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Am I going mad.

I.D.C.

I.D.C.

pfm Member
I have been giving some thought about selling my system and cd collection together.
Linn iKimi cd player.
Linn Kairn pre-amp
2 x Linn LK 140 Power amps
Active Linn Keilidh Speakers.
3,800 cd's in wooden brackets storage all in alphabet order.

In a few years my wife and I will be down sizing to our holiday flat. The Cd's take up too much room plus I am now getting more into Vinyl.
Feel I could buy a hard disk drive and put what cd's I want onto that.
My wife and daughter, also friends think I am mad to even think of selling. They know I searched high and low to get some of the cd's some of which are audiophile quality


Recently bought a Orbe SE because in the last year I have been buying more and more vinyl. Also thinking of buying two mono blocks and a pair of speakers to replace what I have of the Linn. Do you think I could improve the sound of the Vinyl going down this road.

Has anyone ever converted a room with sound proofing studio class ?
 
I fairly recently sold my cd player to concentrate on a vinyl (Orbe) & computer based system (Mac-mini/DAC etc).
Absolutely NO regrets so far.
At present, my cd collection is in boxes in a spare room. Still unsure as to what to do with them. Even though my music library is backed up, I'm not sure about getting rid of the hard copies, just in case.
As Zarniwoop says, obviously a large LP collection will need more room than a CD collection.
There is room for improvement over a LK140 active system, but some people will always prefer an active system over a passive set-up. I was never a big fan of the Linn amps.
Be careful trying to turn your listening room into a recording studio style acoustic chamber. By all means play around with the acoustics a bit, but its very easy to overdo it & a totally dry room (like a studio can be) can sound weird/wrong. Lots of studios have dead parts & also live parts of rooms, not just totally dead.
There are quite a few sites for investigating acoustic treatment, eg
www.advancedacoustics-uk.com
www.soundsorba.com.
ATB
Matt
 
Thanks for the replies.
Space wise the cd's fill more than half of one wall. LP'S I only have 150 and keep them in record cases.

Good to hear you put your music onto hard drive as that's what I am thinking, however a HiFi hard drive away from the computer that plugs into your amp surely you can't lose music on that ?

Linn with Linn sounds great no doubt about that. With the Orbe I feel I could get a warmer sound going for a good valve amp.
 
I.D.C. said:
Good to hear you put your music onto hard drive as that's what I am thinking, however a HiFi hard drive away from the computer that plugs into your amp surely you can't lose music on that ?
Click to expand...


A hifi hard drive? Just a fancy NAS in my mind (NAS = Network Attached Storage)..

ANY hard disk can die/become corrupt, the trick is having a good backup strategy. Storage is cheap, so a pair of extra external USB drives with all the music backed up onto both is good piece of mind, once a month double check the backups & update as needed. Doesnt take very long at all once you have a routine.

Dont leave the backups connected, as a virus could trash the lot in one go (unlikely, but still a risk)

Keep one backup off site (friends/relatives house) and your music is safe from fires too. Also sensible to treat any digital pictures/important documents the same way.

Sam (speaking from experience)
 
I.D.C. said:
Thanks for the replies.
Space wise the cd's fill more than half of one wall. LP'S I only have 150 and keep them in record cases.

Good to hear you put your music onto hard drive as that's what I am thinking, however a HiFi hard drive away from the computer that plugs into your amp surely you can't lose music on that ?

Linn with Linn sounds great no doubt about that. With the Orbe I feel I could get a warmer sound going for a good valve amp.
Click to expand...

Oh yes you can! When (and it will) the drive fails. You need a minimum of two drives one an image of the other and ideally a third similar disk off-site. 3.5K CDs is a big investment in money and the time to rip.

Also I believe that if you don't keep the CDs then you should delete the rips. Its the ownership of the CD that is your license to play. I am in the process of ripping my CDs off and then store the CDs in boxes out of site.

Cheers,

DV
 
Getting rid of your jewel cases, ripping to hard drives, using a good DAC, and keeping your CDs in compact sleeves would reduce the space requirement considerably.
 
