What's in your CDP tonight? the minority report

Hey Pokey - glad you are finding time to listen. Others (Tboooe?) have mentioned Sonos. I am curious what that is. I looked at their website and am guessing it's the "Sonos Connect" that is meant. What does that do for you?
Is it better than streaming from a laptop; e.g., USB out to USB converter to DAC to pre-amp/amp?

I will check out Big Dish & Robbie Fulks.

If you get a chance and as is convenient, do let me know what you think of any of the recordings I mentioned - but especially those found in Chronaut's "Modern Classical" mix. Helios & Eluvium are also worthwhile.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND ALL.

Ghosthouse – Sonos is a wireless music system. Yes, you can use the “Connect” box to integrate the Sonos experience with an existing stereo system. But what I’m doing is simply just using a Play 1 to play music from one of the many, many streaming providers like Pandora. I use a Play 1 to do this because I’m interested in the wireless aspect of it so I can have music in other areas of my home. All you need to make Sonos work is any of the speakers (Play 1, Play 3, or Play 5; can have up to 31 speakers in the network), a Bridge, and a tablet or other device that can be used to wirelessly control the system (can also control it with a PC or Mac). You connect the Bridge via a cable to your Router, plug speaker of choice into the wall, press a couple buttons, wait 10-20 seconds and then you are in business. I have mostly just used Pandora so far and am having fun; you can also play music on your hard drive or NAS. What’s really cool is you can place the speakers around the house and as you have more of them they set up a mesh network since they all have a wifi device built into each speaker. No drop outs, no problems. To get started with music, open the Sonos app, then a music app, like Pandora, then search the name of a favorite band and select the icon. Then it will play one song by that band and then after that it will start playing songs from other artists that are similar to them. The sound quality of the Play 1 is pretty good for a standalone speaker and I just like that I can have music in other parts of the house. Right now, Sonos is having a holiday sale and they will throw in a Bridge ($49) at no charge with any speaker purchase. So I spent $215 for a Play 1 with free Bridge and $140 for a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3.

I have finally had the chance to listen to Chronaut's "Modern Classical" all the way through. Pretty good stuff. I am now listening to “A Winters Dub” by lowlight mixes. Less interesting than Chronaut. But the Mixcloud service is pretty cool. I’ll see if it is available on Sonos. -I’ve moved on now to Chronaut's “Ideal Moment” and really like it so far. Have also listened to Helios and like it even more because it has a few more layers going on, making it more interesting for me. I also feel the same way about Eluvium. -Thanks for the recommendations Ghosthouse.

Pokey - Thanks very much for taking the time to explain Sonos and check out the music I suggested. Agree with you about "A Winter's Dub". I think I listened to about 15 sec of it and got bored pretty quick. The stuff in the Modern Classical mix by Chronaut was way more emotionally involving to me. I've listened to it repeatedly. I'm a subscriber to Pandora too...between it, YouTube and lately MixCloud - not to overlook the recommendations from A'gon members like yourself - I'm getting exposed to a lot of different music. Another tip for you...check out something called "Wondershare" (assuming you aren't already familiar with it). My bro-in-law turned me on to it. I used the free video downloader for a few months and finally upgraded to their "AllMy Tube" product. It let's you download music videos and then covert them into various audio formats including WAV. They have another product, "AllMy Music" that purports to do the same - but audio only - from any streaming video OR audio source. Might be something you and others reading this thread will be interested in.
One again - I wish you and your family a very MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Windham Hill Winter Solstice samplers.

Radiohead's "In Rainbows". Wish all recordings sounded this fantastically good.