[whanafi]

After years of raising and educating kids, I am now a classic empty nester with the time to devote to re-starting a love of all things musical.

I had created a computerized jukebox using a pair of Sony 400 CD changers and a Nirvis interface that allowed control from a PC.  The problem was that it was still mechanical and took time to move from disc to disc. 

As the digital world became more mature, I finally bit the bullet and ripped all my CD's to FLAC using dbPoweramp.  What a revelation that was.  When you see the number of read errors one gets from a well used CD, it is amazing that any CD transport is able to handle things on the fly.

The epiphany for me was that the CD is just a transport medium - the real value is in the bits, and unlike a hard disk, the CD has minimal error correction.  Holding the source as a digital file is actually preferable to the CD.

As I am comfortable with computers, my next search was for a server and streamer.  The folks at Slim Devices, (bought by Logitech) had been producing simple and effective streaming devices and an open source music server - currently called Squeezebox Server.  After using the original SliMP3 and Squeezebox, I obtained the Transporter, their high-end entry, and that is plugged into the BP26/MM.

I prefer not to have the computer act as the source, but rather as the organizer and vault.  To that end, I built a small, low power PC using the Shuttle X27 chassis and a 500Gb laptop hard drive. 

Rather than use Microsoft and incur additional license costs, I went with a great OS/server combo from http://vortexbox.org.  This is a free downloadable image that packages a complete music server system using Fedora Linux, Squeezebox Server, and some clever scripts to manage the whole thing.  You just burn the image to a CD, then boot the computer and it automatically installs.  Once you are running, there is no need for a monitor, mouse, or keyboard - it runs headless.  Control is through Logitech devices, or through the web browser on any PC.  The whole unit is perfect for acting as a music vault. 

The combination with my music in FLAC was liberating - I had suddenly had access to my entire collection.  I was hearing music I didn't even know I had.  The digital side was taken care of, but now the problem was the analogue feed to the speakers.

I had long ago built a home theatre system using a Paradigm Reference 5.1 speaker setup and a Yamaha RX-V3900 which was working fine for decoding and handling the DVD world.

With fond memories of my old Bryston and Celestion Ditton 66 speaker setup, I decided to separate the two domains - Home theatre is home theatre, and music deserves it's own rig.

With that in mind, a search for a Bryston dealer in Singapore ensued.  There is a single mall in Singapore, called the Adelphi, in which all the high-end dealers cluster.  Prices are astronomical, and if you are not Chinese, you pay list.  The Bryston dealer is a small shop with irregular hours and pushing very expensive AFA cables.  When I indicated I just wanted to buy a 4BSST2 and a BP26/MM, there was a palpable sense of disappointment. 

Without any choice in dealer, I held my nose and placed a deposit, then waited 6 weeks for delivery. 

In the mean time, I had also decided to make this a complete audio system by adding the ability to play my record collection which had been languishing for years.  Again, with limited choice below the pain threshold, I picked a Pro-Ject turntable and Ortofon cartridge.

I have an old Sony X7-ESD CD transport which continues to function, and with all the CD's ripped to FLAC, not something that needed replacing.

Finally, it was time to look at the speakers.  I have had a cherished pair of Celestion Ditton 66 BBC studio monitors since landing my first "real" job back in 1978.  They have traveled all over the world with me, but sadly, when I connected them to the new kit, it was obvious that they were no longer capable.  If I was living in the UK or the US, there are people who re-build them, but in Singapore, no chance.

And so the last piece of the puzzle was to head back to the Adelphi and audition speakers.  I had done the usual reading and research, and had narrowed the list down to a handful.  The choice was actually not that hard.  The minute I heard the KEF Reference 205/2 I was entranced. 

Another deposit, another very frustrating 6 week wait, and I am happy to say the combination of the Bryston amp/pre-amp with the KEF's and Transporter is magical. 

It is said that any change is good, but in this case, it is a revolution.  I have been logging hours of music listening, wandering my way through the collection.  The tyranny of a single CD or LP is gone, with the freedom to jump from piece to piece as inspiration.

