To CD or not to CD ( is it the winter of Nas drives)

[admin_exported]

Help needed,

my trusty cd player has finally died, do i buy a new one or go down the NAS drive route ? I would prefer the NAS route but i am unsure about what options are aqvailable and how to get the best sound. What speakers are available ? and how do i connect it all up ? Looking at 1TB min. storage to store all my cd's and downloads. Is a brennan an alternative, if so can i connect decent speakers to it. Any help would be most appriciated. Any local dealers that could help ?

Thanks,

Taff68[*-)]

 

[Andrew Everard]

Thanks for sparing us 'Cry havoc and let slip the DACs of war'...

Anyway, to go down the NAS route you will need a home network, a NAS drive, a means on getting the music onto the NAS - which can just be a computer on the network - and something to play back the files stored on the NAS, which could again be the same computer, connected into your hi-fi system. But then you might as well have local storage attached to the computer and not bother with a NAS at all.

Better by far to have the computer and the NAS on the network, and a client unit - which could be something as simple as as one of the Logitech Squeezebox devices - connected to your hi-fi to control playback.

If that hasn't terrified you totally (!) then I'm sure I, and others on here, can advise in more detail. But it'd help to know what you've got at the moment in terms of (dead) CD player, amplification and speakers, what kind of computer you have, and whether you already have a home network, either wired or wireless.

 

[chebby]

I don't know much about using a NAS, but shouldn't the requirements include a backup drive?

Sorry if I am being a bit simple (and you are all rolling around laughing) but I think a NAS is essentially a hard-drive and hard-drives break.

Best to be safe.

1TB is a lot of music to lose (or have to re-rip).

 

[Andrew Everard]

Yes, of course you're right, Chebs, but I think you'll find I was just establishing whether the NAS route was correct for the OP in principle, before getting into the detail of the subject.

 

[Anonymous]

you state you want the best sound and convenience, with that in mind then ripping, storing and streaming content will achieve those objectives, your options will be dictated by how computer literate you are, budget and your desired interface for accessing the music and integrating it into the rest of your system (Sonos & squeezebox are good options), one thing common on all options is the ripping of your music, this takes time, there are many threads on the options for ripping music, the only thing i would suggest is that you try to keep to non proprietary formats (e.g. MP3 for lower bit rate music and Flac for highest quality - both of these support embedded artwork and are not dictated by apple or anyone else)

i have been running without a CD player for quite a few years now, my music is stored on a WHS (which handles back ups of music and other pcs in the house), its then streamed via sonos, mostly in flac, this approach does cause limitations when syncing with my iphone but im not willing to have formats dictated by apple so it just means that syncing takes a little longer.

I hope this all makes sense... because im going to throw the cat amongst the pidgeons now ... last week i decided i would add a Cyrus Discmaster to my system, mainly for using this as a CD transport via my Cyrus DAC, i played a few tracks over the weekend doing a direct comparison between Flac via sonos and the CD ... personally i prefered the discmaster, it was only marginal but there was a difference/preference. it may be worth noting that the discmaster is essentially a DVD player !! however DVD replay is not its strong point, it shares many components of Cyrus CD players so im not totally surprised it sounded like it did... im going to wait a few months until Cyrus bring out their streamer because im now considering buying a newer CD player !!!

 

[manicm]

redlion, I'm not surprised by your results. What I've gleaned from these forums is that some think that the DAC is the be-all and end-all of streaming systems. It's not. The media player or transport be that Sonos, Squeezebox etc is equally important.