New linn majik and fun at UHES
Posted by: Hamish Gill on 01 April 2009
I feel it necessary to share my day with all you forum types
i travelled this morning to stroud where i was met off the train by norman in his posh car who drove me up to honeysuckle lodge; the base of Ultimate home entertainment solutions (www.uhes.co.uk)
we get there and are greeted by ian who had just finnished tinkering with my long defunked roksan original xerxes that i bought a year ago but have never managed to get working properly. i dont know what he did or how he did it but i spent a long time with that thing never got any use out of it and eventually run it so far into crap the motor fell off. Suffice to say it was working perfectly, and bloody hell does it sound good!
we had a listen to a few high res tracks on the linn klimax through some very large adam speakers.... impressive!!
i would have liked to have listened to some naim kit there (i have naim amplification) but it seems in the run up to april the first they have sold it all. These guys are busy busy busy busy, but despite that they spent the whole day with me disscusing the ins and outs of various linn ds kit and how it all works as well as making me lunch and some very nice coffee (i dont think they use kenko!!).
we loaded a car with my record player and a linn majik ds and at about 3 o'clock they drove me back home, briedfly stoping at another cutomers house to drop off a black klimax. nice chap named richard who promised me i could have some of hi-res fleetwood mac (shall be emailing him pretty soon i should think).
got home about 5, ian got out his tools, took my hifi to bits and rebuilt it setting up my record player and linn majik for demo in the proccess. now this guy is a perfectionist to the point of boardline neurosis. he spent about half hour just getting my rack level, and when i say level i mean level! you could sit a perfect ball baring on the top of this thing and it would not roll off! he then did a whole load of other stuff that goes above my head with cat 5 cable under carpets and linn guis and twonkys and hey presto my hifi sounds like it never has before!
we had one minor issue with the linn gui not showing the mouse pointer but by that time when ian couldnt remember the command line that needed changeing off the top of his head it was late and i told them they should get home and that i would find out how to do it off the linn forum (thanks davidd)
i transfered some money into thier bank account and they left.
i am now sat in my lounge wondering how i ever put up with my naim cd5 listening to my flacs controling my ds with my laptop i dont even have to get off the sofa to change the music.
what a day! if anyone hasnt had the uhes experience i urge you all to try it these guy literally live a breath this kit and they could be more of a pleasnat pair of people to spend a day with!!
you would think they paid me to say all this eh? they are way to good a pair to be that underhanded
cheers guys i look forward to seeing you again soon!!!
Posted on: 01 April 2009 by Adam Meredith
quote:
Originally posted by Hamish Gill:
... nice chap named richard who promised me i could have some of hi-res fleetwood mac (shall be emailing him pretty soon i should think).
Is he a music retailer? Or in Fleetwood Mac?
Posted on: 01 April 2009 by Hamish Gill
i dont know what he does, he is going to loan me it, im new to this computer audio lark i guess if i like it i have to buy it before i can own it legit right?
Posted on: 01 April 2009 by Adam Meredith
There has been a lot of expectation/demand that record companies release their catalogue in HiRes.
If everyone 'borrows' it then I fail to see the incentive for them to do this and we will be stuck with MP3 downloads. CD may yet come to look like a pinnacle of fidelity.
By the way - how exactly would you have borrowed these?
Posted on: 01 April 2009 by BigH47
quote:
you would think they paid me to say all this eh? they are way to good a pair to be that underhanded
But in fact you paid them so that you could say it, even more underhanded I think?
Worth their weight good dealers I reckon.
Posted on: 01 April 2009 by Guido Fawkes
quote:
who promised me i could have some of hi-res fleetwood mac
Hope it is some Peter Green material from
Pious Bird of Good Omen and not that dreary
Rumours elpee - I'm sure it'll be Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac though and you'll thoroughly enjoy it.
Yes Norman and Ian are excellent hosts.
ATB Rotf
Posted on: 01 April 2009 by Hamish Gill
i dont know, he played something, i said i liked it he said he would lend it me! i am not interested in commiting piracy and would always make sure to buy anything i borrow if i like it.
i used to do the same with tapes and mini disks a mate makes a copy of something, if i liked it i would by the cd, if not i would record over it. i doubt im the only person who as ever done that. tape and minidisk recorders were very popular in there day im sure you would agree!!
i am also not interested in doing anything that delays the release of hires music.
perhaps i got the wrong end of the stick, i am a touch out of my leage as far as the technical side of these things goes but i doubt any of the people involved in today are against the progression of high quality music release
i am always putting my foot in my mouth when i come to this site, you guys are hard to please!
i was just really trying to tell people about my day's experience
Posted on: 01 April 2009 by Hamish Gill
i like roumours
Posted on: 01 April 2009 by Adam Meredith
quote:
Originally posted by Hamish Gill:
i was just really trying to tell people about my day's experience
And you succeeded entirely (even without capitals).
