How Do You Mainly Listen to Music?

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  • bikezappa
    bikezappa Posts: 2,463
    edited March 2010
    I was looking at these http://www.olive.us/products/olive4/overview.html

    Seemed interesting for a setup. I'm thinking of a 2 channel setup that's user friendly for the wife, but also has all my stuff stored local.[/QUOTE]

    That Olive system looks really nice. Imagine the space you save by loading a few 1000 CDs in the server. And to be able to connect to a TV to see all those CDs.

    Does anyone use an Olive?

    My fear is that it will crash and lose all the music.
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  • dougy
    dougy Posts: 182
    edited March 2010
    pploeser wrote: »
    I've been wondering... how long do you think it will be until we see hard drive-equipped music servers begin to take the place of the traditional CD player in today's Hi-fi systems? I don't necessarily mean a media computer as much as a stand alone component, maybe with CD ripping capability, SD card slot, or USB connection. Do you foresee that happening, or has it already begun?

    I've also wondered why media companies don't move towards flash storage for music and movies. For example, instead of buying a compact disc, you just purchase and album on an SD card. Is it just the fact that blank CDs and DVDs are so cheap?


    I think it's just a matter of time until pc-based (think Squeezebox & Roku)and stand-alones such as Olive, Sonos, etc. dominate. Traditional audio component makers better get on the band wagon or they'll find themselves out in the cold.

    As for your second question, I think Sony did try selling music on memory cards a couple of years ago. Must not have been successful.
    THE MAN-CAVE 5.1 CHANNEL A/V RIG
    Sony KDS-60A3000
    a/d/s/ HT-400LCR (3)
    a/d/s/ HT-300 (2)
    Velodyne DLS-4000R (2)
    Pioneer Elite VSX-55TXi
    Pioneer Elite DV-47Ai
    Sony BDP-S300
    Sony SLV-779HF
    DirecTV HD sat. receiver

    MAN-CAVE 2-CHANNEL RIG (shares sources with a/v system)
    Adcom GFA-5500
    Bose 901 Series VI
    NAD C-165BEE
    Slim Devices Squeezebox Classic
    TEAC CD-RW890
    Technics SL-BD20D w/ Audio-Technica P34
    Akai HX-A3X
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  • stuwee
    stuwee Posts: 1,508
    edited March 2010
    Well, it's nice to see some 8-trackers about, I don't have one :(.
    Mainly TT and cassette at casa de stuwee, some CD/DVD with a little RtR when I can. I have really crappy speakers on the 'puter so I don't listen there, I have a nice 3head Denon deck on a towel in a chair for some serious listening through headphones in the computer room.
    Thorens TD125MKII, SME3009,Shure V15/ Teac V-8000S, Denon DN-790R cass, Teac 3340 RtR decks, Onix CD2...Sumo Electra Plus pre>SAE A1001 amp>Martin Logan Summit's
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited March 2010
    bikezappa wrote: »
    I was looking at these http://www.olive.us/products/olive4/overview.html

    Seemed interesting for a setup. I'm thinking of a 2 channel setup that's user friendly for the wife, but also has all my stuff stored local.

    That Olive system looks really nice. Imagine the space you save by loading a few 1000 CDs in the server. And to be able to connect to a TV to see all those CDs.

    Does anyone use an Olive?

    My fear is that it will crash and lose all the music.[/QUOTE]

    Ya have to keep the CDs as backup, no?
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  • bikezappa
    bikezappa Posts: 2,463
    edited March 2010
    hearingimpared wrote: »
    That Olive system looks really nice. Imagine the space you save by loading a few 1000 CDs in the server. And to be able to connect to a TV to see all those CDs.

    Does anyone use an Olive?

    My fear is that it will crash and lose all the music.

    Ya have to keep the CDs as backup, no?[/QUOTE]

    But reloading a 1000 cds will really suck.

