updating system

mbain -- Thu, 10/14/2010 - 09:49

Some years back I put together my home system primarily consisting of Andra l speakers, Audio Research Ref l preamp, Mark Levinson 33h Amps, Proceed CDD disc drive, and Dap. I have continued to enjoy this system for the past 10 years or so. I am contemplating an upgrade and am looking for the best place to start in order to get the most "Bang for the buck." Any suggestions?

Steven Stone -- Thu, 10/14/2010 - 09:54

Buy a Logitech Touch.

Then after a couple of weeks try a more current DAC.

The Andras are still superb, as are the AR and Levinson components. upgrade your front end and you'll be all set for the next ten years...

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

mbain -- Fri, 10/15/2010 - 08:48

Steven,
Thanks for your response to my inquiry. I have taken your suggestion seriously and am considering the Berkley Audio Design Alpha. Would this be compatible with my Proceed CD transport or should that unit be upgraded also. Thank you again for your help.

Mark

Could someone please comment on the relative merits of using an Audio Research PH-7 phono stage vs. using an Audio Research SP6 preamp to boost the output signal from a turntable prior to full amplification.

Steven Stone -- Fri, 10/15/2010 - 09:40

Hello,

I would keep the Proceed. IMHO CD transports are on their way out. The only time I "play" most CDs is to rip them into my music library. Then they sit on a shelf.

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

mbain -- Sat, 11/06/2010 - 18:32

Steven,
Why not purchase a MacBook as the primary music player?

Mark

Steven Stone -- Sat, 11/06/2010 - 21:55

A 13" macbook pro with a silicon drive is a very fast and capable machine, but a Mac Mini will give you the same music server capabilities for half the price.

But if you also want a great portable...

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

JA FANT -- Sat, 12/04/2010 - 09:19

Agree with SS, those Andra speakers are superb!

mbain -- Sat, 12/04/2010 - 09:37

JA FANT,
I am new to computer audio and I am struggling with going all the way with it or staying with analog. Have any thoughts?

Steven Stone -- Sat, 12/04/2010 - 09:54

I would suggest a new thread for your question since it is on a different subject.

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

mbain -- Fri, 01/07/2011 - 19:41

Steve,
Took your advise and purchased Squeeze Box Touch. I am having trouble trying to figure out why the Bravura Christmas gift of four 24/44.1 Aiff files will not play on the SBT. Message on the Touch reads in part "unable to open file." Any suggestions?

Mark

Ded Frag -- Sat, 01/08/2011 - 03:45

To my ears the Manley 'Steelhead' kills both of them for tonal richness, emotionality, slam & tunefulness in the bass. I'm biased though being a long time 'Steelhead' user in their various versions.
The only other contender, and a much more expensive one, is the Boulder phono preamp but even though it has a bit more guts on bottom end transients to me it lacks the 'goose bump effect' of the Manley.
http://www.manleylabs.com/word_steelhead.html

Steven Stone -- Sat, 01/08/2011 - 11:11

Check the Squeezebox forums. I suspect that the Touch doesn't support 44/24 AIFF. Try converting one of the files to 44/16 AIFF or 44/24 FLAC.

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

mbain -- Fri, 01/14/2011 - 13:16

Sorry for double posting!

mbain -- Fri, 01/14/2011 - 13:15

Steven,
Please forgive my ignorance on many matters that relate to the digital music world, especially the new and rapidly evolving technologies that accompany it. Although I have been reading regularly I seem to take two steps forward and then at least one step back when it comes to expanding my understanding of just what is happening with my latest attempts at upgrading the front end of my system. I suspect I'm too old for this brave new world. I have recently established a home network for my Imac utilizing an AirPort Extreme. I have purchased a Squeeze Box Touch that sits near my system. I have purchased several high resolution audio files that employ iTunes as a music player. The question now is: does the Airport stream high res 24/96 to the Touch and am I hearing high resolution audio or am I hearing downsampled audio? I suspect that in order to enjoy the high res files I need to place the files on a flash drive and attach the drive to the Touch to experience 24/96. True?

