Scrap value

[raysablade]

I was loading up the car for the dump today and my Marantz CDP 6000 OSE almost found its way into the pile. The remote doesn't work, its heavy and the time and trouble of getting in on sold on ebay isn't worth it. In the end though its my last CD transport of any sort other than the imac and there must be a role for it?

I couldn't help thinking that connected to the Naim NACN 172 XS streamer/dac/preamp that effectively replaced it will sound as good as any CD transport or integrated player i could buy.

That's just what i did the afternoon and via a coaxial cable it did sound great, but then a mirror image of everything it can play is already on the NAS server and i can listen all of that all in any room in the house on; a Sonos, a laptop or even my phone.

Made me realise that everything that that i own that doesn't directly connect to a data stream is effectively redundant and only sentiment stands between any of it and the tip.

I've been seriously listening to music for nearly 40 years, i could probably still find the copy of Ride a White Swan that was the first record i bought.

The idea that i really don't need a "collection" any more and "my music" need not be the physical media i own will still take a lot of getting used to. It is liberating too and i'm sure i will end up listening to more music, via via things like Spotify, Naim radio and downloads that are playing a few minutes after i decided to listen to them.

 

[GT]

Good for you.

Some of us don't want music in every room, or on a computer or a phone. I think this just shows how cheap and accessible music has become that its no longer as special as it once was. I am talking about the listening experience as well as the purchasing of the format too.
Convenience and accessibility over quality, still I suppose they call that progress...

 

[Steven Toy]

Good for you.

Some of us don't want music in every room, or on a computer or a phone. I think this just shows how cheap and accessible music has become that its no longer as special as it once was. I am talking about the listening experience as well as the purchasing of the format too.
Convenience and accessibility over quality, still I suppose they call that progress...

I am in agreement. A friend from France registered on here (he refrains from posting due to the vitriolic atmosphere) brought his laptop with him when he stayed here last week.

Ok, it wasn't abx but the laptop and Apollo R used as a transport were level matched when we compared the CD with the laptop playing the same ripped to its hard drive.

My friend has all the latest software and knows how to optimise a computer for music replay (he's a computer programmer). The CD transport sounded more natural, especially with female vocals; the PC ever so slightly grainy.

 

[jcbrum]

I agree that modern sources provide improvements in convenience and accessibility.

But not at the expense of quality.

My digital sources provide better sound quality than any former devices.

JC

 

[Peez]

Good for you.

Some of us don't want music in every room, or on a computer or a phone. I think this just shows how cheap and accessible music has become that its no longer as special as it once was. I am talking about the listening experience as well as the purchasing of the format too.
Convenience and accessibility over quality, still I suppose they call that progress...

not sure i entirely agree and see nothing wrong with convenience but so long as extreme quality is available as an option for those who might seek it -

for example, once upon a time, you might have had to visit a folk specialist for certain material that can be sourced and downloaded in seconds - same with rare books - then, if i want to treasure a specific recording i buy a copy on vinyl

i see nothing wrong with technology but how we use it is the determinant - quite simply it gives more people access to more - not all of them will value the treasures they find but once upon a time they may not have found them at all.

 

[Steven Toy]

The convenience aspect of computer audio is great and my friend's stay at my house was very enriching from the POV of access to lots of new music while he and his laptop were here. That said, you sacrifice a little bit of SQ in the process.

 

[redmedicine]

The convenience aspect of computer audio is great and my friend's stay at my house was very enriching from the POV of access to lots of new music while he and his laptop were here. That said, you sacrifice a little bit of SQ in the process.

I think that depends on what original source you're comparing it too. For me, it's been an improvement but my CD player wasn't exactly high-end.

 

[Nic P]

I am retired which means I am busy all the time. There is no way I have the time to rip even a small part of my CD collection onto hard disk (especially if you create proper metadata). I also have a significant collection of vinyl that is incredibly hard and time consuming to rip. I have spent a lot of time collecting CDs and LPs with great recording/mastering so am only interested in the likes of Spotify for browsing new music. I cannot see me joining the streaming revolution any time soon. The only downside is storing the CDs and LPs ... but at least they are a pretty safe archive (and very well insured!).

