life after cd ?

gentlejax

Super Member
I was thinking about getting a better cd player although the one I have is one of the better older pannasonics...then I realized most of what I own on cd is getting a bit old and may not be worth using...

its just easier to pandora...

so what do I need to stream music into my adcom preamp so it can pass it on to my amplifier ?

I am suddenly out of the know...I never thought I would be replacing cds but I only have a few I even listen too..
 
I was thinking about getting a better cd player although the one I have is one of the better older pannasonics...then I realized most of what I own on cd is getting a bit old and may not be worth using...

its just easier to pandora...

so what do I need to stream music into my adcom preamp so it can pass it on to my amplifier ?

I am suddenly out of the know...I never thought I would be replacing cds but I only have a few I even listen too..
You could try one of those streaming devices or connect your preamp to a computer, that might work.:dunno: No need to listen to any 'old' music or anything on any obsolete media formats. What would be the point in that?
 
My solution is not exactly ideal but works pretty well for me. I use a laptop > audioquest dragonfly > really long 1/8 to RCA cable > adcom preamp.
 
I was really late to streaming music. Have a seven year old laptop that would not run Win 10. Went back to Win 7. After some trials of router setting changes, able to stream to Schitt Multibit then to analog Rogue Sphinx amp, with few dropouts. Dropouts can be the negative of streaming. Diagnosing why and solving issues. Listen to internet radio stations. There are many to choose from. Mine are mostly jazz and blues. Some stream at 320 kbps, which sounds very good. I like the better live DJ'd radio shows.
 
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I use an Apple Airport Express, connected into my amp using 3.5mm jack to twin RCA cable. I send an Airplay-encoded stream to it over wifi using a little program called Air Foil on my Windows 10 computer. Works great, sounds great - the DAC in the Airport Express is pretty good :)
 
I can right now hook up the iphone to the aux of the adcom preamp and listen like that but I know the sound is not the best like that. I am not getting the most out of my B&K 442 like that. but I am not about to go buy cds to run my cd player

I have an old laptop I dont know if it will work as it was an XP and now its W10 but not sure it functions completely. I guess I would have to see.

I dont want to drag my other laptop back and forth from work.


I have a android streaming device already also. guess I need to see if it has the correct outputs.
 
I can right now hook up the iphone to the aux of the adcom preamp and listen like that but I know the sound is not the best like that. I am not getting the most out of my B&K 442 like that. but I am not about to go buy cds to run my cd player

I have an old laptop I dont know if it will work as it was an XP and now its W10 but not sure it functions completely. I guess I would have to see.

I dont want to drag my other laptop back and forth from work.


I have a android streaming device already also. guess I need to see if it has the correct outputs.

In that case, I would go with an airplay stream from IPhone to Airport Express. I've tried it, it sounds great. Your other option would be an IPhone dock which supports digital out from the phone. This is assuming, of course, that the DAC in your phone is crummy (it might not be) and your source is hi res (is it ?)
 
I am in the process of ridding myself of almost all of my CDs. I am ripping them to a dedicated server, 2 Ipod classics and a new laptop. I will keep a precious few CDs.

I don't do streaming currently, but plan to in the near future. Need to study up on what would best fit my needs.

.
 
In that case, I would go with an airplay stream from IPhone to Airport Express. I've tried it, it sounds great. Your other option would be an IPhone dock which supports digital out from the phone. This is assuming, of course, that the DAC in your phone is crummy (it might not be) and your source is hi res (is it ?)
+1 on this recommendation, I recently lucked into a bundle of stuff when poking around a store that sells used stuff with my kids. There was an airport express in the bundle that I brought home and use with my stereo and finally have the means to easily stream stuff from my computer (or phone if I had anything on it). It sounds great and there definitely is a convenience factor.
 
If you want to save room and keep your CDs, you can store them in these sleeves (like you would records):

CD1.PNG
CD2.PNG

This is what I've done with the CDs that I decided to keep.
 
In that case, I would go with an airplay stream from IPhone to Airport Express. I've tried it, it sounds great. Your other option would be an IPhone dock which supports digital out from the phone. This is assuming, of course, that the DAC in your phone is crummy (it might not be) and your source is hi res (is it ?)

Docks tie up your device, plus unless its right next to you then you have to get up to control them. Thats not the point of streaming!

I was never able to get Apple Airport express to consistently stream without dropouts. And I tried a lot of stuff over many years. It has basically no buffer so any interruption will result in a dropout.

Anyway for Pandora or Spotify etc. you really don't want to stream - you want to cast. Streaming bogs down your network because the data has to go back and forth a bunch, and it ties up your source device to at least some extent. Casting means the device that is outputting the audio has an app or some kind of native support for what you want to do.

I'm currently using a wifi enabled Yamaha multichannel receiver and it works great. For an add-on box Apple TV may give you what you want. It would be a better option than Airport express, IMO. Or there are also lots of other things out there that would work.
 
Right now I'm using a Microsoft Surface Pro3 connected to a usb - Soundblaster 2 channel with optical output feeding my Entech DAC going into my Pioneer AUX input.

This has been the best solution. No fan noise on the Surface Pro. I did the free Windows update to version 10.

I have my music on a large usb stick.
 
I was thinking about getting a better cd player although the one I have is one of the better older pannasonics...then I realized most of what I own on cd is getting a bit old and may not be worth using...

its just easier to pandora...

so what do I need to stream music into my adcom preamp so it can pass it on to my amplifier ?

I am suddenly out of the know...I never thought I would be replacing cds but I only have a few I even listen too..


I have CD's that are 30 years old, they play just fine. They'll likely outlive everyone currently a member at AK.

I like that physical media in my grubby hands .

I keep the physical media too, even if it is a bother.

Mark Gosdin


Make that one more person who isn't letting go of physical media.
 
I am in the process of ridding myself of almost all of my CDs. I am ripping them to a dedicated server, 2 Ipod classics and a new laptop. I will keep a precious few CDs.

I don't do streaming currently, but plan to in the near future. Need to study up on what would best fit my needs.

.

Will you be scouring the thrift stores to re-buy them in 20 years? ;-)
 
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