Darth Vader said:
Also I believe that if you don't keep the CDs then you should delete the rips. Its the ownership of the CD that is your license to play. I am in the process of ripping my CDs off and then store the CDs in boxes out of site.
Click to expand...

Agreed.. Mine will be in protective boxes tucked in the loft.

Sam
 
I sold my CDX to pay for an upgrade to the TT. Still waiting for a demo on arm/cartridge, but no regrets on the sale so far. (I just use the DVD player for my fortnightly CD use).
 
What’s the point of ripping CDs ? The original CD would obviously sound superior.

It must be convenience - not having to make the enormous effort of taking a CD from a cabinet, taking it out of its case, walking across the room and putting it into a player. That’s it.

Buy a CDX.
 
Norman Green said:
What’s the point of ripping CDs ? The original CD would obviously sound superior.
Click to expand...

For me there are a few reasons:

  • Aesthetics - No need for shelves of CDs in my lounge.
  • Conveniece - All my music is available to me anywhere (in the house or out).
  • One less box (in sight) - No need for a cd player in the lounge, the streamer box is very small and easily hidden.
  • No loss in quality - Lossless is an exact copy of the original.

Doesnt suit everyone, and it may not suit me. I havent finished the process of moving to streamed yet.. Time will tell.
There is something 'nice' about the tactile nature of looking through shelves of CDs and putting one in the player that I may miss..

Just need to find a streamer+Dac combo that sounds as good as my cd player..

Sam
 
I.D.C. said:
Thanks

Linn with Linn sounds great no doubt about that. With the Orbe I feel I could get a warmer sound going for a good valve amp.
Click to expand...

A good valve amp? Now you're talking!
I changed from an excellent naim282/Avondale m130's combo to a Graaf gm50 valve amp. Absolutely superb. Very rare on the market, but you could look at the EAR amps among others.
A lovely blend of the old & the new... A computer/dac set up, an excellent turntable + a valve amp!
Matt.
 
I.D.C. said:
I have been giving some thought about selling my system and cd collection together.
Linn iKimi cd player.
Linn Kairn pre-amp
2 x Linn LK 140 Power amps
Active Linn Keilidh Speakers.
3,800 cd's in wooden brackets storage all in alphabet order.

In a few years my wife and I will be down sizing to our holiday flat. The Cd's take up too much room plus I am now getting more into Vinyl.
Feel I could buy a hard disk drive and put what cd's I want onto that.
My wife and daughter, also friends think I am mad to even think of selling. They know I searched high and low to get some of the cd's some of which are audiophile quality


Recently bought a Orbe SE because in the last year I have been buying more and more vinyl. Also thinking of buying two mono blocks and a pair of speakers to replace what I have of the Linn. Do you think I could improve the sound of the Vinyl going down this road.

Has anyone ever converted a room with sound proofing studio class ?
Click to expand...

NEVER NEVER GET RID OF THE MASTER COPIE. The CD is your back up. If room is impossible to find copy them at least on memory cards. 3.800 CDs take up a shit load of living space. 3.800 LPs take up allot less room. Compact my ass. 1 more LK-140 aktive Kabers?

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31902961&l=d9b0a55986&id=1217006445
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31902958&l=c30a01b58f&id=1217006445
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31884017&l=438b93b5c3&id=1217006445
 
Norman Green said:
What’s the point of ripping CDs ? The original CD would obviously sound superior.

It must be convenience - not having to make the enormous effort of taking a CD from a cabinet, taking it out of its case, walking across the room and putting it into a player. That’s it.

Buy a CDX.
Click to expand...

People keep telling me that the rip is SUPERIOR to playing CD, as long as it's a bit for bit copy, as there is no read errors / error correction going on. It's still all black magic to me at the moment.
 
Norman Green said:
What’s the point of ripping CDs ? The original CD would obviously sound superior.

It must be convenience - not having to make the enormous effort of taking a CD from a cabinet, taking it out of its case, walking across the room and putting it into a player. That’s it.

