I'm finally relenting and deciding to approach a decent stereo. This is partly driven by the fact my Dad left me a load of Denon separates and partly by the fact I just want to listen to music properly.
Dad's Denon stuff on its way from the UK consists of a nice CD player, two identical amps and what I'd guess is a largely redundant equalizer. It also includes two large speaker cabinets which I suspect may be a bit more PA than home audio orientated and may not make the trip. So based on that, a few questions:
1) Do I continue to use the CD player to play my few hundred CDs or do I spend the time and rip them to FLAC and play the files from a media server?
2) Do I do neither and just pay for a higher bit rate streaming service and use a streaming gadget?
3) I have minimal understanding of the various forms of speakers. I know the big PA ones are more for making loud noises in a venue but sound pish when up close in a quiet space. But why for instance would you choose audiophile type speakers over say good studio monitors (which after all are probably very close to what was used when the music was mixed)?
Over and above this, educate me if I'm doing this all wrong and should be doing something different entirely. I have no intentions of getting into spending silly money on it, I just want to be able to listen to music and hear it properly as opposed to through a sound bar, phone or average headphones. The best setup I have currently is either a set of Logitech (Dolby certified) PC speakers or some Sony WH-100MX4 headphones.
For the FAO of stereoists
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
I personally have little patience for mundane tasks so I’d keep using the CDs and sign up to a high quality streaming service as well. Having said that, it sounds like you will need a digital input to handle something like that which is outside of my experience.
Speakers on the other hand are a deeply personal choice, we all have different tastes and flavours based on our own preferences and the types of music we listen to, and the volume too. Studio monitors could have a very flat and balanced presentation, whereas I enjoy some drama so prefer speakers that have some ‘colour’ to the sound. For example I have some Sonus Faber speakers which sound amazing with vocals, instrumental, light rock and classical, although can start to lose their way with metal. You’ll only understand fully by demo-ing a few different speakers which might also depend on your budget and if you’re buy new or s/h.
Hope that helps!
Speakers on the other hand are a deeply personal choice, we all have different tastes and flavours based on our own preferences and the types of music we listen to, and the volume too. Studio monitors could have a very flat and balanced presentation, whereas I enjoy some drama so prefer speakers that have some ‘colour’ to the sound. For example I have some Sonus Faber speakers which sound amazing with vocals, instrumental, light rock and classical, although can start to lose their way with metal. You’ll only understand fully by demo-ing a few different speakers which might also depend on your budget and if you’re buy new or s/h.
Hope that helps!
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
Re ripping or streaming, it depends on how comfy you are with the quality of streaming services. I'm fine with high bitrate MP3 (not streamed, but ripped) but some people get really cut up about it.
And the second part of that is that despite what people think, CDs do degrade, so it's something worth thinking about before that happens. So it'd at least be worth thinking about anything rare or hard to find you have, and ripping that.
That band you saw that was really good, but went nowhere, but you got their self-burned CD at a pub gig? Rip it now. Radiohead OK Computer? You can probably not overthink that one, it'll be available online forever in good quality.
I never had a huge CD collection, mostly because I ripped most stuff to FLAC as I got it, and then if I lost stuff in house moves (or more commonly, had a breakdown and chucked lots of stuff out in a fit..) it wasn't a huge problem, so I've not had to set up a 'system' for it, but I expect there are guides out there on how to semi-automate it so you're just swapping discs every ten minutes or so.
No idea about actual hifi equipment, never had the space/money for it and I practically live in WH1000MX4s myself, so it seems pointless for me!
And the second part of that is that despite what people think, CDs do degrade, so it's something worth thinking about before that happens. So it'd at least be worth thinking about anything rare or hard to find you have, and ripping that.
That band you saw that was really good, but went nowhere, but you got their self-burned CD at a pub gig? Rip it now. Radiohead OK Computer? You can probably not overthink that one, it'll be available online forever in good quality.
I never had a huge CD collection, mostly because I ripped most stuff to FLAC as I got it, and then if I lost stuff in house moves (or more commonly, had a breakdown and chucked lots of stuff out in a fit..) it wasn't a huge problem, so I've not had to set up a 'system' for it, but I expect there are guides out there on how to semi-automate it so you're just swapping discs every ten minutes or so.
No idea about actual hifi equipment, never had the space/money for it and I practically live in WH1000MX4s myself, so it seems pointless for me!