Nic P

 

[raysablade]

Good for you.

Some of us don't want music in every room, or on a computer or a phone. I think this just shows how cheap and accessible music has become that its no longer as special as it once was. I am talking about the listening experience as well as the purchasing of the format too.
Convenience and accessibility over quality, still I suppose they call that progress...

I agree on quality but where would i have to go in the Naim CD Player range to get better quality?

I couldn't distinguish between the server based music i played today and its equivalent sourced from the CD player. I suspect i would have to go a long way up the Naim CD player range to find a significant improvement. Given the advances in DAC technology since most of the current range was designed.

I think what i'm trying to get at is that i have a nice Naim based stereo setup in my front room that gives me great quality sound from a variety of digital sources, including ripped CD's.

But i've realised that i no longer need to think of "my music" as a collection of physical things that require a "player"?

The only reason i'm keeping the player and a mountain of CDs is the notion of some intrinsic value and sentiment. Today was the first time i realised that, and began to think of my CD's as a backup of whats on the server rather than the other way around, i guess I'm a bit slow

 

[Steven Toy]

A Rega Apollo R is £550 + DAC of choice.

It is possible to get off the Naim treadmill. . .

 

[raysablade]

A Rega Apollo R is £550 + DAC of choice.

It is possible to get off the Naim treadmill. . .

In the traditional sense i don't think of the NAC-N 172 XS as Naim product. Dac, streamer, power supply and pre-amp in one box. Its not fussy about the power amp you connect it to and has a sublime interface via N-stream. I think it's a ground breaking product from them that doesn't get the attention it deserves.

All the stuff i had trouble with tweaking a PC and a DAC has been engineered away. I just plugged in and ethernet cable and a power amp and off we went.

Cost me less than £1200 s/H , for the quality and fun I'm getting I'd call that a complete bargain.

 

[Shaking Street]

My first post...hello.
Over the past few years Ive been gradually recording my vinyl onto the computer, via Audacity. Its not really terribly time-consuming...every time I play a side I've been simply plugging the record amp into the computer and get an AUP file of the side, or both sides. I carefully make sure the file is labelled and filed away safely, and when I have a bit of "record time" to spare I return to the AUP files and label and cut the tracks up, and then save them both as mp3 files AND as Aiff files.
The lossless Aiff files I keep on the computer in the house for "casual" listening, and the mp3 files, which are much smaller, I keep to load onto the iphone or ipod when travelling out. Lesser quality but for casual....who cares? And with the mp3 files you can get more onto the phone, etc.
Its been a fantastically fun process, and if you just "keep at it"...here after four or five years I've got about 2000 of my pre-1972 psych collection digitised and safely stored on a couple of hard-drives. Younger friends are increasingly getting into vinyl (hooray!!) and my files have been gratefully received around the world...MUCH better quality than Spotify.
When I want the real thing...simply dig out the vinyl and have a proper listen. It also has to be said, if there's a record you like a lot you don't necessarily want to take the increasingly valuable item in and out of its storage. One of my faves: Revolver. I have a PRISTINE stereo first press, and I just don't want to keep taking it in and out of shelves and out of the sleeve and onto the deck, but the aiff files via itunes are 95% as good as listening to the vinyl, and the vinyl comes out for special occasions!

 

[djftw]

In the traditional sense i don't think of the NAC-N 172 XS as Naim product. Dac, streamer, power supply and pre-amp in one box. Its not fussy about the power amp you connect it to and has a sublime interface via N-stream. I think it's a ground breaking product from them that doesn't get the attention it deserves.



All the stuff i had trouble with tweaking a PC and a DAC has been engineered away. I just plugged in and ethernet cable and a power amp and off we went.



Cost me less than £1200 s/H , for the quality and fun I'm getting I'd call that a complete bargain.

It is a very sensible product, but I was rather disappointed how poorly it compares to the ND5xs and my CD5x SQ wise though I suppose I should have expected that...