Steven Stone -- Fri, 01/14/2011 - 13:33

The Touch supports 96/24 files. It will support these files via wired or wireless connections.

If you look at the Touch menu you can, under the info section, see what format the files are in.

And, beg to disagree, you are NEVER too old for computer-based audio. :)

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

mbain -- Sat, 04/02/2011 - 10:28

Steven,
Regarding the streaming of audio files to the Squeeze Box Touch. Will an airport extreme stream 24/96 files to the squeezebox DAC or only 16/44.1

mbain -- Mon, 01/31/2011 - 17:12

Steven,
Does the USB input on the Squeezebox Touch require a USB flash drive powered via a USB hub in order to read or will files loaded on a USB flash drive be read if inserted into the USB port "unpowered"?

Mark

Steven Stone -- Mon, 01/31/2011 - 17:33

The Touch supports USB sticks as well as drives. I've used from 2 to 16 GB memory sticks with no issues. I've also used a 500 GB Seagate Passport portable drive that relies on the USB connection for power and it worked as well. I have not used, and I don't think the Touch will support, a hub hooked into its USB port.

The main thing is the USB drives should be formatted FAT32.

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

mbain -- Mon, 02/07/2011 - 14:35

Steven,
When using the Squeeze Box Touch in conjunction with iTunes, is the Squeeze Box server actually "playing" the music file that is eventually streamed to the Touch or is iTunes software "playing" the music file? Also, the benefits of Pure Music are unable to be enjoyed in the Squeeze model is this correct? Does Airfoil allow pure music/ iTunes to be used with the Squeezebox? If so how?

Mark

Steven Stone -- Mon, 02/07/2011 - 17:27

Actually, Mark, neither...

TheTunes Library is the source for the music file, but if it is being streamed iTunes is not "playing" the music file.

The Squeezebox recieves the file via wireless or Ethernet connection - it "plays" the file via it's own internal D/A or sends it to an outboard D/A via ists S/PDIF or Toslink outputs.

Pure Music or Amarra will do nothing to a streamed music file to Squeezebox or any other WIreless/Ethernet player/streamer.

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

Ded Frag -- Mon, 02/07/2011 - 18:01

This may be off topic, and a very personal take, but why is it despite having had an intense interest in all matters audio over the decades my mind shuts down whenever I read about these new digital audio technologies? Up-sampling Red Book, SACD, apodizing filters etc I happily kept up with but there's something about all these new server, storage protocols that bores the pants off me. Maybe I'm just becoming an old grump?

mbain -- Tue, 02/08/2011 - 08:49

Fred,
I understand where you are coming from as I find the digital audio world not so much boring as frustrating to get a handle on. I often think that I should buy a vinyl spinner outfit and sit back and enjoy the music. If it wasn't for persons like Steven Stone, knowledgable and willing to share that knowledge, I think I would do just that.

Mark

Steven Stone -- Sat, 04/02/2011 - 11:15

i KNOW I'm an old grump and I'm fascinated by digital music delivery systems.

Right now we are in a period of flux for standards and systems not unlike what we saw during the migration to 1080P from 480 and 720 projectors.

I still think that streaming via a logitech Squeezebox is a very cost-efficient and relatively intellectually painless way to add digital music to any two-channel basically-analog system.

With a Squeezebox Touch you can have access to all your ripped CDs and NEVER have to look at another CD in your listening room.

The other extreme, financially-speaking would be a Sooloos system, whose interface is so good as to become addictive...with a painless set-up and elegant ergonomics, the Sooloos is the model for what all digital music systems will become in the near future...

As for all the PC digital music system stuff ASIO, FOOBAR, DB poweramp, ETC, well that stuff makes my head hurt too...

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

mbain -- Sat, 04/02/2011 - 13:01

Steven,
Regarding the streaming of audio files to the Squeeze Box Touch. Will an airport extreme stream 24/96 files to the squeezebox DAC or only 16/44.1

Steven Stone -- Sat, 04/02/2011 - 22:34

As far as I know Airport extreme won't work for that purpose. You want the Airport EXPRESS (now discontinued) or an Apple TV (either 1st or 2nd gen).