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
Ooh - where to start?
I'll start off by saying that a lot of your choice will be driven by your preferences. There isn't (really) a definitive right or wrong. I have a large listening room with no close neighbours, but my setup either wouldn't work for smaller spaces, or you'd spend all your time fending off complaints from people close to your property.
0) More details on the amps/EQ please. Personally I don't like amps without any tone controls. Whilst there is no argument that they do a better job of delivering the music "as the producer intended", that might not suit my listening preference, or my room setup, so I like to be able to tweak. Equalisers went out of fashion - partly 'cos many don't know how to use them, and partly 'cos any tone control amplifies/defeats a frequency range, so you effectively create "lumps" in the frequency response which might sound objectionable. So for me - if your amp has bass & treble control, I'd possibly be inclined to drop the equaliser. If not, I'd almost certainly use it.
0+) I have a personal preference for crisp hi-hats and zingy cymbals, so I always lift the treble up from "0". I also love bass. In the past - to deliver this would have required the bass to be cranked up on the amp. I now realise that this decision was invariably driven by my speakers. I had "2.5-way" speakers for years, with a tweeter delivering the treble only, and the main driver delivering both bass & mids. Raising the bass on the amp effectively asked the speakers to focus more on the lower end of the frequency range at the expense of the mid-range tones. Without the burden of creating loud mid-range, they could deliver cleaner bass notes. I'm currently reveling in my new 3-way speakers (plus a sub, so I guess it's a 4-way setup) which can provide crushing bass down to around 22HZ, but with beautifully clear mid-range too. I'm hearing instruments in tracks that I'd never heard before.
1) Dunno. I moved from CD's to streaming and missed the ripping/server phase.
2) I only stream now. No issues with the sound quality. I still have my 1991 NAD 3240PE amp in the bedroom, and I use a NEET Airstream wifi doo-dah. Easy to connect to from your phone to stream. Sound is great.
3) Speakers need to match up to your amp. No point for example having huge PA speakers if your amp only delivers 30watts per channel as it just won't be able drive them. One of the jobs of the studio engineer is to ensure the music sounds OK on a wide range of setups. So they might have 4 sets of speakers - from small bookshelf speakers, through a more premium home setup, to the equivalent of a nightclub. A track with only deep bass can sound awesome on the latter, but - unless it's fiddled with appropriately - playing it on small bookshelf speakers might leave the listener thinking that there isn't any bass at all - their speakers being incapable of delivering that freq range. In the past, the studio engineer also had to account for the media being used. Recordings that were going onto vinyl were often heavily compromised to try and ensure that they didn't just jump & skip all the time on cheaper decks. Back then "nobody" had subs in their homes or their cars that could produce deep bass, so no point having these tones on the record - particularly when including them could cause other issues. The mix would have been different if they ignored the "play on a cheap deck" requirement. I still have a pressing of "Walk Across The Rooftops" by The Blue Nile, which is a much thicker, heavier lump of vinyl, and was sold with an "audiophile quality" sticker. wiki here but in summary, it was pressed by Linn and mixed accordingly to better showcase the capability of their decks. It sounded incredible back then, and still does today. Modern recordings don't have this compromise (despite the (baffling to me) resurgence of vinyl), and many people now own setups that can produce deep bass tones, so a kick drum on a current Foo Fighters track will sound massively more "WALLOP" than the kick drum for bands with a similar drummer + guitars + bass guitar + vocals setup that was recorded several decades back. Back to my earlier point about having tone controls - without them you are stuck with a sound that is very heavily biased towards the mid-range "as the studio engineer intended", but including the compromises they were working around at the time. With tone controls you can lift the bass on the amp, or tweak the level on the sub to make older stuff sound a lot more meaty. Sometimes it works well, other times not so well.
I'll close by saying that older equipment can sound really good if you are able to enhance it. I used my ancient NAD amp for years with the Neet input to allow me to stream, and taking advantage of the fact it has a separate pre-amp and power-amp, I was able to take a feed from the pre-amp stage into a sub. It was a pain to balance that setup, but it worked.
And if you don't want the hassle of that - you don't need to spend a fortune on new equipment to get good results. My new speaker and amp setup was £1300 (as I bought the last of a "series2" set of speakers that are now on "series3"). It sounded pretty impressive stand alone, but I hooked that up to my 300w powered 2x10" sub that I already owned, and it is now pretty immersive. I'm sure the bloke/lady who just spent £50k on a pair of Wilson Audio speakers will assure me that it's not very impressive, but I'm certainly enjoying it.
