I use a CAYIN n5iis, which supports two 400gb cards in addition to 64mb on-board memory, of which I can use most to store additional music files. So I can have close to 1TB available to me at any time on the Cayin.
My wife inherited my OPUS #1S when I bought the CAYIN. It's sonically similar and is in the same general price range (roughly $400-$600 CAD). The OPUS user manual says its two slots only accommodate 200Gb cards each, but I've put 400gb microSD cards in fhem and they also work, which was a pleasant surprise, though the OPUS is much, much slower in creating the database than the CAYIN is.
Hope this helps,
J
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
Nope. While rare, there are still some who use reel-to-reel: heck, online audiophile stores like Elusivedisc.com actually sell 1/4" reel versions of some titles, though the same "buyer beware" still applies. I'm sure there are some that sound wonderful, but like any medium, who and how the. Mastering was done is immediately evident.
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
I remember from the mid-70s Rolling Stone one of their reporters witnessed Jimmy Page, Ronnie Wood, and Keith Richards making copies of each others masters for their own personal listening. If that was a common practice, can you imagine the reel to reel collection in their peer group.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Yes, I do. The sound, in its price range is top notch. Having two microSD card s,Otis means you can have a collection of cards, as I do, that you can swap out/in as you wish; it has both balanced (best) and unvbalanced (still very good) outputs; and a DAC that is far, far better than those used in iPods. So, even compressed files and CD quality will sound way better than on the iPod....and high resolutions, many that are unsupported by iPods, will rock your world.
My suggestion, if you get one: go balanced. If you have IEMs with replaceable cables, you should be able to get a balanced 2.5" TFS cable for between $30-60. If you use cans, ie headphones, you'll need to find out if they're actually balanced (as it turns out my OPPO PM-3 planar magnetic headphones are), in which case you just need to replace the cable with a balanced one. The diff between unbalanced and balanced outputs is significant,
Hope this helps. As an alternative, the OPUS #1S is comparably priced and very, very good as well.
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
From what I understand, balanced output is very good for balanced headphones but for plugging into a car's audio system you need the unbalanced.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Where Are They Now? Yes news: http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wh_now.htm
Blogdegezou, the accompanying blog: http://bondegezou.blogspot.com/
Today my wife again said “Who listens to CDs anymore?” Pink Floyd posted on FB that the Later Years set is available for preorder, and some of the comments from people saying the same. It seems like the very idea of having to insert something into something else (no jokes please) to hear music has become unthinkable to a lot of people.
Agreed. At this point I use my CD player to rip any CD I might have bought to MP3 and to burn backups of those files back to DVD. I am close to living physical-free.
WANTED: Sig-worthy quote.
Oh you should still get a regular physical.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
I have been immersing myself in the big Woodstock box for the last two weeks and its physical aspect (artwork, books, discs, posters) is a thrilling part of the whole experience. I cannot imagine coming close to that by downloading just a bunch of mp3s and PDFs. The tactile aspect of handling artwork-adorned music containers/booklets adds an extra dimension, focus and pleasure to me, which I cannot reproduce by clicking meta-info in virtual reality (as much as I am immersed in it too).
And I am also really really happy that I do not need to subject myself to losing hours on ripping this colossus. You pick a disc and press play. Simple and beautiful!
Last edited by Jay.Dee; 11-11-2019 at 05:41 AM.
For mega box sets like this, I agree...though, just for clarity, downloads are not just mp3, which are the sonic equivalent of a faxed piece of art...
I only download minimum CD quality, even better, high resolution, which usually (operative word: usually) sound much better. And if I get all the important printed materials (liners...don’t care about posters and such), then I am very happy with that.
But it’s important to note that there is a market for those who want their music to really sound as the artists and/or producers intended, and you are more likely to get that with high res files since most engineers these days mix and master in higher resolutions, so you get to hear their original sonics, not something down-sampled to CD quality. FLAC and ALAC (lossless formats) are fine...but I actually will not listen to MP3..and won’t review them either.
Well, that’s fine if you don’t want to bring the music with you wherever you go, in which case putting on a portable device like a smartphone or, for those looking for better sound, a digital audio player (DAP) that has a better DAC so, again, whether CD quality or better, you get to carry that with you.
I rip everything I get because I want to have it available to me anywhere I go (I don’t have a car, so cds mean nothing for me wrt portability). It’s a little extra effort, but for me it’s worth it. Not for everyone, of course.
And also, as a writer, a great many artists and labels will only send digital promos so I’m used to living in that world, though if I am covering big box sets like the Gentle Giant or Pink Floyd, I strive to get (and, in these cases, did) the real deal..if not before Street, then after. But most labels have a very limited number or those big boxes available so, for example, I had to do with the 10-disc Woodstock box digitally (though they sent the big box’s printed material, so I kinda got a bit of both) because the big boxes were almost impossible to get...and even the 10-disc one was not possible for me (though the more reviews I do for the majors, like the upcoming Floyd, the better the chance I am having of getting the hard media versions).
Don’t get me wrong: I love the “real” deals. But it’s not always possible. And, for example, take the Grateful Dead’s Giant’s Stadium box from earlier this year. The physical box looked very nice, but was $160 usd (plus shipping to Canada) for the one that had the Blu Ray. While the digital version in 24/96 high res didn’t have the Blu Rays (which is a video of one of the included shows), I was ok without it, and the book was not a major one, and with the 24/96 being $120 USD and no shipping, I got all the music, in the mastered version.
So it really depends, for me, on what comes with the box. Big ones like the Giant, Steve Hillage, Family, John Martin Island Years, Ian Hunter, etc, all of which come with big hardcover books that are, imo, truly essential, I’ll either buy them or, in a small number of cases, try to get review copies (since writing them up is a lot of work and I’ve gotta balance things). So, for me, there’s a place for both physical media AND digital downloads....but never MP3...NEVER!!
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
I have this discussion with the wife - "what are you doing with that massive pile of space eaters?" I am totally digital - but I sure do miss the handling and reading of booklets and liner notes - art - like has been mentioned. Friends send me discs a lot and I keep making more piles! lol
Do you know these: https://www.audioquest.com/dacs/dragonfly/dragonfly-red
Portable DACs for mobile/headphoneusers
I use the OPPO HA-2, though these days since largely using a DAP that does higher res than my iPhone, I use the HA-2 as a DAC for my Mac. I'm very happy with that + my Paradigm Millennium speakers.
But for folks listening to music on iPhones, iPads, etc, I would strongly recommend getting a headphone amp/DAC, as it will invariably make a big difference over the $5 DAC that Apple uses (dunno about others).
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
Amazing the Pink Floyd was never the #1 seller at any given time on this moving-sliding graph
https://www.facebook.com/oasismaniao...2386404363015/
It would've been nice (but less lively) to have another totalizing all-time sales
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
I make mp3-files from every CD I buy, but I do most listening from CD. I only us a portable mp3-player when I'm not at home and it is mostly filled with German language music (non-prog) and playing in shuffle mode. So most mp3-files are just taking up space on my harddisk.
I can't think of not buying CD's.
The music business really blew it on many levels. Not surprising given that investors and managers are idiots with money, ironically. CD prices never came down...they should've. At the onset of downloading the music business should've invested heavily in anti-torrenting technology, which it could've sold as proprietary at some point. They also should have never, ever allowed their catalogs to be sold on iTunes or streamed etc. We would still have corp. record stores as well as more independent ones. With even more irony, the business continues to beat a dead horse using old models. If they were smart, they'd invest in mid-level bands coming up a la Radiohead or Wilco who would definitely pull together a solid following that could ultimately be a going concern for the band and record business. Ideally, bands would be able to do this for themselves. However, bands like Radiohead and Wilco had that initial record company push during a time when CDs were booming which gave the solid fanbase that keeps them alive now. I don't see how any great band could rise above the deluge of mediocrity that floods the internet daily.
By contrast, I rip all CDs to ALAC so I’ve losslessly comprised CD quality wherever I go...if, indeed, I buy a CD; more often these days I buy high res and only resort to CD if unavailable in higher res. I use, these days, a Cayin n5iis DAP, with a spare OPUS #1 DAP, so I can bring CD quality or better with me, wherever I go.
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
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