I am using a Logitech Duet remote as the control interface while sitting in the living room.  Everything runs over wireless Ethernet, so one is not limited to a single location. 

If there is one thing I would like to add however, it is a touchscreen interface.  Still working on that one.

[James Tanner]

Great info here whanafi - thanks

james

[yyz]

Thanks for the write up. I did the digital file route similarly to you in 2007. However, I used ExactAudioCopy. I was wondering if you were happy with the dbPoweramp FLAC conversions.
 
I am not overly enamored with the results I obtained with ExactAudioCopy. I have noticeable ticks representing the space between music tracks. This is only on a few discs but they do annoy me. I did not do a good job getting all the tag and pictures from my CD's into the FLAC's so my Web client interface is not as pretty as it could be. The sound quality is very good but I have the impression my modified SACD/CD player is still a little better.  I still kind of like holding and opening up a disk and putting it into the SACD player. I tend to pay more attention to the music that way.

Would you mind giving your impressions of the dbPoweramp experience?
1)   How do you FLACs sound compared to your disk player?
2)    Do you have any of the aforementioned ticks between some songs?
3)   How about your tags, was it a painless process to get all the tags and images automagically with dbPoweamp?
4)    Did you use ReplayGain? I was never really sure if I wanted to use this because I wanted the ExactAudioCopy of my music. I believe I defaulted to using it.

Anyways, I am considering redoing my FLAC collection to fix some of these problems. dbPoweramp seems like the way to go nowadays.

Thanks in advance.

[whanafi]

Hi YYZ,

Even though I make my living by running technology for a global business, the amount of fiddling to use EAC properly intimidated the hell out of me.  The write up of dbPoweramp and philosophy behind the software led me to give it a chance, and the resulting quality won me over.  It is simple to use, and the comparison of your rip to the database of other rips provides a high level of confidence that you have recovered the data as it was meant to be.

I had a few false starts until I figured out the naming convention that would work for me, and it soon became clear that while there was automatic look up for titles, it was worth editing things to my own preferences.  That meant a hands on approach and no more than 20-40 CD's a night.

I ripped to individual songs, so no clicks.  I am not using .cue sheets, just ripping to individual files, numbered in order so that I can listen to the original album order if I want.   I find that I occasionally have to dip into a proper tagging program (I use MediaMonkey) in order to fix tags that I missed or changed my mind about.  I use a system of Artist | Album | Track.

For cover art, I use the default of folder.jpg which is picked up by most server software.  I get images from dbPoweramp which is using AMG, and fill in missing pieces by downloading from Amazon.

Since I have so much work invested in this, I am pretty paranoid about backups.  I rip on my main WIndows 7 64bit machine and keep the first copy of the files there.  There is an automated job which runs every night to copy changes to my NAS (Netgear ReadyNAS NV 4 TB), then another job which moves the changes to the Vortexbox server.  Squeezbox Server automatically re-indexes every night.  When I know I am going to be travelling, there is another job which copies the changes to a portable 640GB Seagate FreeAgent To Go which I carry in my briefcase.

Reading this makes it sound more complicated that it is.  Basically I am just making a bunch of copies of the master data so that if something happens, I have a fighting chance of holding on to my library.  And yes, I am paranoid.

The portable disk is not only an "offsite" copy, but also allows me to have my music with me when I travel, which is a lot.  If I just want to listen to a few songs, I use MediaMonkey, but if I want the same setup as home, I run Squeezebox Server on my laptop, and point it to the Seagate.  Hotels these days are often installing sound systems in rooms, and I am able to plug my laptop into their speakers.  Takes the edge off of being away from home.

Hope this helps.
Waleed.

[yyz]

Hi Waleed,

You are doing exactly what I am also doing except my rips were with EAC. I even made it a little more complcated by introducing Virtual Machines, laptops, and 640GB Seagate FreeAgent.

I will give the dbPoweramp a shot in the future. My CD's are in storage at my buddies garage in Northern California for 2 more years.

BTW - I did some basic level Boulder mods on my SqueezeBox Classic and that improved the sound quality. Boulder is represented in AudioCircle under Manufacturers (above Bryston listing).  I also use the original BenchMark DAC1 though Bryston's BDA-1 is another very good option.

