Suggestions, please

[CarlDW]

I would like a new *something* to play music.

My music collection consists of around 600 CD's, of which 8-10% has been ripped onto a very old HP laptop.

I normally use Bluetooth to stream music from my trusty Samsung MP3 player to a Cambridge Audio Minx Go.

My room is around 3m x 4m and I mainly listen to rock, metal and dance music.

I would like to stay within a budget of about a grand.

I will consider anything (seperates, actives, all-in-ones etc etc). Sound quality is the most important criteria.

What would your suggestions be?

 

[RobinKidderminster]

For starters forget mp3. FLAC rips will give u the hdd/streaming option. Beyond that others will make more valuable contributions than I. My (cheap) WD live gives a great flac player as well as video/photo player ofcourse.

 

[richardw42]

I suppose it depends how simple you want to keep it, and will the player be your source still ?

if so you could look at something like the QED uPlay (or similar) Bluetooth receiver. Assuming your player does the volume control you could then go straight into a pair of AVI DM5 active speakers. Or put a pre amp between them which will give more inputs for other kit.

When I demoed the DM5, I just used a lead from the headphone socket of my iPhone. It doesn't have to be complicated.

 

[davedotco]

I think the question would be a lot easier to answer if you actually made the decision how you are going to store/play your music.

Decide that and the rest will follow quite logically.

 

[bigfish786]

i'd go old school, rega reperates.

probably the best music you are going to hear for under a grand.

 

[CarlDW]

Thanks for the input so far.

DDC, I still enjoy CD's, so would prefer some sort of CD player/transport. I am not adverse to ripping my entire music collection onto a hard drive or whatever, but bearing in mind the age of my laptop it may take quite some time...

The convenience of Bluetooth would be a bonus.

 

[AlbaBrown]

Might be worth considering the Yamaha MCN-560 Network hifi (£400) with a LIV Concepts ZEN 2TB CDrip/NAS (£550), driving a pair of Q Acoustics Concept 20s (£350) or Paradigm Atom Monitors (£350) for a solution that gives a great little network system without having to thrash the old laptop. A bluetooth adapter could be added also.

Granted if you didn't feel the desire to store all your CDs on a Hard drive, you could get a great seperates system for similar money. Say an Exposure 1010 CD & Amp (£415/£445) with the Concept 20s or Paradigm Atom Monitors again.

 

[davedotco]

Thanks for the input so far.

DDC, I still enjoy CD's, so would prefer some sort of CD player/transport. I am not adverse to ripping my entire music collection onto a hard drive or whatever, but bearing in mind the age of my laptop it may take quite some time...

The convenience of Bluetooth would be a bonus.

I really find duplicating sources to be a bit of a pain, maybe that is just me.

You can make this as simple or as complex as you like, a pair of powered speakers such as the Q Acoustics BT3 or Roth OLI 5 and a CD/DVD/Blueray player will give you what you want.

On the other hand you can build a a separates networked system to whatever standard you like, you really need to make some decisions as to which way you want to go, there are simply too many options open to you.

 

[richardw42]

Are you likely to incorporate your tv and blu ray player into any system ?

 

[CarlDW]

Thanks for the input so far.

DDC, I still enjoy CD's, so would prefer some sort of CD player/transport. I am not adverse to ripping my entire music collection onto a hard drive or whatever, but bearing in mind the age of my laptop it may take quite some time...

The convenience of Bluetooth would be a bonus.

I really find duplicating sources to be a bit of a pain, maybe that is just me.

You can make this as simple or as complex as you like, a pair of powered speakers such as the Q Acoustics BT3 or Roth OLI 5 and a CD/DVD/Blueray player will give you what you want.

On the other hand you can build a a separates networked system to whatever standard you like, you really need to make some decisions as to which way you want to go, there are simply too many options open to you.

I would be interested to know what you would do, in my position, and what you would purchase.

 

[CarlDW]

Are you likely to incorporate your tv and blu ray player into any system ?

I am looking purely for a 2 channel hi-fi system, seperate from my TV/Bluray.

 

[unsleepable]

I also vouch for the Q Acoustics BT3. I have a pair of them, they are very versatile and sound quite good. They also implement Bluetooth audio with aptX. Well below your budget, on the other hand.

But if I already had all my music in a laptop, and with a £1000 budget, I wouldn't spend money in additional sources. I would get an amplifier like the Nad D 3020, which incidentally also has Bluetooth—that I wouldn't use. The amplifier can be directly connected to the computer—the BT3 too, but only if your computer has an optical port. The Nad D 3020 is well reviewed but affordable, so going this route would still leave ~ £600 for speakers and maybe stands. There are good speakers in this price range, like the Q Acoustics Concept 20 that, with stands, cost £550.

I don't know if the Nad and the Q Acoustics are a good match, though. It's just an idea. But I think that something like the Nad to save on sources, could be a good option.

