Screw the CD Player.

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chinchy As a followup, I had a mini eargasm today. I've been mainly listening with my HD650's through my modded SHA-1. But I wanted to try a different set of cans today, but forgot that everything was at work. My usual home-backup cans being the SR-225, and HD25-1. So I only had one other set of cans left, the HP-2. And I was thinking, well, why not, I might as well give it a go. Previously I had given up on the HP-2s because they were too uninvolving, and neutral for my tastes. But for some reason, after plugging them into the SHA-1, I was like, WHOA, they never sounded like this before!! I don't know if it was the lack of synergy between the 333ES and the SHA-1, or if it's just the really good synergy between the AV710 and the SHA-1 and the HP-2. Wow. Even my fiancee could tell. She was hesitant to try on the different headphones, because she said, "I can't hear the things you hear.." But between the two headphones she says, "Well the [HD650] sounds so far away, and the [HP-2] sounds clearer." Anyways, wow. I gave up on the HP-2 too quickly. I think I need to get another pair of Grado headphone extension cords... so that once I'm married my now-fiancee can listen with me. hm. I wonder who's going to get to listen to the HP-2's? haha! Sigh. i need to get another pair of flats too.. Maybe I'll get a pair of flats, and add a pair of GS-1000's... Tee hee!

The HP-2/Melos combo is a classic No-Lose situation. I'm glad you gave it a shot, especially since you had both handy! We have a number of folks here that still use this combo to great effect - including both early and late adopters to this synergistic pairing.

 

[GoRedwings19]

There are certainly times when I do see the computer as source thing a way to go. Then there are other times when it seems lacking in comparison.

The actual ripping of cd's does not bother me.

I wish I could implement a more practical solution but the lack of technical ability prevents.

The ability to have your entire collection on PC and be able to replay it is appealing. Hours and hours of music without having to move a lot has it charm.

Yet I cannot get it to sound somewhat decent. I am not expecting an Emm labs or DCS killer soundwise but most times than not my laptop ends up sounding worse than my ipod.

 

[Chinchy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn The HP-2/Melos combo is a classic No-Lose situation. I'm glad you gave it a shot, especially since you had both handy! We have a number of folks here that still use this combo to great effect - including both early and late adopters to this synergistic pairing.

See that's the weird thing. I KNEW about the HP-2/Melos combo, which is why I got the SHA-1. But previous attempts listening to the HP-2 with the SHA-1 didn't have this level of... awesome. Boy I'm glad I didn't sell the HP-2 now. Tee hee!

And GoRedwings: Yeah the laptop is in general iffy. Especially when the IR is enabled, and bluetooth is on, and wireless is on. I got all sorts of ringing and noise interference. Quite annoying. But at least my Thinkpad -> Audiophile USB -> Meta42 has been good enough for me.

I'll be honest, I'm really kinda cheap. There's only so far I'd be willing to go. So that's why I'm running Chaintech AV-710 instead of an 0404 for my desktop or a different laptop soundcard. And that's why my work amp is still a Meta42, although I still have my eye out for a Joe Grado HPA-1...

 

[mypasswordis]

I just tried imagining what it would be like to screw a CD player after I read the title of the thread as a command...

Er.. yeah.. back to the topic, I like convenience, too. Especially because I find it inconvenient to spend thousands of dollars on a good CD player.

 

[Cyrilix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoRedwings19 There are certainly times when I do see the computer as source thing a way to go. Then there are other times when it seems lacking in comparison. The actual ripping of cd's does not bother me. I wish I could implement a more practical solution but the lack of technical ability prevents. The ability to have your entire collection on PC and be able to replay it is appealing. Hours and hours of music without having to move a lot has it charm. Yet I cannot get it to sound somewhat decent. I am not expecting an Emm labs or DCS killer soundwise but most times than not my laptop ends up sounding worse than my ipod.

I have a hard time imagining that if you invest $1000 a PC source, like some of the guys do, you would have a setup that sounds worse than the ipod. I don't think you've been putting enough money into making your PC setup sound good. Then again, I could be completely wrong, but what you just said sounds like you have something aside from your source being a problem.

 

[Meyvn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattigol I guess turntables aren't on your horizon then ... I actually like getting up midway through an LP and flipping it over. It's more of an active listening experience @ home. OTOH, I do love my iPod and KSC35 for the road.