Manoj

[whanafi]

BTW - I did some basic level Boulder mods on my SqueezeBox Classic and that improved the sound quality. Boulder is represented in AudioCircle under Manufacturers (above Bryston listing).  I also use the original BenchMark DAC1 though Bryston's BDA-1 is another very good option.

Have been reading about all the mods and tweaks - if I was in the US, would probably give it a go.  I am really happy with the way things are working now, so less inclined to keep pushing the envelope.

One thing I don't understand is the idea that anyone would want to do the D/A conversion process on a PC - one of the noisiest electrical environments known.  I much prefer to have the PC as an organizer and vault, with the network providing isolation and convenience to bring the data where it is needed.

I was worried that wireless would be a problem, but with 802.11g and higher, I just haven't seen any problems.  I have 3 Squeezebox's and a Boom in addition to the Transporter, and the Duet for control.  It is just so great to have access to music (and international radio for that matter) where ever you want.

Have been looking at the Bryston DAC - was just surprised to see a serial port for updating firmware - can't remember the last time I had a PC with a serial port.  The dealer here is not willing to do loans, so it is a major leap of faith that the money would be better spent on the BDA-1 than more content.

Cheers,
Waleed.

[ricko01]

Have been looking at the Bryston DAC - was just surprised to see a serial port for updating firmware - can't remember the last time I had a PC with a serial port.  The dealer here is not willing to do loans, so it is a major leap of faith that the money would be better spent on the BDA-1 than more content.

I think that if you have more than one digital source (I ultimately have 5 plugged into my BDA-1 including a Transporter), then the BDA-1 makes sense.


I found that running my Tranporter via AES/BSU into the BDA-1 improved the sounds significantly enough to warrant the purchase of the BDA-1


Also as I am not into album art etc, I use CD-EX for ripping my CD'S to WAV. CD-EX is better than EAC (in terms of quality) h but I will also check out dbPoweramp.

Peter

[whanafi]

I think that if you have more than one digital source (I ultimately have 5 plugged into my BDA-1 including a Transporter), then the BDA-1 makes sense.


I found that running my Tranporter via AES/BSU into the BDA-1 improved the sounds significantly enough to warrant the purchase of the BDA-1


Peter

Hi Peter,

Doesn't that make the Transporter overkill if you are not using the DAC?  I would have thought a Squeezebox would be sufficient as a streamer. 

Have to admit though, the Transporter looks great, and the dual displays are great eye candy.  The remote is also much better than the one shipped with the Squeezebox.  I don't have wired Ethernet access in the living room, and I find the Transporter does a better job with pulling in the wireless signal with its two external antennas (89% vs 65% on the SB3)

Waleed.

[whanafi]

Great info here whanafi - thanks

james

Hi James,

Thanks for comment.  My connection to Bryston goes way back to the early 80's - was a Trade Commissioner for Canada posted in Hong Kong, and kept raving about my 4B to the dealers there. 

Was also the first time I had experienced truly mega-buck installations.  There are a lot of folks with serious money in HK. 

Had an acquaintance who had fitted out a second apartment as his sound room, and he would invite friends over to listen to albums and the newly launched CD's that were coming out.  We all of course agreed that vinyl sounded better....

Cheers,
Waleed.

[ricko01]

Doesn't that make the Transporter overkill if you are not using the DAC?  I would have thought a Squeezebox would be sufficient as a streamer. 
Waleed.

In my view, the internal circuitry components/layout are designed for producing the best possible audio experience. With the additional "real estate" in the Transporter chassis, more care can be taken with routing/isolation/damping etc.

The Transporter supports both BNC and ASE/BSU output which are superior interfaces (I use ASE/BSU) , it allows for a word clock in (not that I use that) plus others features that the squeezebox doesnt have.

It is therefore designed to provide the best outcome for media streaming.

Also as I dont have any computers in my listening room (its a dedicated room) and dont need/want to view album art on some tiny colour screen, the large front text screen of the Transporter is all I need for browsing my collection.

Peter

[vegasdave]

Great system, Waleed!