But ALL of these Apple devices are limited to 48/16.

Also the Squeezebox has an INTERNAL DAC but it does not accept external devices signals for that DAC (except those that come to it via either wireless or Ethernet connection.

For streaming the Squeezebox Touch is your most cost-effective option,

Your last question really needs it's own thread in the appropriate forum category

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

mbain -- Sun, 04/03/2011 - 08:47

Steven,
Now I really am confused. I have the Touch however i' m wondering what device is it that is doing the actual streaming, the Extreme which handles the router function in my home network or something else? The Extreme must be delivering the data to the Touch DAC as I am not using an Ethernet connection. So am I hearing only 16/44 inspite of selecting 24/96 files for playback? I am clearly missing something basic here.

Steven Stone -- Sun, 04/03/2011 - 09:13

Yes, the AIrport Extreme is handling your router and wireless WIFI stream that goes to your TOUCH.
And Yes, your Extreme supports 96/24, as does your Touch, so if you are playing a 96/24 file, it will be a 96/24 file when played by the Touch.
While the iTunes library may be used as your music file source, iTUnes itself is NOT doing the playback because technically your computer is NOT playing back your music, but only supplying a storage site for the files.
The "player" when you are streaming to a Touch is either the Squeeze Center software that is running on your computer, or the Logitech software IN the Touch itself.

When you mentioned the Extreme in your previous posting I thought, incorrectly, that you were trying to use and Extreme like an Express.

Sorry for the confusion.

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

Amandela77 -- Sun, 04/10/2011 - 07:05

Mbain:

SS is right on the money. Do not get rid of the fantastic system you now own. The No. 33s are classics in their own right and can hold their own against just about any of the current super-amps. And check out Audiogon to see just how well Levinson products hold their value over time - unbelievable!!! Ditto the rest of the system, except for the digital.

I suspect that your desire to "upgrade" (a concpet that has little meaning in the context of your current system) is really rooted in a desire to experience the thrill of a new toy or toys in the system. If this is the case - and we all go through this every now and then - then computer based audio will hit you like a dose of audiophile "speed". I got hooked about 6 months ago - albeit from the headphone side of the equation - at the insistence of an audiophile 15 years my senior, and I am 47. If you can open and send an email, and boot a laptop, you can easily navigate the world of computer audio.

Once you have loaded your CDs - now really nothing more than digital files - to hard drive, that unit output to a high-end DAC, with the Sqeezebox allowing you to navigate the vast contents of your "new" digital library, man, its another world.

Also, do some more reading on the whole subject of computer and hard-drive based audio. Don't just take our word(s) as gospel. You obviously spent a boatload of time and resources building your current system, so ths should be nothing new. Check out http://www.computeraudiophile.com/ for some great coverage of the topic, and perhaps HRx which offers state-of-the-art digital downloads.

Its a brave new world for us boomers, and if encountered without intimidation, promises to deliver musical bounties unimagined during the heyday of the CD.

Amandela77

Ded Frag -- Sun, 04/10/2011 - 07:43

I suggest the desire to upgrade systems most of us would kill for often has nothing to do with the system itself but with the less than perfect acoustics of the rooms they are expected to function in. 99% of the time though,'she who must be obeyed' is going to forbid anything being done about it so the endless swapping in and out of otherwise excellent gear continues at great expense.

Steven Stone -- Tue, 04/12/2011 - 09:37

There are PLENTY of room-friendly, wife-friendly room treatments available.

And I agree that rooms are the downfall of many fine pieces of gear...

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

Ded Frag -- Tue, 04/12/2011 - 14:29

"There are PLENTY of room-friendly, wife-friendly room treatments available." Superficially that appears to be the case until it's suggested they be installed in 'her living room'.

Steven Stone -- Tue, 04/12/2011 - 14:47

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications