W27 Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 I was at the NY Audio Show last weekend and was surprised to see about half of the vendors were streaming their HD music from their laptops. Just last year it was almost all high end turntables. I know nothing about digital music other than the stuff I have on itunes. I'm about to buy a new laptop and wanted to know if there's anything I should look for specifically. I have a separate computer for work, so I don't need anything special. <p> Initially I was going to buy a Macbook, but I recently had an issue with itunes. There's a glitch in their software and they want me to pay them to straighten it out. Plus I want better quality music. Also I was messing with the laptops in the store and everything is soo different from windows. I really don't want to try to learn everything all over again. <p> My main questions are... Is there anything I should look for in particular? Do I need a special sound card? Do I need a separate DAC? What are the best sites for high quality music? How much are individual songs, compared to itunes $1.29 each? I've heard a lot about FLAC files. Are those the best way to stream lossless? Are any of these comparable to SACD quality? I know it's a lot of questions, but I really am clueless. Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 For digital music, download to your prefered server, Mac, Window and stream through something like Home Media Gallery, Serviio, All share, which are DLNA that can be downloaded from the net, come with Samsung TV or BDP or avr's. Wether to use an external DAC, I will let others chime in. I use the one in my avr. Are you looking for HD music or just something above 192 ? wihich is consider good quality? FlAC is a lossless format but it is considerably larger than most itunes. For example 5-8 mb compared to 96 mb. Also, not as much to choose from with high resoultion digital music. My computer is an ASUS laptop, nothing to speacial.HD tracks is a good source for high resolution digital music. HD digital music is reported to have a more define sound stang, better HF resolution and better imaging. Depending on what you listen to and how critical of a listener will determine how much you like it. HD tracks has a sampler that you can get and see if you are an HD fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W27 Posted April 21, 2013 Author Share Posted April 21, 2013 Thanks for the input. I really know nothing about it. I have about a dozen SACD's that I really enjoy. Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of selection. I mostly listen to Rock n Roll, but I listen to a little bit of everything. I picked up an audiophile quality bluray at the audio show. It's Patricia Barber Modern Cool. Not the type of music I would usually listen to, but the sound quality is amazing. <p> I looked through HD Tracks. The selection seems to be mostly older stuff that I already have. Of course there is some new stuff, but not a great selection. The prices are considerably steeper too. Example: HD Tracks has a Norah Jones for $19.98 I found the same SACD new sealed on ebay for $13.99 buy it now with free shipping. I think I'd rather have the SACD for less. <p> Like I said, I'm really new to this. I guess I am looking for an iTunes alternative. Anything that's better quality would be great. I've also got well over 1,000 CD's it would be nice to store them all digitally, but other than ripping them to iTunes I am clueless. My new laptop will have 1TB of storage or better. I'd like to put all my CD's on there without losing any quality. Are you saying it's better to store them on an online server? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 I tried HD tracks. The selection was limited and I just did not appreciate the improved SQ. This may be due to the DSP that compensates for compressed audio files and up convert 16 bit PCM to 20 or 24 bit. I don't completely understand all that is going on but my amazon mp3 sound great. Some of the guys into HD music may chime in and share some good info. I think cloud storage is the way to go. I have some of my music in the cloud. Ninety percent of my music is digital. I guess I am lazy and don't like looking thru CD's, albums or tapes. \ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wstrickland1 Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 I just started playing around with it. I downloaded the free sampler from HD Tracks (96-24) and bought the Audiogon Sampler (192-24) for $4.98. I burned them to DVD-A using DVD Audio Solo as suggested by another forum member. The downloads and burns went flawless and I am playing them in my Denon DVD 2900. I'm very impressed so far. Maybe it's my imagination but the 192-24 sounds much better than the 96-24, but it could be the content. It would be interesting to compare the same music on each sampling rate. Cool stuff and it's been fun to mess with so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knorbu Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 I would look into a Squeezbox Touch or something similar..I have 300 plus Cd's which are stored in a lossless format , as well as my itunes music ,which magically ends up coming out my speakers. Well maybe not magically, but with a wireless network from a laptop to the Touch and a couple analog connections to my receiver it manages to put out sound, really good sound. I haven't used it for Hd music , but my understanding is that it is capable of higher bit rates than lossless. It is hands down the best thing I have added to my system. Logitech discontinued the Squeezebox line last summer, but they come up new/ used on EBay frequently, and from my understanding are pretty troublefree.There is a Logitech Forum where you can get info about it from people much smarter than I am. One piece of advice I would give is that you look into a different server than iTunes. iTunes gives you the ability to import your cd's to lossless ( ALAC , which is the same as Flac) , but it does not automatically insert all the metadata from your cd's and is prone to mislabeling tracks from CD's which are relatively obscure. Also Cd artwork is not stored in the same files as the music, you will have to manually put it in the files unless it is purchased from iTunes. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knorbu Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 I should have added that there are a couple apps that will let you control your libraries from your smartphone or tablet. Once I let the squeezebox server start I never have to touch the computer again until I am finished listening. that really is done magically! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 The iPhone app for the Squeezebox Touch works great for me! Gives me access to all the flac files on my PC server via the logitec media server application , MOG, Pandora... Sounds good without a external DAC but the DAC is an improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 downloaded the audiogon sampler and the free sampler from hdracks.com. have been listening with the squeezebox duet with pleasing results. it's my understanding that the squeezebox will play 96kHz/24bit out of the box. have done the most cursory search about higher resolution and think that 192kHz/24bit is possible but requires a capable external dac and some aftermarket software to make that happen. i have not had time to do any really careful listening or listening through another device. have not pulled the trigger to purchase anything else on hdtracks.com. there are a few selections i'd like to try out. but just don't have the time to do the listening with other things going on. the prices also cause a bit of hesitation. maybe when i've got the time to sit down with a few friends i'll drop $20 and download something i've already got in a losless format ripped from a CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knorbu Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 The iPhone app for the Squeezebox Touch works great for me! Gives me access to all the flac files on my PC server via the logitec media server application , MOG, Pandora... Sounds good without a external DAC but the DAC is an improvement. I have been curious about trying an external DAC to see if the sound quality increases, but, it sounds very nice the way it is. I have both the optical and analogue connections hooked up to my Harman Kardan and they both sound about the same, a little more bottom on one then the other. I haven't read of a lot of people talking about the squeeze boxes on this forum, which kind of surprises me, I am glad I stumbled across mine , it brings being lazy and listening to tunes to a whole new level [] I am curious if the wireless streaming in the new avr's are similar to what the SB's do. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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