Varnish connoisseurs

[geotrig]

could be tough as he'll be pushing the bike along as well

[Pete]

Further reading suggests the Marantz NA7004 does not have gap less audio unless a new firmware came since the forum post I read ?

The older logitech squeeze box is meant to though.

[markedkiller78]

I'm reading the same thing. Apparantly it does gapless with apple airplay (useless), but not FLAC / streaming. They seem to say that the 2012 model marantz AV amps do it, so hopefully of an update.

The N50 does it as does the squeezebox. By the sounds of it the squeezebox is the cheapest and "best" option

[markedkiller78]

What's a good price for a pair of A6's Pang?

These are local to me: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 424wt_1399"

[SuperPang]

You can get them new for £1500. Saw some used ones go for £1100 before that price cut so I wouldn't pay more than that for ED.

[markedkiller78]

I can't see him moving that much. Where did they go for £1100?

[SuperPang]

Cyrus forum.
Here's those £980 ones I mentioned. I should've shared, sorry. I thought I might have them myself. Give the dealer a call, they might have more.
£1499 new from fanthorpes.co.uk

Used prices are only going to go down when the A6R launches.

[Pete]

Gapless playback is better left to pc's so it seams unless your moneybags

[markedkiller78]

I've decide to use my little htpc. Its been sitting doing nothing for months. Its also black and aluminium so won't look too out of place.

[Pete]

For the kind of money it costs I could have a dedicated lappy next to my HiFi

[markedkiller78]

Tell me about it. As I mentioned earlier I don't see how the quality could be degraded if its pumping out 24/96 via optical. The receiver / DAC does the digital to analogue decoding.

Do you have a cdp-2 Pete?

[Pete]

CDP but I use the 3 optical inputs (laptop, 360 & media box) more than the CD player & use the crossfading gapless function in WMP.

Oh btw for the record I took my 99 Stereo amp to get serviced by Quad years ago in Cambridge & the engineers there told me that fancy interconnects were a marketing scam

[markedkiller78]

There is so much speculative nonsense on the net when it comes to HiFi. I think the audiophails (thanks TGH ) have had it too easy for too long. As everything was anolouge, its mainly opinion and taste, so no one is wrong, but digital

Assuming the hardware is capable, can anyone think of a reason why 1 digital signal, containing a digital file (say 20mb of music at 24/96) would be different coming from another source?

Is this another speaker cable myth? Last lol-worthy thread I read was talking about speaker cable elevation

[Pete]

Its nice in the Quad CDP that you have 6x digital inputs, 3x optical & 3x coaxial.

I use a £10 Cambridge audio stereo phono lead that I bought from Richer sounds over 10 years ago & QED Micro bi-wire cable for my B&W DM 602 S2's & its sounds good to me

Stands:

Atacama Equinox 2 Shelf HiFi Stand & Atacama SL500 Speaker Stands.

Can a stand really make a difference ?

http://www.whathifi.com/review/atacama-equinox"

[markedkiller78]

PSU I get. Any deviation / power spikes could potentially cause interference or noise. I don't get the pricing though. I'm guessing its low volume and that's the force driving the price up?

There's a distinct signature to valves and vinyl, so I can see the attraction. I am 100% not buying vinyl. It looks like a massive black hole for cash.

How much difference does all this stuff make?

[Pyongyang]

Any of you lads (and kerns) know anything about Thorens or Ariston turntables?

Looking at buying a 160 or an AD70 (I think that model is right).

[markedkiller78]

I just text my mate saying enlightenment is a dangerous thing and asking how you could ever go back?

I'm scared that's what valves & Vinyl are going to be like, so plan on steering well clear. I already subscribe to quality > quantity, so I'm not a massive MP3 collection whore, so I know I'm susceptible.

I had this discussion with Paulie & Jamescloud at Ralphs the other week. The pair of them are pro analogue, but here's my issue with anything made or re-mastered in the last 10-15 years. Artist at the beginning, album at the end.

Analogue instruments > analogue recording device > Massive Digital processor > Digital master.

Once it's recorded digitally & mastered, that's as close to the original (other than being in the room at the time of recording) as you will ever get. And that's going to be a digital Master. Anything that happens after that, from vinyl will have picked up imperfections, or what people call "character" from an external source.

What I'm getting at, is a lot of the time, even using vinyl & valves, when you are using something, including re-released vinyl, from the last 15 years, it will have come from a digital source further back in the chain & is no longer "original". Anything you add to it is down to personal taste. At that point, we are back to the audiophile debates about unperceivable differences that are 100% down to personal taste or willy waving.

Sorry for the rant, but I'm reading so much bull **** on this subject attempting to research things on the internet.

[cools]

Depends on the artist, there are plenty that continue to have stuff mastered in analogue.

Valves do colour the sound a lot, it's a matter of finding something you like

[geotrig]

think i want one /me starts counting the money ...i prefer the master reference one

[SuperPang]