CDs onto Brennan/hard drive thingy

[rlw]

Ok - too many CDs cluttering up the place. The Brennan things looks quite good but doesn't really have enough capacity to record them all lossless, nor are there any for sale.

What alternatives are there? I don't want to put them on my computer unless there is a foolproof way of simply playing them so a Brennan type of thing would be ideal. Any thoughts please.

Edited to add - money is an object but/and this will be played through decent kit so no need for amplifier.........

Edited by rlw on Sunday 7th September 20:06

[henrycrun]

How many Cds ?

[grumbledoak]

Squeezebox and rip your CDs to NAS drive(s) was my choice. Sonos is another alternative. A (PC) Microserver another if you want to stream allsorts.

[Crackie]

rlw said:

Ok - too many CDs cluttering up the place. The Brennan things looks quite good but doesn't really have enough capacity to record them all lossless, nor are there any for sale.

What alternatives are there? I don't want to put them on my computer unless there is a foolproof way of simply playing them so a Brennan type of thing would be ideal. Any thoughts please.

Edited to add - money is an object but/and this will be played through decent kit so no need for amplifier.........

Does the decent kit have a SPDIF input ? If it does, one of these might be an option http://www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hi-fi/coc...
The digital output is apparently very good and you get 1TB for similar money to the Brennan.

I can't see the advantage of the Cocktail X10 over a laptop though. A decent laptop, configured specifically as a dedicated server can work extremely well; here is some good info which will help configure a laptop for optimum audio performance http://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/newsletter/News... I think using an asynchronous USB to SPDIF converter between laptop and DAC is a good plan particularly if the DAC is fed via TOSLINK.

If you really don't want to go down the computer route then one of these could fit the bill http://www.myoliveone.com/eng/Ones/index

Edited by Crackie on Sunday 7th September 23:48

[Piersman2]

I ripped all my CDs to lossless variable rate MP3s, using my PC. Then stored them all on a NAS drive at home.

I can either play them directly via any DLNA compliant type device, or I use a Sonos connect thingie to stream them to my AV system. Sonos app can be controlled via laptop, tablet, phone, etc...

[Jonny_]

Piersman2 said:

I ripped all my CDs to lossless variable rate MP3s, using my PC. Then stored them all on a NAS drive at home.

I can either play them directly via any DLNA compliant type device, or I use a Sonos connect thingie to stream them to my AV system. Sonos app can be controlled via laptop, tablet, phone, etc...

I'm in the midst of a similar task, about halfway through converting 800-odd CD albums to MP3 (MP3 format chosen for compatibility with as many devices as possible) and storing on a 3TB NAS.

However... The highest quality MP3 format I knew of up to now is 320kbps, so I'd be interested to hear about your lossless variable format. What did you use to rip to this format, and does it have the ability to automatically add track titles and album art?

Cheers

[fluffnik]

grumbledoak said:

Squeezebox and rip your CDs to NAS drive(s) was my choice. Sonos is another alternative. A (PC) Microserver another if you want to stream allsorts.

Have a look on eBay for a "VortexBox" for a ready to go self contained Squeezeserver, it (should!) automatically tag files and download cover art.

[legzr1]

With the price of hdd storage being so low you'd be mad to rip anything to a lossy format.

Rip to lossless (FLAC, ALAC etc) using a decent ripping and tagging program (dbpoweramp is very, very good - auto tags and pulls artwork from the net).
Once you have the files in FLAC you can then batch convert to a lossy format if needed - that way you only need to go through the CD ripping malarkey once.

MP3 is lossy - top rate 320 is OK for in-car or through cheap earbuds but a decent hifi will show the benefits of lossless files.

Rip your music once and do it properly

I've just done around 480 discs - level 5 FLAC lossless used around 0.6Gb for reference - MP3 might have save 0.2Gb but pretty pointless when there's 2tb drives out there for £50.

[rlw]

Thanks for the answers but none - apart from the Richer Sounds thing - offer a simple approach. Maybe I will just rethink the way they are stored - all 1300 of them.

[legzr1]

To be fair there's a suggestion above for a vortex box - no more complicated than a Brenan - simple set up, load up the next disc and it simply rips and stores for playback into 'whatever'.

Another 'more hifi' option is to rip music onto a NAS and push or pull those files to a seperate media player/renderer - there are loads to chose from (I use Synology for the NAS and Cambridge Audio SM6 for playback) - prices start at around £70 for a simple NAS drive (obviously there are better and more expensive options with raid for backup) and media players can be had from the likes of Richer Sounds for a £couple of hundred up to thousands for the Naim, Linn and Meridian gear.

Most media players also offer internet radio, seperate USB and digital inputs (upgrade an old CD player by using the better DACS in the media player) together with Bluetooth and airplay (this got a lot of use with my family - watching YouTube music on an ipad with sound air played to a Pioneer media player into a hifi - surprisingly good sound quality!).

SONOS deserves a mention - lovely software and simply connect it to a NAS and an amplifier.



Stick with it - it's a pain at first (ripping the discs is an absolute ball ache) but well worth it for having your whole collection at your finger tips.

[Bullett]

Piersman2 said:

I ripped all my CDs to lossless variable rate MP3s, using my PC.

I was going to say are you sure? MP3 is always lossless but I did a little search and found mp3hd which does seem to be lossless but it was never really adopted and had very limited support.
Very interested in what you are using.

[timhum]

I've used Naim equipment with great sucess, not the cheapest but pretty simple to use.
Tim