I'll start off by saying that a lot of your choice will be driven by your preferences. There isn't (really) a definitive right or wrong. I have a large listening room with no close neighbours, but my setup either wouldn't work for smaller spaces, or you'd spend all your time fending off complaints from people close to your property.
0) More details on the amps/EQ please. Personally I don't like amps without any tone controls. Whilst there is no argument that they do a better job of delivering the music "as the producer intended", that might not suit my listening preference, or my room setup, so I like to be able to tweak. Equalisers went out of fashion - partly 'cos many don't know how to use them, and partly 'cos any tone control amplifies/defeats a frequency range, so you effectively create "lumps" in the frequency response which might sound objectionable. So for me - if your amp has bass & treble control, I'd possibly be inclined to drop the equaliser. If not, I'd almost certainly use it.
0+) I have a personal preference for crisp hi-hats and zingy cymbals, so I always lift the treble up from "0". I also love bass. In the past - to deliver this would have required the bass to be cranked up on the amp. I now realise that this decision was invariably driven by my speakers. I had "2.5-way" speakers for years, with a tweeter delivering the treble only, and the main driver delivering both bass & mids. Raising the bass on the amp effectively asked the speakers to focus more on the lower end of the frequency range at the expense of the mid-range tones. Without the burden of creating loud mid-range, they could deliver cleaner bass notes. I'm currently reveling in my new 3-way speakers (plus a sub, so I guess it's a 4-way setup) which can provide crushing bass down to around 22HZ, but with beautifully clear mid-range too. I'm hearing instruments in tracks that I'd never heard before.
1) Dunno. I moved from CD's to streaming and missed the ripping/server phase.
2) I only stream now. No issues with the sound quality. I still have my 1991 NAD 3240PE amp in the bedroom, and I use a NEET Airstream wifi doo-dah. Easy to connect to from your phone to stream. Sound is great.
3) Speakers need to match up to your amp. No point for example having huge PA speakers if your amp only delivers 30watts per channel as it just won't be able drive them. One of the jobs of the studio engineer is to ensure the music sounds OK on a wide range of setups. So they might have 4 sets of speakers - from small bookshelf speakers, through a more premium home setup, to the equivalent of a nightclub. A track with only deep bass can sound awesome on the latter, but - unless it's fiddled with appropriately - playing it on small bookshelf speakers might leave the listener thinking that there isn't any bass at all - their speakers being incapable of delivering that freq range. In the past, the studio engineer also had to account for the media being used. Recordings that were going onto vinyl were often heavily compromised to try and ensure that they didn't just jump & skip all the time on cheaper decks. Back then "nobody" had subs in their homes or their cars that could produce deep bass, so no point having these tones on the record - particularly when including them could cause other issues. The mix would have been different if they ignored the "play on a cheap deck" requirement. I still have a pressing of "Walk Across The Rooftops" by The Blue Nile, which is a much thicker, heavier lump of vinyl, and was sold with an "audiophile quality" sticker. wiki here but in summary, it was pressed by Linn and mixed accordingly to better showcase the capability of their decks. It sounded incredible back then, and still does today. Modern recordings don't have this compromise (despite the (baffling to me) resurgence of vinyl), and many people now own setups that can produce deep bass tones, so a kick drum on a current Foo Fighters track will sound massively more "WALLOP" than the kick drum for bands with a similar drummer + guitars + bass guitar + vocals setup that was recorded several decades back. Back to my earlier point about having tone controls - without them you are stuck with a sound that is very heavily biased towards the mid-range "as the studio engineer intended", but including the compromises they were working around at the time. With tone controls you can lift the bass on the amp, or tweak the level on the sub to make older stuff sound a lot more meaty. Sometimes it works well, other times not so well.
I'll close by saying that older equipment can sound really good if you are able to enhance it. I used my ancient NAD amp for years with the Neet input to allow me to stream, and taking advantage of the fact it has a separate pre-amp and power-amp, I was able to take a feed from the pre-amp stage into a sub. It was a pain to balance that setup, but it worked.
