System advice

[sneaky]

Hi there looking for some advice. For the last 15 years have been listening to my Cyrus DAD 3, Cyrus pre and power amp connected to my mission 752 floor standers and have not been following the hi fi world since then. Unfortunately the dad3 has died and I'm looking for something to replace it with, though budget is limited. I went to a hi fi shop and they said to get the best out of system I should be spending a lot more than £200-nearer £1,000 and then bamboozled me with the idea of streaming. Had a think about all of this and whilst I could maybe sell the lot for £500 and get a smaller system I think I would like to keep and buy a secondhand cd player to keep the system going whilst thinking about next move. So I'm looking for suggestions to match the system with either a cheaper new cd player or a second hand one for the budget of £200. There is a dad3 on e-bay right now for less than a £100 so might have a pop at that but sale finishes in 5hrs so be quick about any advice!

Also if anyone has a good link to information about streaming for a beginner that would be ideal so I can read more about it.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Sneaky

 

[Overdose]

Personally, I think that you'd be better of using either an existing DVD player or similar for now, or if looking at buying a new disc player at all, then a more expensive universal player would be a safer bet. A dedicated CD player is not all that versatile and won't offer you anything over a universal player.

All this becomes even more relevant if you are soon to be going for a streaming setup which is likely to include some form of connection for additional digital devices where a common DAC would be in use.

 

[matt49]

I'd second Overdose's advice re. a universal disk player.

Streaming isn't really that difficult, once you've got your head round the various ways of approaching it. There are basically three options:

1. streaming music straight from a PC/Mac (e.g. using iTunes; I know there are more sophisticated options than iTunes, but iTunes is a good way to get started, as it's so easy to operate). You'd need to add a DAC between the PC/Mac and amp.

2. streaming music from a dedicated streaming system. The most popular (and easy to use, IMO) is Sonos. You'd also need storage for your music files. A simple NAS drive connected to Sonos by ethernet will do the job. Traditional hifi manufacturers (Cyrus, Linn, Naim et al) also offer streaming boxes, though IMO these tend to be overpriced.

3. streaming from a NAS using its own media server software (e.g. the Synology DS213 series). This is probably the cheapest way to go. Again you'd need a DAC.

There is in principle no issue with sound quality, whichever option you choose. I'd say that with music streaming the sky's the limit for SQ.

A further advantage of streaming is that many of the streaming systems have integrated digital radio and services such as Spotify.

Good luck!

Matt

 

[Anonymous]

I'd second Overdose's advice re. a universal disk player.

Streaming isn't really that difficult, once you've got your head round the various ways of approaching it. There are basically three options:

1. streaming music straight from a PC/Mac (e.g. using iTunes; I know there are more sophisticated options than iTunes, but iTunes is a good way to get started, as it's so easy to operate). You'd need to add a DAC between the PC/Mac and amp.

2. streaming music from a dedicated streaming system. The most popular (and easy to use, IMO) is Sonos. You'd also need storage for your music files. A simple NAS drive connected to Sonos by ethernet will do the job. Traditional hifi manufacturers (Cyrus, Linn, Naim et al) also offer streaming boxes, though IMO these tend to be overpriced.

3. streaming from a NAS using its own media server software (e.g. the Synology DS213 series). This is probably the cheapest way to go. Again you'd need a DAC.

There is in principle no issue with sound quality, whichever option you choose. I'd say that with music streaming the sky's the limit for SQ.

A further advantage of streaming is that many of the streaming systems have integrated digital radio and services such as Spotify.

Good luck!

Matt

+1 but if you have a pc and no apple i thingys windows media player is just as good and comes already installed.

 

[sneaky]

Thanks for advice. Clearly hi fi has moved on since I last took an interest and I need to do some more research. Then the big debate was turntables or cds!