Modern audio sources - hi fi

Pigeon · 8 Oct 2022 at 17:44

Hi long story short is that my CDs have to go away and I need to figure out how to replace them! My hi fi it self is only on loan to me and dates from when CDs were fairly new although it looks, feels great sounds good to me but it might be nice not to have to walk over to adjust the volume or change to and from the radio, cd or very iffy TV input. The big issue is I haven’t had it on much since moving due to where my CDs are stored (I am keeping them) and general convenience. I am thinking it is time to replace pretty much everything

I am lucky I have never had to before.

My current thought is a digital source with flacs- DAC? - all in one amp - keep existing speakers (for now).

The amp I have in mind is a Quad Vena 2 play as then if I am elsewhere in the house with streaming I could take the music with me as well as use online sources other music that I do not have on CD. The speakers I have date from the 70’s so how well they will connect up and work will have to be seen!

I am confused about sources though, I have seen portable players like the FiiO M11 but some seem to have very limited storage, I have seen a desktop one but not from a familiar brand. Then it seems to be sources from computers which I would not be able to do, could hard drive just be plugged in on the USB? I have it in my head that I need a device to select the music to play through the amp, but it could all be built in to the amps features to pull it from a drive?

Any suggestions or examples of what sources people are using would be most welcome.

Pigeon · 9 Oct 2022 at 20:16

Thank you for the replies.
I think I understand a bit better now. Digital audio is just data and as long as it can send it in the right format and cable into the Digital to Analogue Converter then it doesn’t matter if it is on a hard drive, SD card, cloud etc. CDs are just a different digital format and currently the CD player does the DAC bit and sends it to the amp on a normal audio cable.

I have delved a bit more into the amp and it supports the Digital Living Network Alliance standard so in theory at least I could store the audio on a supported NAS drive then use the play-fi app that is supported by the amp to search for the music and to tell the amp what to play.

I will have a look at alternatives to the Quad, it fell in place as it matches the Quad I have on long term loan. Reading the reviews it suggests the sound is very clear and true to the music. I think that my speakers add some warmth in my current setup. I know I should think about getting a demo but we do not have a dealer really local and it would be hard to take my speakers on tour very far!

Someone in my household has balked a bit at the prices of things as well (NAS and amp for £1000 ish) so I may look at some sort of player and DAC that can hook into what I currently have. I did think my amp was still like the previous one I had but I do have the input for the CD player, I cannot remember off hand if it is has a weird DIN connector. The same person has been eyeing up the cabinet where the hi fi is for storage so there will have to be a compromise somewhere!

Pigeon · 9 Oct 2022 at 22:46

I think my revelation in looking at stuff tonight is that the CD sampling frequency is 44.1 KHz/16 bit. So my approx 300 CDs will fit comfortably on a 128GB card! Thanks to everyone who said NAS is not needed and 3 CDs to a 1GB.

Pigeon · 21 Oct 2022 at 17:56

Well 12 days later and I have ripped 233 CDs to FLAC. I have about 17 left to go but I am now stuck. I couldn’t rip them in the free:ac app I was using. The DPpoweramp listed above got me 1 verified and 1 unversed disc closer but then wouldn’t rip the others. I even tried iTunes (I am on a Mac) but still the discs are spat out. It is a bit frustrating and some favourite records there like Muse - absolution and the Ramones anthology!
Does anyone have any suggestions for getting these ripped. I may have to pay a service to do them but then I would need another 33 discs!

Player wise for now so have bought a little digital audio player and a new cable for the back of my amp and I will see how that goes! It feels like I have cheaped out but if I want to try a different DAC / player in the future I can!