And if you don't want the hassle of that - you don't need to spend a fortune on new equipment to get good results. My new speaker and amp setup was £1300 (as I bought the last of a "series2" set of speakers that are now on "series3"). It sounded pretty impressive stand alone, but I hooked that up to my 300w powered 2x10" sub that I already owned, and it is now pretty immersive. I'm sure the bloke/lady who just spent £50k on a pair of Wilson Audio speakers will assure me that it's not very impressive, but I'm certainly enjoying it.
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
Myself and miik spend (too) many hours talking about the above.
As he says old hi fi is not necessarily bad hifi. Separates can live forever. The slight exception to this is that speakers do tend to have a lifecycle IME. I had an outstanding set of Wharfedale Valdus 400 speakers for years but one by one the speaker cone rubbers perished and burst. I've also got a 12" JL Audio sub in the cupboard that has suffered the same fate. You can buy and replace the rubbers but its a messy fiddly job which is quite tricky to get right.
On the flip side I still have a Yamaha Amp that i use daily in my home office that i bought in 1998. Its fantastic. Currently hooked to my Macbook and streams Tidal & Spotify. I have no time for CD today. Streaming quality especially on Tidal with their top subscription is the way to go. I would not spend any time ripping CD's either 99% of what's on CD will be on one of the streaming services.
So What id do is use the amps that are coming and i would experiment with the Graphic EQ. I have a set of Gale Gold monitors in my office that i inherited from a mate. They sound excellent but for my personal preference i EQ the sound to slightly reduce the mid bass.
Speakers wise it sounds like the existing set are possibly oversized for use. I really rate my Q Acoustics kit. I have it setup up in our Cinema/Games room in a 5.1 setup driven by a Denon AVD amp. the bookshelf speakers on their own brand stands sounds far meatier than their stature.
https://www.richersounds.com/q-acoustic ... phite.html
I compliment these with a set of floorstanders for the front main.
https://www.richersounds.com/q-acoustic ... phite.html
These really kick. Some proper lows and they go loud without losing detail.
As @mik also mentions ive got an active sub with 2 10" drivers. This is now a quite old and discontinued KEF unit.
Combined setup however they sound great. I demo'd the opening scene from Top Gun & Top Gun 2 to @mik When he visited. We discussed it somewhere on here - ill try find the link.
So - TL;DR. Keep the kit bar the speakers. Buy either a decent set of bookshelves or floor standers if youve got the space and look at adding an active sub. Use a device for streaming as opposed to CD. Sign up to Spotify or Tidal. The latter offering higher quality.
As he says old hi fi is not necessarily bad hifi. Separates can live forever. The slight exception to this is that speakers do tend to have a lifecycle IME. I had an outstanding set of Wharfedale Valdus 400 speakers for years but one by one the speaker cone rubbers perished and burst. I've also got a 12" JL Audio sub in the cupboard that has suffered the same fate. You can buy and replace the rubbers but its a messy fiddly job which is quite tricky to get right.
On the flip side I still have a Yamaha Amp that i use daily in my home office that i bought in 1998. Its fantastic. Currently hooked to my Macbook and streams Tidal & Spotify. I have no time for CD today. Streaming quality especially on Tidal with their top subscription is the way to go. I would not spend any time ripping CD's either 99% of what's on CD will be on one of the streaming services.
So What id do is use the amps that are coming and i would experiment with the Graphic EQ. I have a set of Gale Gold monitors in my office that i inherited from a mate. They sound excellent but for my personal preference i EQ the sound to slightly reduce the mid bass.
Speakers wise it sounds like the existing set are possibly oversized for use. I really rate my Q Acoustics kit. I have it setup up in our Cinema/Games room in a 5.1 setup driven by a Denon AVD amp. the bookshelf speakers on their own brand stands sounds far meatier than their stature.
https://www.richersounds.com/q-acoustic ... phite.html
I compliment these with a set of floorstanders for the front main.
https://www.richersounds.com/q-acoustic ... phite.html
These really kick. Some proper lows and they go loud without losing detail.
As @mik also mentions ive got an active sub with 2 10" drivers. This is now a quite old and discontinued KEF unit.
Combined setup however they sound great. I demo'd the opening scene from Top Gun & Top Gun 2 to @mik When he visited. We discussed it somewhere on here - ill try find the link.
So - TL;DR. Keep the kit bar the speakers. Buy either a decent set of bookshelves or floor standers if youve got the space and look at adding an active sub. Use a device for streaming as opposed to CD. Sign up to Spotify or Tidal. The latter offering higher quality.