The reason I remarked here was the mention of HiRes files being loaned - it just ups the ante on a subject discussed elsewhere.
Posted on: 01 April 2009 by BigH47
quote:
Hope it is some Peter Green material from Pious Bird of Good Omen and not that dreary Rumours elpee - I'm sure it'll be Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac though and you'll thoroughly enjoy it.
Broken record time again!
Posted on: 01 April 2009 by 555
quote:
i guess if i like it i have to buy it before i can own it legit right?
Good guess Hamish!
Posted on: 01 April 2009 by joe90
Preferable to Fleetwood Mac at any resolution...
Posted on: 02 April 2009 by Officer DBL
quote:
Hope it is some Peter Green material from Pious Bird of Good Omen and not that dreary Rumours elpee
And it is wondered why us people with a taste for dreary music avoid posting in the music room
Posted on: 02 April 2009 by BigH47
Posted on: 02 April 2009 by Hamish Gill
quote:
quote:
Originally posted by Hamish Gill:
i was just really trying to tell people about my day's experience
And you succeeded entirely (even without capitals).
The reason I remarked here was the mention of HiRes files being loaned - it just ups the ante on a subject discussed elsewhere.
your worried about my lack of capitals... have you not noticed my spelling and grammer limitations. i like to think its dyslec(... i cant even bother to try and spell that) but im more inclined to think its just stupidity/profound lazyness
Posted on: 02 April 2009 by Guido Fawkes
quote:
Originally posted by BigH47:
Just ignore ROTF he is a grouch over a couple of good artists, he likes many fine artists and praises some very dubious ones.
Actually that sounds like most of us.
Except me, of course
Posted on: 02 April 2009 by Hamish Gill
quote:
Posted Thu 02 April 2009 01:00 Hide Post
quote:
i guess if i like it i have to buy it before i can own it legit right?
Good guess Hamish! Roll Eyes
if i own a cd that contains a track and then someone gives me a copy of that same track in a different format what happens then??
am i right in thinking that it would have to be a copy of the exact same cd as i have?
this is where it gets confusing to me! i have paid for the right to listen to a peice of music so do i need to pay for the right to listen to it in x amount of different formats?
i know the reply is that it will limit the release of hires music blah blah, i get that bit but what if someone gave me a copy of remastered cd when i have the original, is that alowed?
Posted on: 02 April 2009 by Hamish Gill
no, actually its fine, i do understand now i think about it
release a track, sell it, make money
release it again remasterd, sell it make money
release it again hires, sell it make money
and we have to keep buying it to get them to make it better quality
Posted on: 02 April 2009 by HBerg
Sounds like the way Classic earn their money:
First 180 gram, then 200 gram, then 45 rpm etc etc. All of the same piece of music.........
I'm lucky, can't play 45 rpm with Armageddon and save a lot of cash
Posted on: 02 April 2009 by Gary S.
Hamish
We too have experienced the UHES service and I can not recommend them highly enough. I know that on the whole Naim dealers are a particularly helpful bunch but UHES are a breed apart and nothing is too much trouble. We live in the depths of Somerset, over an hour and a half away, yet we have had Norman and Ian leave us at gone midnight on a number of occasions, having spent all afternoon and evening setting up our kit.
When we bought our Accurate DS, Norman & Ian came down and set it up, a process which extended not only to the DS, but they also installed and set up our NAS drive, the media tablet, the router & switch etc, installed all the software, obtained the licences for the ripping software & Twonky etc and then sat with us whilst we ripped our fist 5 or 6 CD. They didn't leave until they were sure we understood everything, consequently it works perfectly and we have never had a problem with it.
What do you reckon to the Majik?
Gary
Posted on: 02 April 2009 by Hamish Gill
its fantasitic, it sounds so much better than the cd5, all the quibbles i had with the sound of my sytem have gone. i now feel comfortable sat down listeing to it without any even minor issues with the sound (so far at least)
and do you know what the best thing is, it works!
the majik works the twonky works the linn gui works and even the kinsky remote thing for my pda works!
no more scratched cds not playing, no more getting off the sofa i can just sit back here and enjoy the music
it really is fantasitic
hows your accurate, i am assuming you have had it longer than a day. have you gained any added knowlege on the running of these things that might be of use to me or has it been completely flawless so far?