    Olive charges $.50 to load the cds. The first 100 are free.
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  • wingnut4772
    wingnut4772 Posts: 7,519
    edited March 2010
    I usually listen with my ears.
    Sharp Elite 70
    Anthem D2V 3D
    Parasound 5250
    Parasound HCA 1000 A
    Parasound HCA 1000
    Oppo BDP 95
    Von Schweikert VR4 Jr R/L Fronts
    Von Schweikert LCR 4 Center
    Totem Mask Surrounds X4
    Hsu ULS-15 Quad Drive Subwoofers
    Sony PS3
    Squeezebox Touch

    Polk Atrium 7s on the patio just to keep my foot in the door.
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited March 2010
    bikezappa wrote: »
    Ya have to keep the CDs as backup, no?
    But reloading a 1000 cds will really suck.

    Olive charges $.50 to load the cds. The first 100 are free.

    UGH! Why bother? I'm just as happy getting up off my fat **** and loading a CD in the tray or throwing on an LP or SACD.

    I stated this before, it seems like a waste of money to me to buy a new medium plus ALL the time it takes to load each CD not to mention the fact that I can't load the thousands of LPs I have as well as the few <25 SACDs.

    That's just me though.;)
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  • adam2434
    adam2434 Posts: 995
    edited March 2010
    For file back-up, hopefully, the Olive has away to 1) copy files on the Olive to an external HD and/or 2) copy files from and External HD or network to the Olive.

    Rather than doing the ripping on the Olive, seems like ripping on the computer, then transferring to the Olive would be more convenient.

    This way, you can do the ripping on your computer, while you're surfing the net or doing other things on the computer.

    In all cases, I'm talking about ripping to lossless (flac) to preserve the original CD bitstream.

    When I ripped my collection to flac a couple years ago, it did seem like a daunting task at the time. But looking back on it, it wasn't that bad - I averaged about 10 CDs a night while surfing the net, over the course of about 2.5 months. It only takes a few minutes for each CD. Now, when I get new CDs, I immediately rip them, so it is very easy to keep up with new purchases.

    All of my flac files are on the computer (for Squeezebox) and are backed-up to an external HD that is only powered up during back-ups. I also have another back-up to a HD that is not at my house...so this is actually safer than 'only' having the CDs.
    5.1 and 2.0 ch Basement Media Room: Outlaw 975/Emotiva DC-1/Rotel RB-1582 MKII/Rotel RB-1552/Audiosource Amp 3/Polk LS90, CS400i, FX500i/Outlaw X-12, LFM-1/JVD DLA-HD250/Da-Lite 100" HCCV/Sony ES BDP/Sonos Connect. DC-1/RB-1582 MKII/Sonos Connect also feed Polk 7C in garage or Dayton IO655 on patio.
    2.1 ch Basement Gym: Denon AVR-2807/Klipsch Forte I or NHT SB2/JBL SUB 550P x 2/Chromecast Audio.
    2.0 ch Living Room: Rotel RX-1052/Emotiva DC-1/Klipsch RF-7 III/Sony ES BDP/LG 65" LED.
    2.0 ch Semi-portable: Klipsch Powergate/NHT SB3/Chromecast Audio.
    Kitchen: Sonos Play5.
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited March 2010
    adam2434 wrote: »
    For file back-up, hopefully, the Olive has away to 1) copy files on the Olive to an external HD and/or 2) copy files from and External HD or network to the Olive.

    Rather than doing the ripping on the Olive, seems like ripping on the computer, then transferring to the Olive would be more convenient.

    This way, you can do the ripping on your computer, while you're surfing the net or doing other things on the computer.
    In all cases, I'm talking about ripping to lossless (flac) to preserve the original CD bitstream.

    When I ripped my collection to flac a couple years ago, it did seem like a daunting task at the time. But looking back on it, it wasn't that bad - I averaged about 10 CDs a night while surfing the net, over the course of about 2.5 months. It only takes a few minutes for each CD. Now, when I get new CDs, I immediately rip them, so it is very easy to keep up with new purchases.

    All of my flac files are on the computer (for Squeezebox) and are backed-up to an external HD that is only powered up during back-ups. I also have another back-up to a HD that is not at my house...so this is actually safer than 'only' having the CDs.