-
Sundayjumper
- Posts: 6272
- Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:04 pm
- Currently Driving: Peugeot 406
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
I like the Q's too, I've got two pairs of 3020 (office + garden room), and I had some 3050 in the lounge but sold them as part of a reshuffle that I can't remember the rationale for now, but I should have kept them.
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
They sound far better than the pounds demanded for them suggests.Sundayjumper wrote: ↑Fri Feb 02, 2024 10:00 am I like the Q's too, I've got two pairs of 3020 (office + garden room), and I had some 3050 in the lounge but sold them as part of a reshuffle that I can't remember the rationale for now, but I should have kept them.
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
To start with, plug it all in and enjoy for now, worry about ripping/streaming and upgrading later.
I do pay for streaming music and have on for hours a day, but noticed on a regular basis some of my play lists (some of which are over 200 songs long) have tracks that have disappeared, so I am keeping my CDs.
Also I have bootlegs and some mixes, even an early version of an album that was re-recorded with a new singer after sacking the original - these have never appeared on steaming, so these are nice to have ripped and keep the CDs safe.
Ripping is a good way of preserving the audio from CDs.
CDs won't last forever (keeping them out of sun and not letting them get too hot helps greatly). Unlike DVDs, CDs have poor error correction and designed to skip errors (if the error correction fails) rather than retry, you need some fancy software (but easy to use) to accurately rip.
MP3/AAC/streaming at medium/higher is plenty good enough to enjoy your music.
Once you get above budget HiFi prices, the room quickly becomes the limiting factor for sound quality.
Problem with picking speakers that the music was originally mixed to, you also need the same room setup as the studio (shape, speaker position, listening positioning, carpets, room treatment), you will never replicate this, so pick speakers best for your setup - you Hifi and room.
Also most studios compromise their mixes so they sound reasonable when play on cheap speakers (things like sound bars and Alexas), it's very easy to have clean deep bass that is completely inaudible on non-hifi, so the harmonics get boosted (like bass boost, but done accurately per instrument/channel where needed), the loudness wars are also related to this.
I do pay for streaming music and have on for hours a day, but noticed on a regular basis some of my play lists (some of which are over 200 songs long) have tracks that have disappeared, so I am keeping my CDs.
Also I have bootlegs and some mixes, even an early version of an album that was re-recorded with a new singer after sacking the original - these have never appeared on steaming, so these are nice to have ripped and keep the CDs safe.
Ripping is a good way of preserving the audio from CDs.
CDs won't last forever (keeping them out of sun and not letting them get too hot helps greatly). Unlike DVDs, CDs have poor error correction and designed to skip errors (if the error correction fails) rather than retry, you need some fancy software (but easy to use) to accurately rip.
MP3/AAC/streaming at medium/higher is plenty good enough to enjoy your music.
Once you get above budget HiFi prices, the room quickly becomes the limiting factor for sound quality.
Problem with picking speakers that the music was originally mixed to, you also need the same room setup as the studio (shape, speaker position, listening positioning, carpets, room treatment), you will never replicate this, so pick speakers best for your setup - you Hifi and room.
Also most studios compromise their mixes so they sound reasonable when play on cheap speakers (things like sound bars and Alexas), it's very easy to have clean deep bass that is completely inaudible on non-hifi, so the harmonics get boosted (like bass boost, but done accurately per instrument/channel where needed), the loudness wars are also related to this.
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
Economy of scale (mass production) really help with the value (just like with Gale and JPW and other Richer sound brands made in the past).scotta wrote: ↑Fri Feb 02, 2024 10:12 amThey sound far better than the pounds demanded for them suggests.Sundayjumper wrote: ↑Fri Feb 02, 2024 10:00 am I like the Q's too, I've got two pairs of 3020 (office + garden room), and I had some 3050 in the lounge but sold them as part of a reshuffle that I can't remember the rationale for now, but I should have kept them.
Laws of diminishing returns is incredibly significant with HiFi.
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
I re-read my post above and thought I should comment a bit more about subs.
You obviously don't have to have one, and very many people don't.
I've owned and heard several setups back to back with & without a sub. Each was a decent amp & speaker combo, and with the sub switched off I was like "oh that sounds really good. Bass is solid. There is actually absolutely zero need for a sub". Literally every time.
And then I/they switched on the sub and played the track again. And I was like "oh fuck. You definitely need the sub".
