperates.
Blackdawn
Well-known member
sevlow:
Yes i can understand what you say about the soundcard.
So as a first step i could connect my mp3 player via 3.5mm headphone to the A5's or to a seperate amp/speaker set up without comprimising the sound quality. If so this may be a sensible first step alowing me to invest my budget in the best amp/speakers i can and then add the ability to stream later in the year when i can add a squeezebox touch for example.
I only then have to consider whether I go for the A5's or seperates.
Sevlow. You can directly plug in ipod from mini jack, and with lossless ripped Mp3/4s it's a highly respectable sound with the A5s. True HiFi I would be as bold to say. And boy can the A5s ROCK if that is your thing. A decent ipod dock that will allow direct line out of ipod will give even better sound, plus you will get bonus of a remote control. You will be in business for less than budget and have decent entry hi fi sound quality. This option is simple and worth an audition.
I no longer favour the separates route (but I understand that many still do). You could cobble something together across the many speaker amp/combos available, although you are still faced with getting digital output to any amplifier, and that will involve additional cost. You could of course still just deploy an ipod dock with amp/speakers as you entry point, rather than connect to powered A5s or similar.
What you will miss out on only using iPod, the is the wonderful world of FLAC music which is in process of making CD players redundant. FLACS played through a DAC (inbuilt in a streamer, PC card, or as a stand alone peripheral) are a top quality music source.
So I'd come back to a Squeezebox classic as simple system building block, which at £145 sounds great and can feed A5s or separates with most digitally encoded music formats. With the arrival of the SB Touch (and I don't have mine yet but reviews/impressions posted on web are highly positive) you may shop around or look on ebay etc and find a Classic at a knock down price.
Do try and get a listen to A5s I think that they are stunning value at £250 and punch well above their weight.
Yes i can understand what you say about the soundcard.
So as a first step i could connect my mp3 player via 3.5mm headphone to the A5's or to a seperate amp/speaker set up without comprimising the sound quality. If so this may be a sensible first step alowing me to invest my budget in the best amp/speakers i can and then add the ability to stream later in the year when i can add a squeezebox touch for example.
I only then have to consider whether I go for the A5's or seperates.
Sevlow. You can directly plug in ipod from mini jack, and with lossless ripped Mp3/4s it's a highly respectable sound with the A5s. True HiFi I would be as bold to say. And boy can the A5s ROCK if that is your thing. A decent ipod dock that will allow direct line out of ipod will give even better sound, plus you will get bonus of a remote control. You will be in business for less than budget and have decent entry hi fi sound quality. This option is simple and worth an audition.
I no longer favour the separates route (but I understand that many still do). You could cobble something together across the many speaker amp/combos available, although you are still faced with getting digital output to any amplifier, and that will involve additional cost. You could of course still just deploy an ipod dock with amp/speakers as you entry point, rather than connect to powered A5s or similar.
What you will miss out on only using iPod, the is the wonderful world of FLAC music which is in process of making CD players redundant. FLACS played through a DAC (inbuilt in a streamer, PC card, or as a stand alone peripheral) are a top quality music source.
So I'd come back to a Squeezebox classic as simple system building block, which at £145 sounds great and can feed A5s or separates with most digitally encoded music formats. With the arrival of the SB Touch (and I don't have mine yet but reviews/impressions posted on web are highly positive) you may shop around or look on ebay etc and find a Classic at a knock down price.
Do try and get a listen to A5s I think that they are stunning value at £250 and punch well above their weight.
Simonclayt. having given it some thoyght I am definately going to invest in a Squeezebox and see what I can source on ebay. I dont use an ipod mp3 player and a connection other than the mini jack isnt a possibility for me. I think the squeezebow is an sound(excuse the pun) route for me to go down and opens up other options in the future both in terms of expansion to my system in other rooms etc and in terms of FLAC which I have been reading about earlier.
What I am less convinced about is whether to go down the seperate or powered speaker route. To be fair i think this is more about my perception of the A5's in so far that they seem to be geared to ipod/apple users and because i guess it seems to easy. After all doesnt everone have to torture themselve about the best combination of amp/speaker at a given price!
I guess the true test is to go and listen but I havnt found a dealer where I can ldo that Nonetheless the Squeezebox is a no brainer I think and I can add this to my existing system whilst i ponder the A5/seperate route.
What I am less convinced about is whether to go down the seperate or powered speaker route. To be fair i think this is more about my perception of the A5's in so far that they seem to be geared to ipod/apple users and because i guess it seems to easy. After all doesnt everone have to torture themselve about the best combination of amp/speaker at a given price!
I guess the true test is to go and listen but I havnt found a dealer where I can ldo that Nonetheless the Squeezebox is a no brainer I think and I can add this to my existing system whilst i ponder the A5/seperate route.
sevlow:
I guess the true test is to go and listen but I havnt found a dealer where I can ldo that Nonetheless the Squeezebox is a no brainer I think and I can add this to my existing system whilst i ponder the A5/seperate route.
