Will the rise of streaming put more tasty disc spinners onto the s/h mkt in 2011?

[Nik]

I guess we're all just different with what trips our trigger. For me, a friend's Macbook Pro/ Lavry DA10(?) was a let down compared to my CD3.5.

Hi-rez test files from Linn and some Naim sample files played back through my Touch were a huge disappointment compared to my CDS2. Others have said they like the Touch as well as their 555. Go figure...

This was a touch playing through a dock which can access the digital output?

 

[TheDecameron]

Dave has a point here- the streaming/ computer set up would have to unequivocally better the CDP on SQ grounds in a head to head. Im amazed some people still say fairly low bit rate files are indistinguishable from a good CDP. Im sorry but I just dont get it.

 

[Nik]

How much time did you spend loading those 1000+ albums on your hard drive and creating backups and tweaking software and...?

Loading (ripping) CDs you do only once. It's no harder than playing a CD and takes less time, and you can play something else at the same time anyway.

You add your music files to your current backup system. If you need to, you buy a larger backup drive, but these are amazingly cheap now. Or you use a NAS with RAID1, which gives you protection against physical failure of one drive.

You can tweak software if you think it's worthwhile, but how often would you do this anyway?

 

[Nik]

I think the difference existed, but it was a quick demo. It also appeared to be repeatable.

The Beresford I've got is the older TC - 7510. It cost me £100 a couple of years ago and works well.

The Caiman is obviously better but costs more.

I will change the Beresford later this year.

Certainly the DAC in the 8200CDQ seemed to be far more accomplished in what it sets out to do.

Jack

Thanks for the perspective. I wonder how much of that gap the Caiman will cross?

 

[Nik]

so the snappy name in this thread for directly connected to and streamed from computer is?

That's what I'm asking. For a thread title, "Computer Audio ..." would be fine IMO.

 

[TheDecameron]

my primary intereset was- would some bloody good cdp's turn up on the s/h market this year as a result and would I be thinking about getting my greedy mitts on one

 

[Nik]

I can only comment as far as setting up a squeezebox, but there was no 'initial server setup'.

It took about 10 minutes to get it up and running, 5 minutes of that was entering my alpha-numeric network code.

I fully accept ripping several hundred CDs onto a HDD was quite an effort, but once done, it just works!

You don't have to rip them all in one go. Just do them in batches, and the time it takes is nothing compared with the time it takes to repeatedly find a CD, load it, take it out, find another CD, load it, take it out ... you get the idea.

 

[Rack Kit]

nothing compared with the time it takes to repeatedly find a CD, load it, take it out, find another CD, load it, take it out ... you get the idea.

I think thats half the appeal to some (me included). Just sitting there browsing tracks on a screen seems less, i don't know, tangible maybe? The act of leafing through vinyl or CDs and coming across an album that suddenly grabs you is kind of half the fun.

You feel like you've put some effort into what you're about to listen to.

Or maybe the big kid in me just likes toys that spin things around? Haha!

 

[Nik]

I still buy CDs as I always did, I just listen to them via a streamer. They are all stored in a cupboard in case I fancy playing the disc or re-ripping in the event of multiple disc failures.

I do buy some downloads from Linn and via an Emusic subscription but usually find CD and then ripping is both more cost effective and more satisfying.

Streamer or direct connection?

 

[FatElvisForever]

I have been down the Mac/Dac route for about 18months, I recently picked up an old Teac P500 transport with clock upgrade and I love it, it sounds very natural through the same dac and I am using it more and more. It has a slight problem with miss-tracking occasionaly so I think the laser is on its last legs.
I have also bought an old Pioneer stable platter cdp for £50 which is being modified to clock link to my dac which the builder assures me will be better than the Teac.
So to answer your question cd will be the new vinyl.(and they are so cheap)

I moved on years ago, first to a Squeezebox... then I dumped steaming and prefer more direct options. Right now it's a Macbook to a DAC. But I do keep around a Rega Jupiter clamshell transport for plastic disk duty. I suppose that will go away, eventually.

I assume, eventually, "integrated" amps will include the DAC.

