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Coping in an Age of Uncertainty

there have been numerous threads here, i know, about sacd v. dvd-a, upsampling, oversampling, etc. a number of these threads have included discussions of which, if any, new digital format will replace what we now call “redbook” cd’s. i don’t wish to rehash these discussions. rather, i’d like to hear from others how they are coping with the “age of uncertainty” in the realm of digital audio. is it better to “roll the dice” and invest in sacd or dvd a? ignore the contenders for the new and get the best possible out of redbook cd’s? buy with upgradeability firmly in mind? follow another path? i don’t post this query out of mere curiosity. i really haven’t figured out what course i should follow. i’d appreciate your giving me a hand. -kelly
cornfedboy
pardales
652 posts
 
I have gone hard drive. I use a Mac laptop running iTunes, and a 500 GB hard-drive. WIth a high speed internet connection I get about 300+ radio stations and have about 600 CD's ripped onto my hardrive. I run this through an Audio Aero Prima DAC (which serves as a DAC and my preamp -- a nice tube preamp at that). and I am in heaven. This has totally revolutionized the way I listen to music as I now have my entire CD collection at my fingetipps--a scroll and click away. My CD's are in the attic! Best sound and access I have had in a long time and I am listening to music in my collection I haven't listened to in years.
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drubin
3,275 posts
 
>best sound

So you feel you haven't given up anything sonically with this setup?
pardales
652 posts
 
Not at all. I'm not saying it is the best sound there could ever be or anything like that. But in my most recent CDP history this set up bested my old Sony XA777ES and my old McItnosh MCD 205 changer. But the musicality is only part of the equation here. Because of how iTunes allows me virtually instantaneous access to my whole collection of music (plus), it has forced me to call many of my priorities into question. I do still value a high end presentation of the music I love, and I did audition some very good DAC's before I settled on the Prima MK II SE. But, the accessibility is really a revolution.
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drubin
3,275 posts
 
Thanks. I have heard exactly the same thing from many people, which is I why I plan to head in that direction myself.
im_all_ears
9 posts
 
My take on the harddrive use has been to buy a Squeezebox2. I you haven't ever looked at one before, take a gander at www.slimdevices.com. I haven't settled on whether or not the Burr-Brown DAC inside the Squeezebox is the DAC I will use in the long run. So far so good, but since the Squeezebox has an optical out, I can always pipe to another DAC later if I want.

The COOL factor with the Squeezebox has delighted me. I really like being able to navigate my CD library without having to go and reload a disk every time I want to hear a CD. And the Squeezebox will play lossless formats like WAV and FLAC, so I can listen to quality recordings. What I'm unsure of is whether or not I can rip DVD-A or SACD to pipe over the data lines to the Squeezebox.

The technology still seems a bit experimental, but I sense that this is the future: the music companies deliver all the bits and sampling that they can muster to me over my high-speed internet connection and then I pipe that to my Squeezebox over my LAN to the room(s) with my stereo equipment to play music over as good a 2-channel or surround system that I elect to set up.

For now, most the industry focus on music-over-internet is on 'lossy' formats. This does not bode well for audiophiles unless the industry gets the word that we're waiting in the wings for hi-fi formats on either a pay-per-play or ownership basis.

Anyone else out there using the SB2?
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