hdls

I am totally ignorant of anything Apple (not a belief thing but rather out of laziness, all of my professional and personal environment being Windows / Android). But having used a Synology NAS with all my music on for over a year and having moved twice (!) and changed windows PC twice during this time (Win 8, Win 10), I haven't had the slightest problem using my NAS as a music server (Roon, Foobar2000). So reading various forums (particularly CA and the Roon forum) I kind of got the feeling that Apple computers are more difficult to manage in this regards - yet everybody always advises MacMini as a good solution to get a NAS-based music system running. Never had any problem with my Win 10 600$ Samsung laptop for what it's worth (less sexy but zero problem so far).

Thanks a lot guys, will go for a pair of XLRs - first time ! Will let you know how it sounds. Cheers Chris

Same comment with the NAD M12 which I just bought - volume can be set using the android app

Hi, I just bought the NAD M12-M22 combo which works really well in my system (Roon on a computer, playing redbook and high-rez music from a NAS, with Monitor Audio Gold 300 speakers). However I still have old & crappy RCA cables connecting the M12 to the M22 which a friend told me is some kind of heresy. I am willing to spend US$ 100-200 to replace them and would appreciate some opinion on whether, in this price range, XLR cables would have a chance to sound better than RCA cables. I know I should try them both and keep the best one but my usual dealer wouldn't let me take both and bring one back... Cheers, Chris

From what I read you want to move away from "PC speakers", i.e. Logitech-style cheap systems, which means you aim to get better sound quality. If this is true, I would definitely include an external DAC to your system. One elegant option is to get an integrated amp which also has a good quality DAC - there are several examples but NAD developed one which got good reviews within its price range (e.g. NAD D 7050, $790 on Amazon). It will play pretty much anything from your computer, network, wired or wifi or bluetooth. Not sure about high resolution formats though.

I am using Roon and have done so for 6 months with Windows 8.1. So was fearful of upgrading to Win10 and resisted for a couple of months, but the reminders that I should REALLY DO IT OR THE WORLD MIGHT COME TO AN END finally got me. The upgrade was flawless and I haven't experienced any problem whatsoever with my music-dedicated laptop (fingers crossed, only done it one week ago...).

But not to a 3-1 or 4-1 proportion :-)

I would avoid iTunes for ripping. Although it has a "safe ripping" option many experts still recommend going dbPoweramp or EAC (however the latter requires a bit of tech svviness).

I think we need to call NASA: they surely will be able to settle the matter once and for all, confirming the moon does not inflate / deflate on a regular basis.

Physician treating patients with chronic neurodegenerative diseases. Need my time listening to good music at night...

One friend far more knowledgable than me in computer things once told me: if it works fine don't upgrade unless you have good reasons to believe the new version will prevent disaster. I have 1 work desktop and 2 laptops at home, 1 laptop being only used for music. Well, I uneventfully upgraded my work desktop and the multi-purpose laptop to Win10 (pretty flawless software, hardly remember the process which was something close to perfection). But I sticked to Win8.1 for my music laptop. I spent countless hours making sure everything was finely tuned for iTunes (not any more), Foobar2000 (still useful in many instances), JRiver (a reference in the field however with movies which I don't use) and now Roon (a work-in-progress but an audio-only very user friendly piece of software), so I am not prepared to spending any more time on this machine before it inevitably becomes obsolete in a couple of years. Yes, all these computers eventually do become old and need replaced, so IMHO it is better to wait until D-Day happens. That said, things would be different if I had the slightest suspicion that Win10 would somehow sound better but I don't think there is any evidence of that being true. Chris

Maybe this one from Nagra:

All the best for 2016 and a warm thank you to everyone here at CA - visiting this website on a regular basis has given me a lot over the past year and allowed me to improve massively my computer audio system. As per weather considerations, even here in Switzerland, considered a paradize for ski & snowboard fans, we have almost no snow, high temperatures, and lots of ski resorts which are either closed or providing only artificial snow. Very bad indeed. Might have to go to Scandinavia for skiing in the future... Chris

Would love to try it but although we don't have any sea access, Switzerland is on the wrong side of the Pond... Chris

Hello Mario, I had the chance to listen to the Polish songs (which although I am a true fan of Chopin I must admit I had never listened to). In addition to the pieces being brilliantly composed (of course) and interpreted, I was very impressed with the liveliness of the sound - very natural and powerful, truly giving the impression that the singer is in front of the listener. IMO what differred from some highrez master recordings was that it truly lacks the "digital" flare that can sometimes be a bit annoying - so I am anxiously waiting for more records from your young company. In fact I really hope you will manage to get more from Chopin - Nocturnes or Mazurkas would be a must ! Good luck with the company ! Chris