Looking to go digital

[sven1olaf]

I have been enjoying https://www.mofi.com/

They have high quality products, but the selection is pretty slim. Especially for disc based formats.

Where do you guys get your high quality files from? Can you get sacd quality audio in a pure digital format?

So you fill up a hard drive but now you have to serve it. The server I know the least about, the recieve side I'm more familiar with, but how it all comes together is outside my wheelhouse. Are there any recommended walkthroughs or explanations? I'm pretty good with computers, just never setup a server before.

Thanks

 

[lovinthehd]

You can still buy SACDs, I buy them only for multich, for 2ch I'd just get CDs unless it's a superior master on the SACD. You can download the DSD files from a couple places, tho (like NativeDSD). Just not a big format these days. Bluray music discs are often provided with both lossless multi-ch tracks as well as hi-res 2ch.

AIX Records has some high quality recordings on disc as well as by download. HDTracks is another for hi-res downloads. Qobuz is starting a US service of both streaming and selling cd/hi-res downloads.

Nothing wrong with CDs as long as they are well mastered....can you tell the difference between formats like a CD vs SACD vs 24/96 download etc? Most of my library are my CDs I've ripped using EAC (exactaudiocopy.de).

I'm not on top of all the ways you can use/store digital files, I stream mine from a laptop over my network using Foobar2000 for organizing as well as a library or renderer. I also put them on thumb drives for insertion into various avrs/optical disc players. Lots of possibilities.

You might want to provide a budget....and be sure to keep backups in mind, I have backups on two external drives.

 

[2channel lover]

I have been enjoying https://www.mofi.com/

They have high quality products, but the selection is pretty slim. Especially for disc based formats.

Where do you guys get your high quality files from? Can you get sacd quality audio in a pure digital format?

So you fill up a hard drive but now you have to serve it. The server I know the least about, the recieve side I'm more familiar with, but how it all comes together is outside my wheelhouse. Are there any recommended walkthroughs or explanations? I'm pretty good with computers, just never setup a server before.

Thanks

Good advice from post #2.

I'm looking to upgrade my digital music file management. I have a 5TB external drive connected to my laptop and I'm managing these files with JRiver v23.

Hi res files...I have about 130+ titles now and growing. Most are multi-ch but some are 2 ch and I have them in a special folder within JRiver.

I've bought several from Mofi (one of the best), Acoustic Sounds has a fairly large selection when you include the downloads available. HDTracks is another one, all told, there are about half a dz places right now to buy the larger files or discs....Amazon CAN sneak up on you with good pricing sometimes.

The downside of my digital library...it's not the most stable platform and I've experienced drops due to wifi, due to file size being too large, etc. so I've started looking at a streamer...the Roon Streamer was one thought, but after reading thru all the details I think the Salk Streamer is the direction I'm going and I may use the Roon file manger service in lieu of JRiver…haven't sorted that part out yet.

 

[Bucknekked]

I have been enjoying https://www.mofi.com/

They have high quality products, but the selection is pretty slim. Especially for disc based formats.

Where do you guys get your high quality files from? Can you get sacd quality audio in a pure digital format?

So you fill up a hard drive but now you have to serve it. The server I know the least about, the recieve side I'm more familiar with, but how it all comes together is outside my wheelhouse. Are there any recommended walkthroughs or explanations? I'm pretty good with computers, just never setup a server before.

Thanks

I've been playing music from files for a long time. Probably 8 or 9 years now. Over that time my approach and system has changed a bit, but, not drastically. Going "pure digital" as you describe it isn't hard and if you have CD player running a digital pathway to an AVR or pre-amp, you're pretty much "pure digital" even without the files.

I have ripped CD's in to lossless and uncompressed files as my choice for source. Its the best way to get the full magilla of sound. If you buy downloads, outside of HD downloads, you'll get something less than CD quality. If you buy HD formats, well, you'll get bigger files but in my own personal experience you don't get much, if any, audible benefit. I tell people who ask about HD formats to go ahead and experiment with them. Try them out. See what you hear. If you think they sound better than a CD, keep going. If not, save a ton of money and just rip CDs.

Serving up your files involves a lot of personal choice. They will pretty much sound the same no matter what you choose as a delivery system, but, the personal choices can make you smile more or grimace more depending on what you chose. Mostly, at a hardware level, you need a computer to start. Call it what you will, something with hardware connectivity and a bit of intelligence. I use a Mac Mini. WIndows machines are fine. Laptops work. Dedicated music servers work. Pretty much if it has either an HDMI or USB out, you are good. I am currently migrating to a NAS device. A NAS device is network storage with a computer built in. Call it what you want, it starts there.

Connect to your audio system via HDMI would be my number one choice. Followed a distant 2nd with USB or fibre. HDMI is simple. Clean. All digital. Stable. Works. It has its problems and detractors, but, as a connection method, its pretty tough to beat.

After that, you can make music and most of the rest of the choices are window dressing. Ask lots of questions. Examine the answers and experiment. Try different setups. Try different players. Once you've experimented a bit you can choose something that makes you happy. That's the whole point !