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[Closed] Beginner HI-FI help wanted... WTF am I supposed to do with mp3's?

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[#7543772]

Evening.
I've recently acquired a decent stereo. Tuner, pre-amp, 2 power amps (whatever that means) and CD. Just 6 months after I threw pretty much all my CD collection at Ebay.
It sounds *lovely*, but I now carry all my music around on a 64gb SD card rather than CD so what am I supposed to do now?
For reference, the manufacturer of the hi-fi does network players around the £2.5-5k mark, although I notice they've got a special deal on the £50k, and there is no chance the purchasing committee will run to any of that.
So - just plug my phone in via the 3.5mm jack or wot?
Help!


 
Posted : 29/12/2015 9:56 pm
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Look at this thread on DAC's...

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/any-dac-users-out-there-thoughts

Don't need to spend a fortune on one and then use a cheap android phone that takes SD cards and with a hi res audio app installed on it.


 
Posted : 29/12/2015 10:13 pm
 igm
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I use a laptop and a USB DAC. A lot better than the PC's soundcard.


 
Posted : 29/12/2015 10:15 pm
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cyrus ??

It is a shame that you got rid of your CD collection because with a high end hifi it would be better to have ripped them to a lossless format like FLAC.

You'll need a streamer - find one to fit your budget and with either a connection for a hard drive/memory stick or the ability to connect to a NAS if you have one. Connect up the streamer, point it at the MP3 files and away you go.

TL:DR- sell a kidney and buy the Cyrus streamer.


 
Posted : 29/12/2015 10:48 pm
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Chromecast Audio or some sort of Bluetooth to coax / TOSlink adapter?


 
Posted : 29/12/2015 10:54 pm
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With the sort of setup that it sounds like you have I suggest your source may not be very good at making the most of it.


 
Posted : 29/12/2015 11:11 pm
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What I have got ripped is at 320mbps so of reasonable quality. I do still have some cd's kicking about but they're mainly "the wheels on the bus..." variety!

I'm afraid big spend is out of the question here - so from that other thread I need to output via usb or optical into one of those DAC boxes which then feeds the amp via a pair of audio cables?

Sorry to be a bit vague on this btw!


 
Posted : 29/12/2015 11:25 pm
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Play it through the 3.5mm jack, see what it sounds like. If you think it's good go from there


 
Posted : 29/12/2015 11:38 pm
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Rich_s - Member
What I have got ripped is at 320mbps so of reasonable quality. I do still have some cd's kicking about but they're mainly "the wheels on the bus..." variety!

I'm afraid big spend is out of the question here - so from that other thread I need to output via usb or optical into one of those DAC boxes which then feeds the amp via a pair of audio cables?

Sorry to be a bit vague on this btw!


320Kb is perfectly adequate, the greater majority of people can't tell a 320Kb file from a Lossless or CD original, I know I can't, and I've done plenty of comparisons over the years.
Copy the music files from the card onto something that you can stream from and add more music to from any new CD's, and keep the original SD card somewhere safe as your backup.
See if you can find a secondhand Mac Mini and connect that to the system, mine's pretty much only used as a music server and backup for my phone, pad and photos, it's connected to my amp via a TOSLink optical, and controlled via wifi from the phone or pad, and I still play CD's from my DVD player as well.


 
Posted : 30/12/2015 1:07 am
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Chromecast audio and TOS Link to your tuner if it takes it if not then TOS Link to a DAC and then RCA to tuner.


 
Posted : 30/12/2015 1:45 am
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Thanks for the pointers. Currently working on where to site the thing out of reach of sticky fingers and out of sight of the boss!


 
Posted : 30/12/2015 8:58 am