    Sounds like a good method. However, I have a great many CDs but my vinyl collection is far, far greater and includes music that has never been transferred and sold on CD.
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  • adam2434
    adam2434 Posts: 995
    edited March 2010
    hearingimpared wrote: »
    Sounds like a good method. However, I have a great many CDs but my vinyl collection is far, far greater and includes music that has never been transferred and sold on CD.

    Yep, the computer/server approach is geared towards CD rips and downloads.

    If one's collection is mostly CDs, the computer/server approach can be very rewarding, IMO.
    5.1 and 2.0 ch Basement Media Room: Outlaw 975/Emotiva DC-1/Rotel RB-1582 MKII/Rotel RB-1552/Audiosource Amp 3/Polk LS90, CS400i, FX500i/Outlaw X-12, LFM-1/JVD DLA-HD250/Da-Lite 100" HCCV/Sony ES BDP/Sonos Connect. DC-1/RB-1582 MKII/Sonos Connect also feed Polk 7C in garage or Dayton IO655 on patio.
    2.1 ch Basement Gym: Denon AVR-2807/Klipsch Forte I or NHT SB2/JBL SUB 550P x 2/Chromecast Audio.
    2.0 ch Living Room: Rotel RX-1052/Emotiva DC-1/Klipsch RF-7 III/Sony ES BDP/LG 65" LED.
    2.0 ch Semi-portable: Klipsch Powergate/NHT SB3/Chromecast Audio.
    Kitchen: Sonos Play5.
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  • pploeser
    pploeser Posts: 88
    edited March 2010
    The olive certainly trumps all the other sources in terms of convenience and user friendliness, but yeah, I'd be worried about it crashing too. I won't be surprised if these music servers gain popularity pretty quickly. Still, even though I don't have a vinyl collection (yet) I've heard enough to know that digital doesn't compare. Oh and I'm not going to abandon CD players either.
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited March 2010
    adam2434 wrote: »
    Yep, the computer/server approach is geared towards CD rips and downloads.

    If one's collection is mostly CDs, the computer/server approach can be very rewarding, IMO.

    Duly noted!:)
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  • pploeser
    pploeser Posts: 88
    edited March 2010
    I came across this today...

    http://www.wadia.com/products/transports/171i.php

    iPods are compatible with .wav files, so it seems like a decent option, paired with a good DAC. As long as you have an iPod with lots of storage space for uncompressed files. I would seriously consider it, especially as newer generations of iPods have stunning storage capacities for their size. The cool thing is that you could still take it with you. All depends on the size of your music library I guess.
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  • Beta
    Beta Posts: 267
    edited March 2010
    As I posted earlier, I have the Wadia 170i transport and I love it. Thanks to advice given to me through this forum, I upgraded the stock power supply with a Channel Islands Audio VDC-9.0 and the stock interconnect with a cardas interconnect. This improved the Wadia's performance substantially.

    Andy
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  • MLZ
    MLZ Posts: 214
    edited March 2010
    CDs ripped to WMA Lossless on my Windows 7 PC
    Then to DAC to my Onkyo A9555 to Polk RTI8's
    or
    for casual (background / party) listening WMA Lossless to Roku SoundBridge 1001 to Onkyo 603 to RM6800's
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  • lumpy
    lumpy Posts: 113
    edited March 2010
    SACD 50%
    lossless FLAC downloaded to PC (backup to a CD and external hard drive) 25%
    CD's ripped to hard drive 20%
    LP's 5%

    I preffer SACD but wish there were more rock titles available. 96/24 FLAC downloaded on my PC is starting to grow on me though. The ability to listen to every song prior to buying is a real pluss.
    pop

    media room: Lsi25 mains driven by an audiosource amp300, LSi9's driven by another amp300, LsiC drivin by an audiosourcAmp200, Lsi7 rear channels driven by receiver - Yamaha 863, Panamax 5300, epson 6100 w/ 106" elite cinatension2 screen, HPz555 media center, oppo 980, techniques SLbd3 turntable,xbox and ps3,

    living room: VM30 mains driven by a niles 2125, VM20 center and VM10 surrounds, velodyne dsp10, yamaha rxv661, cambridge audio dvd89, panamax5300, philips 42" plasma
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