cheap advice

[muohlukas]

ok, so im very new to the scene, and ive tried to do some research into being a cheap audiophile. i have a set of grado sr-60 cans in the mail, and i have an empty creative zen xtra 40gb that's waiting for my computer to finish ripping everything... i have a modest collection of cds, but im in the process of re-ripping all of my music into 320kbps with EAC running with LAME. previously, all my music, which isnt a whole lot, was half and half 128/192. from what ive read, the highest quality format the zen will support is 320mp3, well... other than .wav, which i was considering for a while. i dont have enough hard drive space on my old computer at the moment to rip to wav, but i would like to eventually. (at the moment, trying to free up enough space to actually rip everything to .wav) my computer's sound system bites, so i wont even ask for suggestions there, but i was wondering if there's anything else i can do for a portable system for less than $100. I've read that the ipod shuffle has good SQ for the price, but its storage capacity is lacking. maybe my best bet is to clean out the hard drive, go with .wavs on everything, and just put my favorites on the zen. suggestions are welcome and encouraged, and i think im done droning on for a while. thanks in advance for any ideas.

-lukas

 

[spaceconvoy]

Buy a new harddrive. Rip all your music to wav (or flac). That way you have an archive of everything, and when you want all your music in alac or lame or ogg, it's all at your fingertips. This is coming from someone who has ripped his entire collection THREE TIMES. If you're going digital, imho, the best investment you can make is in storage.

 

[Lsportline43]

Isn't 40 GB on the Creative big enough for Wav files? You did say you don't have much of a music collection. Just rip to wav and keep transferring files to the Creative as you rip. This way your hard drive doesn't get filled up.

 

[muohlukas]

yeah, thats the realization im coming to as well. hoping i can squeeze more space out of my 80gb hd, im up to 22gb of free space....

 

[muohlukas]

havent actually done the math to see how much space it's going to take, i have around 60 cds, but i also dont think i need to copy all of them. my tastes in music have changed a lot recently.

 

[Lsportline43]

Are you still looking for a <$100 DAP?

 

[muohlukas]

not specifically, i think my creative will do well enough using .wavs, unless you know differently, i have read that it holds up on its own fairly well for sound quality. and yes, im now getting ready to rip everything into .wav, i think i have the room right now, im at just under 40gb of free space, and if cds average 500mb per music cd, i should have around 10g free with all my music on. how about this... use default settings for the wav rips on EAC?

 

[muohlukas]

would it be possible someone to point me in the direction of Cmoy info? and do i need one... assuming thats the thing i see strapped to everyone else's portables on the picture thread.

 

[muohlukas]

nevermind, i think those are amps, but im still confused to what a cmoy is, or am i so confused that they're just the same thing...

 

[xlEnt]

run from here and never come back.

love,
cheapest advice.

 

[muohlukas]

...because the money going out of my pocket is going to grow deafening? or im just too noobish to be here

 

[xlEnt]

because your going to get deeper and deeper into this hobby (which isn't exactly cheap)

 

[muohlukas]

yeah, im a little worried about that, but i know my financial limitations right now, and im pretty good at not going overboard on spending. given my lack of experience with hi-fi gear, i'll be happy with the upgrade... like i said, i was listening to 128kbps mp3's, and using cheap sony earbuds, or my koss cheapo headphones. cheap grados and .wavs will do me well.

 

[muohlukas]

i have one last question, and i think im done... is there any way to do an id3 tag sort of thing for .wavs? or is that something i have to manually put in, j/w

 

[Lsportline43]

Quote:

Originally Posted by muohlukas not specifically, i think my creative will do well enough using .wavs, unless you know differently, i have read that it holds up on its own fairly well for sound quality. and yes, im now getting ready to rip everything into .wav, i think i have the room right now, im at just under 40gb of free space, and if cds average 500mb per music cd, i should have around 10g free with all my music on. how about this... use default settings for the wav rips on EAC?

I would recommend a used iRiver H120 or H140. It has the capablities to be a serious portable rig. With the Micro DAC and your choice of headphone amp you can really have a serious transportable rig. Eventuallly this is what I am planning to do.

They stopped making the H120 and H140, so they won't be available new. There are some new ones on ebay and www.misticaudio.com though. Don't think the supply will last.