 

[Nik]

I think thats half the appeal to some (me included). Just sitting there browsing tracks on a screen seems less, i don't know, tangible maybe? The act of leafing through vinyl or CDs and coming across an album that suddenly grabs you is kind of half the fun.

You feel like you've put some effort into what you're about to listen to.

Or maybe the big kid in me just likes toys that spin things around? Haha!

I can see that point of view with vinyl, but hardly at all with CD. What I object to is the complaint that setup, ripping, etc., takes so much time, which is another matter altogether and false anyway.

 

[Nik]

my primary intereset was- would some bloody good cdp's turn up on the s/h market this year as a result and would I be thinking about getting my greedy mitts on one

Would a Linn Unidisk 1.1 qualify?

 

[Nik]

I moved on years ago, first to a Squeezebox... then I dumped steaming and prefer more direct options. Right now it's a Macbook to a DAC. But I do keep around a Rega Jupiter clamshell transport for plastic disk duty. I suppose that will go away, eventually.

I assume, eventually, "integrated" amps will include the DAC.

Which DAC do you use with the MB?

 

[FatElvisForever]

Which DAC do you use with the MB?

I was using a DAC Magic, but have moved on to the Rega DAC. Have owned the later now for about a week.

Here are my posted initial impressions:

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showpost.php?p=1251934&postcount=12

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/1/645932.html (somewhere in here)

 

[Basil]

I can see that point of view with vinyl, but hardly at all with CD. What I object to is the complaint that setup, ripping, etc., takes so much time, which is another matter altogether and false anyway.

For 95% of the CDs I own, the above is correct.

But I have come across a few, apart from the ones that are known to be troublesome (eg: early UK PDO) that have been a nightmare to rip.

A box set from DECCA, factory sealed bought from Amazon was a major pain, two or three tracks per disc had to be ripped using the 'paranoid' setting in EAC, at first I thought the DVD drive was failing, but another disc ripped perfectly.

The problem discs in the DECCA set are visually flawless, no pinholes or any other marks whatsoever.

To add to the confusion, the discs play perfectly in my CD player!

 

[sam_cat]

I have found some disks were a problem in one of my drives (the one I normally use for ripping).. Popped them into a Pioneer DVD writer and they ripped perfectly first time.
I now use this drive for all ripping, as it seems to be quicker as well.



Sam

 

[Rack Kit]

I can see that point of view with vinyl, but hardly at all with CD. What I object to is the complaint that setup, ripping, etc., takes so much time, which is another matter altogether and false anyway.

I've never seen what the problem with this is either. I've just ripped 2 CDs that arrived this morning in AIFF using iTunes with error correction and it even spits the disc back out when it's done. Couldn't be any easier than that.

 

[Nik]

For 95% of the CDs I own, the above is correct.

But I have come across a few, apart from the ones that are known to be troublesome (eg: early UK PDO) that have been a nightmare to rip.

A box set from DECCA, factory sealed bought from Amazon was a major pain, two or three tracks per disc had to be ripped using the 'paranoid' setting in EAC, at first I thought the DVD drive was failing, but another disc ripped perfectly.

The problem discs in the DECCA set are visually flawless, no pinholes or any other marks whatsoever.

To add to the confusion, the discs play perfectly in my CD player!

Interesting that the CDP doesn't notice anything wrong!

 

[Nik]

I've never seen what the problem with this is either. I've just ripped 2 CDs that arrived this morning in AIFF using iTunes with error correction and it even spits the disc back out when it's done. Couldn't be any easier than that.

Yep. Same with a stack of 10 or 20. Just keep feeding 'em in.

Very occasionally iTunes finds 2 matches at Gracenote and sits there asking me to choose one, so that can hold things up.

I also like to add the sort tags so that, say, Robert Plant appears under P, not R, but I'd bet most people don't bother. It's easy enough to find stuff anyway in iTunes.

BTW any reason you're not using Lossless? 6 MB/min instead of 10 can add up to a lot.

 

[mat_mcg]

Streamer or direct connection?

On my main system. I have a squeezebox, on an Ethernet connection, streaming lossless files from a PC running the squeezebox server software. On my second 'office' system I go direct via a cheap USB DAC to a T-amp into a set of small Tannoy bookshelfs.