Posted on: 02 April 2009 by Gary S.
Hamish
Yes we've had ours since about September.
No real issues. We did have a few weeks when out router was playing up and we kept losing Twonky which was a bit of a pain, since we had to shut down and re-boot the NAS to get it back, but this was cured with a new router. Other than that it's been great.
Initially I found my listening habits changed - I kept making play lists and found I was not listening to whole albums, but I've drifted back to old habits and tend to just listen to a whole album as before. I do however find I rarely play vinyl these days, just because it's so much easier to use the DS.
Ripping has been considerably ealier than I expected, I assume you're using DBPoweramp? I have tried EAC with various setting recomended on here and there are very very slight improvements to be had, but it's so much easier to use the DBP.
Since getting the Accurate we have also put a Sonos system in the kitchen which has been fun. Once you've got the NAS and the network all set up, it makes sense to use it for other things. Even the kids love this and it certainly helps when it come to persuading them to help with the washing up!
Gary
Posted on: 03 April 2009 by Hamish Gill
i dont yet have a nas im just useing the pc in the office upstairs and because of the distance i dont even yet have my router cat5 wired into the pc. it is currently working fine wirelessly but i have to be honest i am expecting to have some issue with this set up at some point, it cant go as well as it has so far for ever
i havent even bothered with making playlists yet im just putting on tracks at random to see how they sound compared to the previous set up.
i have had an ipod for a few months now, it was part of the build up to this, i even had flac playing on it for a while but it made no odds through my rubbish earphones and the battery lasted about an hour. i havent bothered with playlists on that either i have just listened to the first thing that takes my fancy in the list. so i guess that will transfer to this when the novelty weres off.
its a nicer procces i think, i find my self listening to a wider veriety of music. when its at the tips of your fingertips, on a screen, its all there for selection. i always find with cds i decide what i want to listen to then scope the cd rack and just put it on. or even just press play on the player and make do with whats in it from last time.
this kit is great for the lazy
i still do the odd day in a shop i worked in before i went self employed, when i went in yesterday i was babbleing about the majik and the other guy who was there said "ooh it sound like a posh version of this sonos stuff we are getting in". i do some of there installs for them so it looks like i will be installing that stuff for people soon. sounds like it will be more of a temptation for me. no doubt by the end of the year i will have music in the bedroom, bathroom, spare room, kitchen, cupboard uder the stairs, loft, garden shed .........
have you gone back to dbp then for simplicity or would you say this eac is worth the inverstigation?
Posted on: 03 April 2009 by Gary S.
quote:
Originally posted by Hamish Gill:
it cant go as well as it has so far for ever
I don't see why not, just keep asking Ian's advice and he'll steer you in the right direction.
Incidentally, I've also wired a network point to the TV and have a Neatgear Digital Entertainer which streams all our DVDs which we have also ripped to the NAS. Also I put a network point into my son's bedroom and he was initially able to stream DVDs through hix Xbox, but this has stopped working for some reason and I've not yet worked out why? The possibilities are endless.
quote:
have you gone back to dbp then for simplicity or would you say this eac is worth the inverstigation?
I've never gone away from dbp, it's just so easy to use. I did briefly dabble with EAC, but compared to dbp it's such a pain to use, albiet I did find it very very marginally better. The difference however is not in my opinion sufficient to justify the hastle.
Gary
Posted on: 03 April 2009 by Hamish Gill
my next step, once i have a nas installed, is to get the video streaming up and running. me and hannah are looking to buy a house later this year (i think we miht be the only people in the uk...) so when we have done that im going to get ian to help me get a hardwired network around the whole house, its not so easy in rented acomodation.
i cant wait, once i can drill big holes in walls and pull up floor boards etc im going to have a field day!!
i would guess the xbos doesnt work because it is a xbox. i know very little about these things but from what i understand they have a series of warning lights that go red when stuff goes wrong, the more red lights the more broken. what kind of system has that built into it?!?!? i stick away from consols, i always feel they promise so much but invarably never deliver!
goodluck with it anyway, it sounds like you are ahead of the game with this all-home entertainment system. let me know if you get anything else along these lines up and running i find it all very interesting, especially when people manage to get it all working together!
Posted on: 03 April 2009 by Gary S.
Hamish
Good luck with the house later in the year - exiting times!
The Xbox worked fine for a while with the streaming, but then it stopped working and to be honest I haven't the inclination to deal with it at the moment.
Gary