Buy a CDX.
Click to expand...

Surprisingly this is often not the case! I won't go into the details as these have been covered on PFM before but in a nutshell a CD player has to perform error correction 'on-the-fly' so depending on the CDP may not be all that good! However a software rip will be exact.

You'd be amazed at what can be achieved with an old lappytop playing into a decent DAC. Another thing that can be done is to use your entire library as your own radio station so that you hear a random selection. I can do that with our digital Pure radio radio in the Kitchen or from any of the 6 lappytops we have in this house.

Try and get a chance to hear someones setup but be warned you may need some deep pockets afterwards.

Cheers,

DV
 
sam_cat said:
Just need to find a streamer+Dac combo that sounds as good as my cd player..

Sam
Click to expand...

It really depends on what CDP you have now and the depth of your pockets. Take a look at the DACs in the CASH list on this site and read up on anything in your price range http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Computer-Audiophile-Suggested-Hardware-List

I have the Weiss DAC202 and its rather amazing and is better than my vinyl rig LP12/Ittok/Troika/Mose/Fein Phono. It looks like I need to spend about 4x the price of the DAC to bring vinyl back up to the same level.

Cheers,

DV
 
Norman Green said:
What’s the point of ripping CDs ? The original CD would obviously sound superior.

It must be convenience - not having to make the enormous effort of taking a CD from a cabinet, taking it out of its case, walking across the room and putting it into a player. That’s it.

Buy a CDX.
Click to expand...

Wrong, actually. Rips to flac sound better.

Chris
 
Hi IDC,

I can understand your desire to get rid of all that Linn gear.... :D

I can also empathise with a swing away from buying new CDs towards buying new vinyl - that's my current position as well...

But to get rid of a collection of 3,800 albums (irrespective of format), which must have taken many years to accumulate, does tend to make me respond to your original post's subject line with a resounding "YES - you're about to qualify as being stark raving bonkers!"

As far as ripping those CDs and retaining them on on HDD, if we assume a rip speed of 8x to 10x (for SQ reasons), then you're probably looking at ~5mins per CD to rip, which - for 3,800 CDs - equates to almost 320 hours of continuous ripping (@4hrs per day = 80 days)... Not a pleasant prospect!

And then, for absolute security, you should really still hang on to all the CDs anyway - albeit in "non-online physical storage"...

There is one compromise you can make - and that assumes the 3,800 CDs have been accumulated over almost 30 years and that your tastes in music have changed during that time. Weed out those albums that have "lost their flavour on the bedpost overnight" for disposal, and just hang on to those that still have that "magic"... Just what you do with the weeded-out CDs is up to you (I've found they do quite well as substitutes for clay pigeons)...

Coming back to getting rid of all that Linn stuff (nods head in appreciation of common sense triumphing over dogma) - please don't make the mistake of trading one set of dogma for another similar set of dogma. In other words, look beyond what everyone here will recommend - i.e. NAIM! There are other brands out there!

Finally, I'm in the process of replacing a defunct Theta DSPro GenVa DAC with a Bryston BDA-1 DAC and, in discussions with local importer, it appears that Bryston have just launched a new component - a "digital player" labelled the BDP-1.

This - rather intriguing - device reads music files via a USB2.0 interface from USB flash drives and/or USB hard drives and outputs the files as a digital data stream to a DAC (e.g. Bryston's BDA-1). It is capable of handling 16-bit and 24-bit files at sampling rates ranging from 44.1KHz to 192KHz (as is the BDA-1 DAC). The digital data stream retains the bit depths and sampling rates of the original source files. The device has no moving parts in its casework but relies on external USB drives to hold music files in FLAC, WAV, AIFF, Apple Lossless (m4a), WMP and MP3 formats. A browser-based GUI is available for use on networked PC's, iPODs, iPADs, etc... Maybe next Christmas...

So, do yourself a favour and hang on to your CD collection - I KNOW you will regret any disposal at some point!

:cool:
 
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