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Hi-fi thoughts



happypig

happypig

Staring at the rude boys
May 23, 2009
7,959
Eastbourne
It's time to upgrade I think but I'm not really up on what's what these days.
My CD player is 30 years old, speakers similar age. Amp is 5 or 6 years old (Marantz).

The choices, as I see them are:
Replace CD player (I have the option of a fairly new one from a relative) & speakers and maybe add a DAB receiver.
Get a new all-in-one unit with built in CD/DAB
Sonos (?) or similar multi-room.

Music is on CDs but also ripped to MP3 and stored on my mac (and ipod/ipad) so something that streams might be good. Spotify might be good too but not essential.
I wan't something that will go reasonably loud.
 






Uncle C

Uncle C

Well-known member
Jul 6, 2004
11,683
Bishops Stortford
happypig said:
It's time to upgrade I think but I'm not really up on what's what these days.
My CD player is 30 years old, speakers similar age. Amp is 5 or 6 years old (Marantz).

The choices, as I see them are:
Replace CD player (I have the option of a fairly new one from a relative) & speakers and maybe add a DAB receiver.
Get a new all-in-one unit with built in CD/DAB
Sonos (?) or similar multi-room.

Music is on CDs but also ripped to MP3 and stored on my mac (and ipod/ipad) so something that streams might be good. Spotify might be good too but not essential.
I wan't something that will go reasonably loud.
Click to expand...

On a scale of 1 to 10 where does sound quality rank. Not a particularly good indicator when you highlight loud as your only criteria.
 


happypig

happypig

Staring at the rude boys
May 23, 2009
7,959
Eastbourne
Uncle C said:
On a scale of 1 to 10 where does sound quality rank. Not a particularly good indicator when you highlight loud as your only criteria.
Click to expand...

Probably an 8/9.

I only put loud because I like to wind it up a bit without distortion
 






Uncle C

Uncle C

Well-known member
Jul 6, 2004
11,683
Bishops Stortford
happypig said:
Probably an 8/9.

I only put loud because I like to wind it up a bit without distortion
Click to expand...

In which case Bose is out and Sonos (which is a bit better) also. Both are like eating Chinese food, good at first but if SQ is important will leave you wanting more.

Computer based systems are the way forward and are improving by the day. I pensioned off my £4000 CD player some years ago.

How comfortable do you feel with using something like the Paspberry Pi as your player?

You do realise that saving music as MP3s has already compromised the SQ. FLAC would have been better and WAV best of all.
 


Bedsex

Bedsex

not my real name
Jan 29, 2009
1,877
Flitwick
I agree that Sonos is the right answer. Unfortunately they do make it very easy to keep expanding your system and spend an extraordinary amount of money!
 


Icy Gull

Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster
Jul 5, 2003
72,015
I have a Bose Soundlink 2 and most of the time use it in preference to my pretty good sound system. I can use it anywhere, even when away from home, which is a massive plus.

Sound quality is excellent too, as is volume,
 






happypig

happypig

Staring at the rude boys
May 23, 2009
7,959
Eastbourne
Uncle C said:
In which case Bose is out and Sonos (which is a bit better) also. Both are like eating Chinese food, good at first but if SQ is important will leave you wanting more.

Computer based systems are the way forward and are improving by the day. I pensioned off my £4000 CD player some years ago.
Click to expand...

£4k is above my budget. I'm looking at about a quarter of that tops.

How comfortable do you feel with using something like the Paspberry Pi as your player?
Click to expand...

I've already got one running my home server, another running Kodi for TV stuff and a couple in project boxes so quite happy using one. The Mrs, on the other hand, will want something she can either use off her phone like Sonos can I beleive, or just bung in a CD.

You do realise that saving music as MP3s has already compromised the SQ. FLAC would have been better and WAV best of all.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know that. All my rips are 320k, amazon DLs 256k. I'm happy enough with that level of quality.
 


AmexRuislip

AmexRuislip

Trainee Spy 🕵️‍♂️
Feb 2, 2014
33,801
Ruislip
happypig said:
It's time to upgrade I think but I'm not really up on what's what these days.
My CD player is 30 years old, speakers similar age. Amp is 5 or 6 years old (Marantz).

The choices, as I see them are:
Replace CD player (I have the option of a fairly new one from a relative) & speakers and maybe add a DAB receiver.
Get a new all-in-one unit with built in CD/DAB
Sonos (?) or similar multi-room.

Music is on CDs but also ripped to MP3 and stored on my mac (and ipod/ipad) so something that streams might be good. Spotify might be good too but not essential.
I wan't something that will go reasonably loud.
Click to expand...

Recently down sized music empire to fit the size of our hobbit house with this.

attachment.php

For us its a great buy, and has just what we need.

www.ruarkaudio.com/products/r2-overview
 

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F

fleet

Well-known member
Jul 28, 2003
12,222
Sonos or the new Bose multi room system. With Sonos you can get a connect amp and use your existing amp and speakers if you want, so if your amp is good you could upgrade your speakers and use Sonos through it. I use that through Mission speakers and an arcam amp and it sounds very good (even with the lower quality of the compressed stream format).
 


wallyback

wallyback

Well-known member
Jun 22, 2011
1,406
Brighton
happypig said:
£4k is above my budget. I'm looking at about a quarter of that tops.



I've already got one running my home server, another running Kodi for TV stuff and a couple in project boxes so quite happy using one. The Mrs, on the other hand, will want something she can either use off her phone like Sonos can I beleive, or just bung in a CD.



Yes, I know that. All my rips are 320k, amazon DLs 256k. I'm happy enough with that level of quality.
Click to expand...

What is this raspberry pi you speak of?

How does it help with hi-fi?
 


Uncle C

Uncle C

Well-known member
Jul 6, 2004
11,683
Bishops Stortford
happypig said:
£4k is above my budget. I'm looking at about a quarter of that tops.



I've already got one running my home server, another running Kodi for TV stuff and a couple in project boxes so quite happy using one. The Mrs, on the other hand, will want something she can either use off her phone like Sonos can I beleive, or just bung in a CD.



Yes, I know that. All my rips are 320k, amazon DLs 256k. I'm happy enough with that level of quality.
Click to expand...

Equip RPi with Moode software and a Wi-fi stick. Total cost about £50. Then add a DAC (Rasberry do one too but I have no knowledge of it),. I am guessing that whole lot is less than £100. Then add amp and speakers to suit budget.

The RPi and your entire stored record collection can be accessed via your network with any Wi-Fi device such as you wife's phone.
 














Ludensian Gull

Ludensian Gull

Well-known member
Apr 18, 2009
3,680
Thorpness Suffolk
Bozza said:
Yep - very easy. Even easier than it used to be as a dedicated bridge is no longer required.
Click to expand...

Thanks, had a listen to them in Currys last week, liked the sound of the 3 but couldn't really justify the price jump to a 5, to my untrained ear I couldn't really hear much difference
 


Bozza

Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
55,719
Back in Sussex
Ludensian Gull said:
Thanks, had a listen to them in Currys last week, liked the sound of the 3 but couldn't really justify the price jump to a 5, to my untrained ear I couldn't really hear much difference
Click to expand...

We have a 3 in our lounge and it's fine. Only this past weekend a friend was telling me that his office has replaced a 3 with a 5 and it's completely overkill. Unless you have an enormous room to fill, the 3 should be great.
 


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