 

[Tony L]

Even in a hard-core computer audio scenario I'd still keep a CD player as a) it's far easier to just play a new disc to see if you like it prior to ripping / tagging etc, and b) it's a useful backup for when your HD fails / computer breaks or whatever. I can listen to CDs whilst restoring my iTunes library from a backup!

 

[Avonessence]

Good for you.

Some of us don't want music in every room, or on a computer or a phone. I think this just shows how cheap and accessible music has become that its no longer as special as it once was. I am talking about the listening experience as well as the purchasing of the format too.
Convenience and accessibility over quality, still I suppose they call that progress...

I am of the same opinion as Graham.

But if someone wants to access their music in every room in the house why spend all that money on equipment and speakers which will transfer it into any room, just turn the volume up and you can hear it in every room in the house, and even your neighbours get the benefit as well.

 

[davidavdavid]

The evolution of digital audio has made many of us re-think our systems. I maintain a CD ROM drive for the purposes of ripping CDs. For those with digital music collections - rather than purchasing a complex NAS solution, purchase 2 external hard drives, making one the primary drive and the other the secondary. There is mirroring software (backup software) out there which will allow you to incrementally back up the primary to the secondary so you can keep both hard drives in sync. This affords users a "fail-over" solution.

As for "streamers" the jury remains out. A number of these solutions are glorified computers and a dedicated computer with its own monitor can be just as effective. I have set up a MacMini and tweaked it over the course of day to be my source for ALL my digital music - approximately 4TB - and so convenient because I can do all the metadata editing in one place.

And so much more affordable.

 

[nirvanah]

My first post...hello.
Over the past few years Ive been gradually recording my vinyl onto the computer, via Audacity. Its not really terribly time-consuming...every time I play a side I've been simply plugging the record amp into the computer and get an AUP file of the side, or both sides. I carefully make sure the file is labelled and filed away safely, and when I have a bit of "record time" to spare I return to the AUP files and label and cut the tracks up, and then save them both as mp3 files AND as Aiff files.
The lossless Aiff files I keep on the computer in the house for "casual" listening, and the mp3 files, which are much smaller, I keep to load onto the iphone or ipod when travelling out. Lesser quality but for casual....who cares? And with the mp3 files you can get more onto the phone, etc.
Its been a fantastically fun process, and if you just "keep at it"...here after four or five years I've got about 2000 of my pre-1972 psych collection digitised and safely stored on a couple of hard-drives. Younger friends are increasingly getting into vinyl (hooray!!) and my files have been gratefully received around the world...MUCH better quality than Spotify.
When I want the real thing...simply dig out the vinyl and have a proper listen. It also has to be said, if there's a record you like a lot you don't necessarily want to take the increasingly valuable item in and out of its storage. One of my faves: Revolver. I have a PRISTINE stereo first press, and I just don't want to keep taking it in and out of shelves and out of the sleeve and onto the deck, but the aiff files via itunes are 95% as good as listening to the vinyl, and the vinyl comes out for special occasions!

Welcome to the forum, it sounds like you sorted the way you play music and it seems you have a very nice record collection too and just enjoy the music.

 

[amazement]

It is a very sensible product, but I was rather disappointed how poorly it compares to the ND5xs and my CD5x SQ wise though I suppose I should have expected that...

I would say the nac 172 is easily on a par with the uniti's @ £1650 if you factor in there is no power amp or cd then there's not a lot of difference between a 172 and a uniti.

 

[scottcarpenter]

I am retired which means I am busy all the time. There is no way I have the time to rip even a small part of my CD collection onto hard disk (especially if you create proper metadata). I also have a significant collection of vinyl that is incredibly hard and time consuming to rip. I have spent a lot of time collecting CDs and LPs with great recording/mastering so am only interested in the likes of Spotify for browsing new music. I cannot see me joining the streaming revolution any time soon. The only downside is storing the CDs and LPs ... but at least they are a pretty safe archive (and very well insured!).

Nic P

+1

 

[Colin L]

I am of the same opinion as Graham.

But if someone wants to access their music in every room in the house why spend all that money on equipment and speakers which will transfer it into any room, just turn the volume up and you can hear it in every room in the house, and even your neighbours get the benefit as well.

+1