The bass on my main speakers is pretty good, so I have the sub crossover set at around 50Hz. It's therefore only getting involved in the activity for the really deep frequencies, but that is the range that you feel as much as you hear - which is why it makes such a difference (to me).
You obviously don't have to have one, and very many people don't.
I've owned and heard several setups back to back with & without a sub. Each was a decent amp & speaker combo, and with the sub switched off I was like "oh that sounds really good. Bass is solid. There is actually absolutely zero need for a sub". Literally every time.
And then I/they switched on the sub and played the track again. And I was like "oh fuck. You definitely need the sub".
The bass on my main speakers is pretty good, so I have the sub crossover set at around 50Hz. It's therefore only getting involved in the activity for the really deep frequencies, but that is the range that you feel as much as you hear - which is why it makes such a difference (to me).
-
Sundayjumper
- Posts: 6272
- Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:04 pm
- Currently Driving: Peugeot 406
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
Also where i was going with it. He did say however that the speakers were huge and as a result may not be shipped. Hence the advice on buying new speakers.Sundayjumper wrote: ↑Fri Feb 02, 2024 11:21 amThat's probably the best advice from this thread so far.
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
Lots of points already above so I'll just do a bullet point list of what I think are the important things:
- Speakers. These have the biggest effect on sound so worth spending time/budget on getting ones which really suit you.
- Ripping. It takes ages, you will get very fed up with the tags which are automatically applied being wrong/inconsistent between albums by the same artist/compilations etc. Don't bother; play your CDs directly and use a streaming service as well. I subscribed to Youtube Premium for a month free to remove ads from videos but I've kept it at £12.99 a month because it includes Youtube Music and that does everything Amazon Music/Spotify/Apple Music does so I don't pay for any of those. Surprisingly good quality too; I've noticed limited bitrate songs on Spotify quite a bit in the car but Youtube Music actually sounds better than my own high bitrate MP3 rips sometimes. Play with the free services, see which sounds good to you and use that.
Do rip any valuable/rare CDs to FLAC though and make sure you include the CUE file - that way you can burn an exact copy at some future date if you needed/wanted to. And old hi-fi does usually survive well but volume controls often crackle (use contact cleaner but it's probably too late) and you can find capacitors die and solder joints crack which is a bit of a death knell.
- Speakers. These have the biggest effect on sound so worth spending time/budget on getting ones which really suit you.
- Ripping. It takes ages, you will get very fed up with the tags which are automatically applied being wrong/inconsistent between albums by the same artist/compilations etc. Don't bother; play your CDs directly and use a streaming service as well. I subscribed to Youtube Premium for a month free to remove ads from videos but I've kept it at £12.99 a month because it includes Youtube Music and that does everything Amazon Music/Spotify/Apple Music does so I don't pay for any of those. Surprisingly good quality too; I've noticed limited bitrate songs on Spotify quite a bit in the car but Youtube Music actually sounds better than my own high bitrate MP3 rips sometimes. Play with the free services, see which sounds good to you and use that.
Do rip any valuable/rare CDs to FLAC though and make sure you include the CUE file - that way you can burn an exact copy at some future date if you needed/wanted to. And old hi-fi does usually survive well but volume controls often crackle (use contact cleaner but it's probably too late) and you can find capacitors die and solder joints crack which is a bit of a death knell.
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
I’ve got some Trinnov WaveForming training coming up, which needs at least 8 subs in the room (4 at the front, 4 at the back). The calibration in the processor ensures that everyone in the room gets great bass - I’m looking forward to hearing it!mik wrote: ↑Fri Feb 02, 2024 11:13 am I re-read my post above and thought I should comment a bit more about subs.
You obviously don't have to have one, and very many people don't.
I've owned and heard several setups back to back with & without a sub. Each was a decent amp & speaker combo, and with the sub switched off I was like "oh that sounds really good. Bass is solid. There is actually absolutely zero need for a sub". Literally every time.
And then I/they switched on the sub and played the track again. And I was like "oh fuck. You definitely need the sub".
The bass on my main speakers is pretty good, so I have the sub crossover set at around 50Hz. It's therefore only getting involved in the activity for the really deep frequencies, but that is the range that you feel as much as you hear - which is why it makes such a difference (to me).
Regarding studio monitors, they’re designed for close listening, so depending on your room can work well. I supplied a friend with Dynaudio LYDs during lockdown as he listens at his desk and he loves them.