If you have only one source, then powered vs separates is a no brainer as
well, particularly on limited budget. You'll get far more
sonic ability for the money with a pair of powered/active speakers. A5s are well
reviewed (I've never heard them) and there are lots of other alternatives from Dynaudio, M-Audio, Genelec, Behringer, ESI, AVI, Yamaha, Adam and others. My recommendation is to hunt around online for retailers as well as reviews and commentary.
I guess the true test is to go and listen but I havnt found a dealer where I can ldo that Nonetheless the Squeezebox is a no brainer I think and I can add this to my existing system whilst i ponder the A5/seperate route.
If you have only one source, then powered vs separates is a no brainer as
well, particularly on limited budget. You'll get far more
sonic ability for the money with a pair of powered/active speakers. A5s are well
reviewed (I've never heard them) and there are lots of other alternatives from Dynaudio, M-Audio, Genelec, Behringer, ESI, AVI, Yamaha, Adam and others. My recommendation is to hunt around online for retailers as well as reviews and commentary.
Firstly thank everone for your responses and advice. I'm new to the forum and its a nice welcome to have people take time out to help a newbie.
I have decide to go down the path of Roth oli2 speakers/A400 amp and squeezebox. I can get a good used amp from circa £70( ebay) the speakers £80(new) and a used squeezebox (£150 ebay). That comes in at £300.
I did consider the Audioengine A5 powered speakers. In the end these and the squeezebox would have cost about £60 more. On top of that I think I have a little more flexibility with the amp/speaker combo and if the sound is not to my liking i can resell the amp at little loss and try something new.
In the process of looking I have been tempted by the NAD range of amplifiers and by the MS 902i speakers.But in the end you have to take a leap of faith and about to leap I am.
Unlerss of course.....
I have decide to go down the path of Roth oli2 speakers/A400 amp and squeezebox. I can get a good used amp from circa £70( ebay) the speakers £80(new) and a used squeezebox (£150 ebay). That comes in at £300.
I did consider the Audioengine A5 powered speakers. In the end these and the squeezebox would have cost about £60 more. On top of that I think I have a little more flexibility with the amp/speaker combo and if the sound is not to my liking i can resell the amp at little loss and try something new.
In the process of looking I have been tempted by the NAD range of amplifiers and by the MS 902i speakers.But in the end you have to take a leap of faith and about to leap I am.
Unlerss of course.....
Another newbie and I have to say that after spending many hours reading thread after thread on several forums - at nearly 3am early Sunday morning this thread is the one that has shed more light on the setup that I'm personally looking for!! I've been trying to find the best way to do two things:
1) Play music stored on hard drive in mp3 and lossless, through a system.
2) Use my netbook to stream spotify/Last.fm etc through a system
3) Play cd's!
I'm starting my first hi-fi setup also and what I've gathered from the advice in this thread is to firstly buy a Squeezebox (Classic or Touch) from which I can plug in a USB hard drive directly and then control via SB.
Secondly gona need some speakers and this is where the decision must be made to either go seperate amp or powered speakers. I could possibly find it cheaper to buy second hand amp/second hand speakers.
I'm on a tight budget also - £300, no more.
Now let me tell you what setup I was swaying towards prior to reading this thread. Onkyo CR-725, Tannoy Custom F1's. That would set me back about £300. It would give me DAB and cd playability but I'd be left with no source of streaming from netbook. Therefore I'd have the added cost of an Apple Airport Express.
I get confused as to where the DAC occurs.If I did go down the Onkyo/Airport route, does the DAC occur inside the Onkyo? So the media is streamed digitally to the airport and then processed by the Onkyo so the sound of the files kept on the netbook will have equal reproduction as if the netbook was plugged INTO the Onkyo? This is what I'm struggling to understand.
Any help here would be great!
1) Play music stored on hard drive in mp3 and lossless, through a system.
2) Use my netbook to stream spotify/Last.fm etc through a system
3) Play cd's!
I'm starting my first hi-fi setup also and what I've gathered from the advice in this thread is to firstly buy a Squeezebox (Classic or Touch) from which I can plug in a USB hard drive directly and then control via SB.
Secondly gona need some speakers and this is where the decision must be made to either go seperate amp or powered speakers. I could possibly find it cheaper to buy second hand amp/second hand speakers.
I'm on a tight budget also - £300, no more.
Now let me tell you what setup I was swaying towards prior to reading this thread. Onkyo CR-725, Tannoy Custom F1's. That would set me back about £300. It would give me DAB and cd playability but I'd be left with no source of streaming from netbook. Therefore I'd have the added cost of an Apple Airport Express.
I get confused as to where the DAC occurs.If I did go down the Onkyo/Airport route, does the DAC occur inside the Onkyo? So the media is streamed digitally to the airport and then processed by the Onkyo so the sound of the files kept on the netbook will have equal reproduction as if the netbook was plugged INTO the Onkyo? This is what I'm struggling to understand.
Any help here would be great!
BUMP!
Really guys, I've got cash burning ready to lay down on this thing, I just want to make the correct decision. What do you guys think for me?
Really guys, I've got cash burning ready to lay down on this thing, I just want to make the correct decision. What do you guys think for me?
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