 

[tino]

Would something like this appeal? Internal storage of 500GB and internal amplification. Price is slightly pricey for the convenience of an all-in-one at £799, leaving you £200 for speakers.

 

[davedotco]

Thanks for the input so far.

DDC, I still enjoy CD's, so would prefer some sort of CD player/transport. I am not adverse to ripping my entire music collection onto a hard drive or whatever, but bearing in mind the age of my laptop it may take quite some time...

The convenience of Bluetooth would be a bonus.

I really find duplicating sources to be a bit of a pain, maybe that is just me.

You can make this as simple or as complex as you like, a pair of powered speakers such as the Q Acoustics BT3 or Roth OLI 5 and a CD/DVD/Blueray player will give you what you want.

On the other hand you can build a a separates networked system to whatever standard you like, you really need to make some decisions as to which way you want to go, there are simply too many options open to you.

I would be interested to know what you would do, in my position, and what you would purchase.

To be honest, I would not be in your position.

I don't like or want any kind of optical player, nor would I use Bluetooth. I am all Apple and prefer Airplay, probably not helpful.

To paraphrase an old joke, "I wouldn't start from there".

If you simply want to make the best of what you have, than the powered speaker options I suggested above would be my choice. The Roth can be bought for around £225, the Q Acoustics is £300+. Universal optical players are cheap and both the speakers mentioned have Toslink inputs.

If I wanted better than that then I would reconsider everything from scratch. Work out exactly what you want to achieve and go for it, piece by piece if necessary. For example, if I was happy to run everything on a computer I would buy an inexpensive laptop, rip my CDs to its hard drive, then play them with decent media player software into a good cheap USB dac driving a pair of active monitors.

The Dac and active speakers can cost as little as £150, or more, much more if you wish. If you rip your discs in a lossless format the Dac should recieve a bit perfect copy of the CD, this is as good as it gets, the playback quality will then be determined by the quality of the Dac and speakers only, mainly the speakers of course.

 

[CarlDW]

I am quite interested in the powered speaker route. I've seen the Epoz Aktimate Blue which have a decent spec, I would just need a transport.

I suppose at this budget a decent seperates system is out of reach?

 

[CarlDW]

I have done some more research and have 2 options that I would like to explore.

1) Buy a set of 'powered' speakers, such as the Q Acoustics BT3 or Epoz Aktimate Blue, and then add a CD transport - the question being, how much should be spent on this, and will I hear any noticable benefit by spending more money?

2) Buy a traditonal seperates system (CD Player, Amp and Speakers) and if I wish to use Bluetooth I can get a wireless reciever at a later date. If so, what components would you suggest?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[EvPa]

I suppose at this budget a decent seperates system is out of reach?

Honestly, while you can have a few separates systems at that pricepoint (more so if going secondhand, provided that there is a secondhand market in your country...), most of the cost will probably be going towards the casing[/b] (nice sleek boxes are not cheap to make) while you might get more stuff for the same amount of money with other approaches.

As davedotco said, the first thing is to identify once and for all what source you will be using, for example I have stopped using CDs (I still buy them though) outside of one of my cars that does not have a USB or SD card input ; everything is either ripped in FLAC as soon as it gets home or downloaded in FLAC from Qobuz.

If you follow the PC/NAS route, actives with integrated DACs and preamps (or at least volume control) will very likely end up being cheaper overall (unless you somehow stumble on a huge bargain).

This would include (within your stated budget) things like ADAM Audio's ARTist 3 and 5 (NOT the ARTist 6 which has no DAC or volume control), Nubert electronic's nuPro series, Quad Electroacoustics's 9AS... the ARTist 3/5s only feature USB and RCA inputs while the others also have S/PDIF and TOSLINK inputs.

The nuPros (available in three sizes) have the advantage of digital signal processing (DSP) and remote control but can only be bought form the manufacturer's website (unless you happen to pass by one of their two showrooms in Germany).

 

[ROTH AV]

I'd also go with the POWA-5 - the new version has got aptX Bluetooth - previous was standard Bluetooth.

If you're not too bothered by having aptX, you can pick up a pair of the previous model for just £ 149.00..........

New version is available for £ 199.00.

At either of those prices, it's unbeatable.

 

[CarlDW]

Thanks for the replies, I have been doing a little more research and have settled on a pair of Aktimate Blue powered speakers (in gloss black) which retail at £599. From what reviews I have found they should sound good and have plenty of inputs.

What I have also decided to do is integrate the system with my AV set up, in order to reduce the box count I was thinking of getting a universal disc player (the Denon UBT3313UD has caught my eye) feeding into the Aktimates which I can then play music and movies.

My question is, from a sound quality point of view, would the Denon UBT3313UD be a better bet than say, a Denon DCD720AE cd player for music and seperate Blu-ray player for films? I would like to keep it at around £400 for the source.

Thanks.

 

[CarlDW]

Any comments?

I would be interested to hear from people who have experience of Blu-ray transports as music sources and whether they match a traditional cd player.