Sonos, FLACs and being arsed...

[mr_tony]

Right - i've got a fairly massive iTunes library and around 1000 CD's (some of which are ripped into iTunes, others not). I'm doing a house renovation, and at the end of it i'd rather like to have a decent sound system set up.

Problem - everything I have was ripped at 128kbps to fit on my ipod classic in 2005, so the quality isn't great. It's getting played through Sonos multi room setup, so it's ok for now. Might be that if I can make the source material better I'll discover Sonos sounds great and I'll stick with it..

So - how to increase the quality of the source? Without having to resort to re-ripping all the 1000 CD's by hand (never going to happen, just don't have the time) and without streaming.

My internet connection in the sticks is a paltry 12MBit/s on a good day with the wind behind me, but usually more like 2MB/s so streaming is out...

[mr_tony]

benz0 said:

You can't put back what has been taken away. Those are heavily compressed files and are a turd that cannot be polished.

You could try uploading it all to google music. I've heard in the past that it replaces what you upload with their master copy on the server (i.e. higher bit rate) but not tried this first hand so no idea if its BS

/understood I can't replace the compressed data, I am fairly technical..

Is there a service that will rip the discs for me? I'm that lazy...

[mr_tony]

Suppose I could join tidal
Etc and download the full library away from home but I guess the data requirement on 4G could be beyond most phone plans...

Getting someone to rip all the cds is an option I guess then, and the going rate is 70p a disc. Useful to know...

Guess I get them all ripped as flax, dump them to a NAS, see how sonos sounds then make a call on where I go from there...

I do like the idea of nicer speakers / amp etc, but love the convenience (and ruggedness with 2 boys who love music) of sonos...

Thanks folks...

[mr_tony]

I have signed up for Spotify, i have tunein radio and soundcloud etc. Just not reliable on a slow connection...

For reference- my sonos system is hardwired - otherwise it just doesn’t work (solid concrete house full of metal reinforcement mesh) so it’s not an internal network issue...

So, looks like ripping everything to NAS in Apple lossless is the way to go. I’ve got a 4TB buffalo linkstation which I’ll start loading up to begin with. I figure I’ll start feeding cds in and see if I can tell the difference on the sonos between 128kbps and lossless... if it sounds good enough I’ll keep going..

If not I might go and get a trial of the Devialet. Seems like the next step after sonos...