-
JonMad
- Posts: 2695
- Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 9:25 pm
- Currently Driving: 2015 Swift; 2012 Yeti; 2006 Fabia
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
I've ripped most of my CDs to flac and batch converted them to mp3. But it was a very stop/start process and I'm not entirely sure how far through them I got. Now I've bought a few new CDs and have noticed the convert to mp3 part of Media Monkey I was using is no longer available (maybe I need to pay for Media Monkey, unless there's a free Flac to mp3 that's recommended?)Jobbo wrote: ↑Fri Feb 02, 2024 11:50 am- Ripping. It takes ages, you will get very fed up with the tags which are automatically applied being wrong/inconsistent between albums by the same artist/compilations etc. Don't bother; play your CDs directly and use a streaming service as well. I subscribed to Youtube Premium for a month free to remove ads from videos but I've kept it at £12.99 a month because it includes Youtube Music and that does everything Amazon Music/Spotify/Apple Music does so I don't pay for any of those. Surprisingly good quality too; I've noticed limited bitrate songs on Spotify quite a bit in the car but Youtube Music actually sounds better than my own high bitrate MP3 rips sometimes. Play with the free services, see which sounds good to you and use that.
YouTube Music - woah - you're saying that gives access to Amazon Music and Spotify without paying for those separately? And by that I mean full access, rather than the free (with Prime) version of Amazon Music that will only shuffle playlists based on the song you ask for, or the free Spotify that does the same on mobile or is full of ads on the web version?
edit: ah, re-read it - You were already on YouTube Music so no need to subscribe to Amazon Music or Spotify. Gotcha. Not that it gives free access to those
Left over crest; tightens.
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
From my perspective, I'd junk the CDs and move to streaming if you don't have a great quality CD transport... and bugger ripping everything from CDs! Life's too short.
I would demand no less than CD quality from my streaming service, though. I think there are a few options for that but Tidal is my choice and given they have now expanded to cover FLAC and Hi-Res (Tidal MAX) it is an even clearer choice versus something like Amazon music or Spotify than may have been the case in prior years.
The above comments are very true about the room being the limiting factor. I have a great system that I would estimate sounds 50% as good as it could as it is in a terrible room - one of my main aims for the future - need a house with space for a music room/home office in the garden!
I would demand no less than CD quality from my streaming service, though. I think there are a few options for that but Tidal is my choice and given they have now expanded to cover FLAC and Hi-Res (Tidal MAX) it is an even clearer choice versus something like Amazon music or Spotify than may have been the case in prior years.
The above comments are very true about the room being the limiting factor. I have a great system that I would estimate sounds 50% as good as it could as it is in a terrible room - one of my main aims for the future - need a house with space for a music room/home office in the garden!
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
Sorry if that was at all ambiguous - no, you get access to YouTube Music only as you correctly realised. I don’t see the point in subscribing to multiple music streaming services; they all have some gaps but YouTube Music is probably as complete as any because of unauthorised uploads. The quality of official stuff is really very good anyway.
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
Lots of great advice in this so far thank you. Unfortunately I can't give you any tech specs of any of it as it's either in the UK or may have possibly just left. So I guess I'll have to get it all here first and set it up and then go from there and maybe revisit advice here.
I'm also not sure any of it is REALLY nice stuff but it's certainly better than anything else I have, and also, it was Dad's stuff so there's a connection to it.
Will be updating when I get it all here, however long that may take.
I'm also not sure any of it is REALLY nice stuff but it's certainly better than anything else I have, and also, it was Dad's stuff so there's a connection to it.
Will be updating when I get it all here, however long that may take.
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
Did you ship the speakers?KiwiDave wrote: ↑Fri Feb 02, 2024 11:11 pm Lots of great advice in this so far thank you. Unfortunately I can't give you any tech specs of any of it as it's either in the UK or may have possibly just left. So I guess I'll have to get it all here first and set it up and then go from there and maybe revisit advice here.
I'm also not sure any of it is REALLY nice stuff but it's certainly better than anything else I have, and also, it was Dad's stuff so there's a connection to it.
Will be updating when I get it all here, however long that may take.
Re: For the FAO of stereoists
The reference to "two identical amps" is also interesting - are they monoblocks? If so, the equaliser may be a pre-amp? Also implies that these are reasonably high end Denon amps.