See, I love LP listening, but I consider CDs a pain for some reason. I guess I figure if I'm going to be an active listener, I might as well be all the way active and not just halfway. CD players are like an in-between stage and I'm just not a fan anymore. To the post earlier, "I guess you're not a fan of just listening," I don't think that's a fair statement. Sure, a lot of the time we use music as background on the computer, but in the "just listening" times, the computer benefits me immensely in that it allows me to listen much longer because I can instantly switch back and forth between tracks, as opposed to having to look all over for them. Saves time for enjoying those "just listening" periods.

 

[J-Pak]

Hehe my comfy chair is a few meters from my PC, and I use PC as source and just listen to the music. If I'm surfing the web I never have music on.

That guy that said pc as source just use it as background music made a huge assumption

Computer as source is the future anyway with everything going digital. Good thread on Audiogon about it.

 

[mojoman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller I think that what indeed is a big hasle is to trasnfer a whole collection of CDs into your hard drive, how many hours will take me to transfer 1200 CDs....

I started a project like that a couple of years ago. I had 1250 cds to rip. I started in Jan. 2004 and ripped the last one in late May 2004. I wasn't a lot of fun but I'm glad I did it now. These days, when I get a new cd the first I do is rip it to my hard drive. Another thing to consider is that you need to back all this stuff up because I don't want to do again anytime soon.

 

[TooNice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller LOL...what is the logic on that statement man!!!!....What about do not rip, and listen many as well, I do all the time....cheap, simpler, more convenient for me, and no hassle...

uzziah already answered that to me. The trade I am talking about is ripping once vs shuffling through hundreds let alone thousands of CDs. To me that takes less hassle to rip once than to go through a massive stack of CDs.

 

[Audiofiler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MdRex More like not a fan of rummaging thru CDs...

when you and any other digital fans want to get rid of your "pesky" physical form media, and decide no more rummaging, shoot me a PM, I will take a look at those CD's and perhaps buy,

redbook lives
my analog dream was killed by the digital nightmare...like the nose off your face..!:_)

 

[Audiofiler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TooNice uzziah already answered that to me. The trade I am talking about is ripping once vs shuffling through hundreds let alone thousands of CDs. To me that takes less hassle to rip once than to go through a massive stack of CDs.

I thought that too about 6 years ago and again a few months back,

my biggest regret: doing just that, transferring all my Discs to to HD, and having the formats/codecs die....and even smarter, I put all my CD's in the Case Logic carriers that hold 250 or something (filled up almost a dozen of these holders),
anyway, have lank media, and wish I kept up with the "hassle" of keeping them all in order and in their jewel cases...as it does no good transferring Discs where the info was already compromised due to improper storage (my bonehead mistake)

Keep your CD's in the future, or PM me with the list if you don't want them, can help anyone go "lean" on their collection if they are looking to unload some CD's,
live/learn

Peace

 

[Chinchy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mojoman I started a project like that a couple of years ago. I had 1250 cds to rip. I started in Jan. 2004 and ripped the last one in late May 2004. I wasn't a lot of fun but I'm glad I did it now. These days, when I get a new cd the first I do is rip it to my hard drive. Another thing to consider is that you need to back all this stuff up because I don't want to do again anytime soon.

Wow. You must have a HOOGE hard disk. Or more than one. At lossless, 1250 * 650 MB = 812 GB. Dude that's awesome!

Next question is: Have you found a good program that does a good job of actually randomizing the tracks? I hate it when the playback, even in random mode, goes in some sort of preset order. I find it SOOO amazingly annoying. I don't want to go in the same pre-assigned random order through the song list..

 

[viator122]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chinchy Wow. You must have a HOOGE hard disk. Or more than one. At lossless, 1250 * 650 MB = 812 GB. Dude that's awesome!

It would be less than that because FLAC/ALAC compress to 50%-60%, right?

 

[nelda]

Most of my collection(FLAC) is around 350-400MB/album

 

[TooNice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Audiofiler my biggest regret: doing just that, transferring all my Discs to to HD, and having the formats/codecs die....

Indeed, that is why I chose a lossless format when I first started (about 6 years ago too). Assuming that they are not inherently bugged, it shouldn't matter too much even if a format become obsolete. And transcoding costs nothing more than some CPU power (and temporary space). I didn't rip everything at the time due to the cost of storage, but this is becoming less and less of an issue nowadays.