MP3/USB player for old Hi-fi?

[caduceus]

I currently have an old Technics separates stack in the garage for my listening pleasure, consisting of amp, CD and tape deck. But I'm getting tired of burning CD's when I find new music. So I'm wondering if there is a separate or some way of plugging in a USB stick with new tracks on it, into this setup.


I have done an MP3 search on ebay, but only old cd players come up.

My knowlege of Hi-fi is as outdated as this stack system is I'm afraid, so help is needed please

Thanks
Cad

Edited by caduceus on Monday 7th March 11:47

[RBS Bob]

How about a bluetooth receiver plug into a Mic jack if your hifi has one.

[toon10]

Can you use your phone? I have an old Marantz Amp/CD combo with Tannoy speakers and like to play my CD's when in the mood. Sometimes I want to listen to Spotify or whatever I've downloaded to my phone without having to rip CD's so I just use the Aux in on the amp and jack my iPhone into it. Quick, convenient and easy.

[Crackie]

A Bluetooth receiver plugged into one of the line inputs will allow your Technics stack to playback anything on your phone or tablet. Music from your phone, spotify, Youtube etc.

One of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Bluetooth-Audio-R... is £29.99.

[alock]

The modern way would be something like this and just send the music from your phone.
https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/chromecast/spe...

I just use a 3.5mm headphone jack to twin phono lead to play music on my old hifi though. Cost about £2 from Amazon.

[toon10]

alock said:

I just use a 3.5mm headphone jack to twin phono lead to play music on my old hifi though. Cost about £2 from Amazon.

I should have said that this is how I do it too. Very cheap and very simple.

[blearyeyedboy]

OP, Google Chromecast Audio.

Best £25 I spent on audio kit.

[2Btoo]

blearyeyedboy said:

OP, Google Chromecast Audio.

Best £25 I spent on audio kit.

[DukeDickson]

2Btoo said:

blearyeyedboy said:

OP, Google Chromecast Audio.

Best £25 I spent on audio kit.

Another . Bargain at the £15 they had them going at recently, providing you have some Android knocking around.

Wishing I'd bought more than one now.

[2Btoo]

£15?

I wish I hadn't read that. Where?

[caduceus]

Bummer. So I guess there isn't a dedicated separate that a USB can plug into then I must admit I'm surprised there isn't one out there, as everything seems to come with a USB port these days.
I'm reluctant to give Google any of my hard earned wedge tbh. I really don't want to be using my phone to stream media. I'd rather have something there, like a separate or dedicated box that plays audio files through my stack.

[BertB]

If the audio version of ChromeCast is anything like the TV one, it will only stream stuff from the cloud or at least via their servers in someway. (really annoying when you have rubbish broadband)


I'd go for a bluetooth receiver myself

The other option (more techy) is hook up a Raspberry Pi as a music box/server and then control that from the phone.

[kingston12]

caduceus said:

Bummer. So I guess there isn't a dedicated separate that a USB can plug into then I must admit I'm surprised there isn't one out there, as everything seems to come with a USB port these days.
I'm reluctant to give Google any of my hard earned wedge tbh. I really don't want to be using my phone to stream media. I'd rather have something there, like a separate or dedicated box that plays audio files through my stack.

There will be plenty of separates that do the job, but they will be a lot more money than the alternatives.

What inputs does the amp have? As long as it has a 3.5mm analogue (like a headphone jack) or the red/white RCAs, the cheapest way of getting a physical device will be just to buy a second hand ipod/equivalent and leave it there permanently.

The Google Chromecast Audio will be better (and likely cheaper still), but you will need to your phone to 'cast' to it.

[TEKNOPUG]

Rather than trying to use a USB stick, why don't you just get an MP3 player? You can get a basic 16gb one for £15 or spend a lot more if you want. PC sees it as a drive, so no different to using a USB stick. Then just use a 3.5mm jack to twin RCA for play back.

[ecotec]

Agree with comments above re chromecast audio - this does assume you have wifi though, 3.5mm output - assuming your old hifi has rca/3.5mm input, controlled by phone (not just android)


Otherwise as decribed then raspberry pi (a £4 zero could do this with a behringer uca202 dac), would still need to be controlled by a phone though,

if not that then, try a sandisk clip+ mp3 player, it has a micro sd card slot so you can load up gb's of music and if desired the firmware can be updated to "rockbox" to get more functionality (link: http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SansaClip)

sandisk clip+ link £22 new + SD card
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-SDMX26-008G-G46K-C...


re bluetooth,
i've never had much luck with bluetooth, it never seems to work properly but i've never spent a lot on the adapters so could be that too

Edited by ecotec on Tuesday 8th March 20:13

[caduceus]

Thanks for all the replies chaps.
I think I'll go with this idea:

TEKNOPUG said:

Rather than trying to use a USB stick, why don't you just get an MP3 player? You can get a basic 16gb one for £15 or spend a lot more if you want. PC sees it as a drive, so no different to using a USB stick. Then just use a 3.5mm jack to twin RCA for play back.

It's the most relevant option I feel. I do not want to have to use my phone at all. It has to be standalone. So for that reason the mp3 player and leads works.