Stevef

What worked for me when I first started discovering the wonderful and frightening world of computer audio is the HRT Music Streamer. About $150, and I have been happy with it. Mind, this site has opened my eyes and I will be upgrading my, system, incl a Mac for serving duties, etc so the HRT is a great DAC, rather inexpensive, and you can start saving (like me) for a Devialet :-) Steve f

The Tree of Life soundtrack by Alexandre Desplat last night. Yesterday James Blake. Great thread. Steve

Respiratory Therapist, formerly admin management in hospitals. Now devote my free time to ultra marathons and music - the acquisition of and listening to. Long runs give me plenty of time to plot my audiophilic future, which means getting 'Macced-up' and away from Windows. I also plan to fulfill a long-term dream and take some computer science classes. Steve

Interesting article. I happened to see a Devialet ad in Stereophile and dd some research and it appears as a very cool device. As I understand it, it uses a radio frequency for it's remote; would this also be the case for it's wireless streaming or is my still rudimentary knowledge getting me in trouble here? Steve f Edit- Terence, I just noticed you actually have a Devialet; is it as drool-worthy as I believe it to be?

I had trouble with iTunes when I tried to move my library from wmp 12 to iTunes due to issues I thought I was having with wmp. Fully a third of the files are missing art, etc, and the importation thereof is very time consuming. I'm back to wmp (for the time being) and when I buy an album from iTunes or amazon I immediately burn it to disc, put it in a box and put it in wmp. I plan to move to Mac soon but iTunes I dunno about. Steve f

I would have to go with seamless formats and more hi-rez DLs. Get formats that simply transfer, appear, work and exist on both Mac/Windows. And maybe ease of set up for everything. Steve f

I read with interest about this sale. Mergers and acquisitions continue apace in the music industry. I wonder how this new owner will deal with the new realities of the music biz; downloads, streaming, etc. I've already heard that WMG intends to stop streaming via Spotify and last.fm. This owner became involved w/ music in the early 80s; his money was made in oil. Will he look at his new company through the lens on the 80s, become progressive, heavy-handed, what? Also I guess he is in aa pole position to buy EMI as it is losing it's a** financially. Mr W, care to hazard a guess as to what this all means (if anything)? Steve F

Thanks, BobH, for the setings tip. I'm tired of typng in latimes as a search and getting a page full of latinas. My wife was getting worried... steve f

I enjoy Mr Blunt, but even on my system I find some if the sound poorly managed. He is military, I believe he was a tank commander in Kosovo during that war, an (I believe) served as a member of the Queen's guardian regiment at some point. Perhaps some of the haphazard production was haste to get a CD out to the public. Steve f

I cannot suggest improvements; I will say this is looking good, thanks for the pics, and best if luck in the final stages. Nice new hat, BTW. Steve f

Oh nononono

I'm a newbie myself, and have hopped on the steep learning curve that CA is. I therefore defer to other more knowledgeable folks here in tech issues. I will give my $.02 on one of your queries. I completed the ripping process of all CDs some time back, and sold off a lot of them down the years as space/storage is an issue in the living/listening room. While I don't regret some (Hole, etc) as all is stored on the HD, I do wish I had kept them for several reasons. First, they can always sit in a box out of the way. Second, if I ever want to hear or rip a cd to a new computer and want to switch from windows media player or iTunes a lot of metadata won't get lost or fouled up. Third, the money you get selling them off is a mere pittance. Fourth, as a wise head said on this very site, CDs are the ultimate backup, no HD or external to die and lose the music. I download, of course, but I continue to buy the silver disc, though not as much as before. As I continue to evolve and grow with CAness, I'm sure that my equipment will change, etc, but I think keeping that physical media is the right way to go. Cheers, Steve F

Yes, Paul, I agree. Should it happen, I too will dig into my beer money and sign up for a subscription, as this site is a treasure, informative, and just plain fun. Now when do we hear about car audio? ;-) Irreverently yours, Steve F

I'm very happy with my HRT; amazing job for the price. As I continue to upgrade my 'listening room' (read: living room), at some point my DAC will get an upgrade. Given my budget and room realities, i will first look at an HRT upgrade in addition to other brands - but HRT has pole position. Steve

Bought an Audioquest cable some time back, knowing nothing about any cables at the time. Very pleased with it. Beginner's luck I suppose. I am now going to look into theAR DAC you mentioned. Steve