My New Replay Set.

George!!! What a mess buddy!

Glad you are enjoying your method of replay.

No chance that a Headline and NAPSC would be exactly what you need? If not, I fear we will lose you my friend!

Take care,
patrick

Everything about George is radical. He tries to talk like an old man, but when the chips are down, he's more like Captain Picard on the Starship Enterprise :-)

Congrats on your new system.

Stay in touch.

Keeping it simple is very good practice with HiFi.
Thanks for an interesting post, as always George.

I don't know what Patrick is on about.
It looks just like any place I have ever been responsible for keeping tidy.

Hey Patrick!

That mess is either the last three days of iTunes ripping, or the remnants of my supper from this evening!

I spoke to someone else after that picture appeared and they suggested that I should have posed it a bit.

Not my style really!

ATB from George

PS: I promise to keep discussing music in here and a little madness in the Rubber Room, but I think a vow of replay comment celibacy might be in order!

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
it is a musical upgrade in every sense from any conventional CD player running through loudspeakers, that I have ever been able to afford.

If I spent loads more on it, then no doubt it could be even finer, but it does not need to be.

Yeah I traveled the same road after I sold off a high-end pre-amp and CD player a couple of years ago to pay course fees. I bought a Creative soundcard just for the hell of it really and compared it with the CD player, and even though it was only an entry level card it outshone the CD player in most respects. Then when I realised that digital attenuation had finally been sorted out it got me wondering just what the hell I needed a preamp for - so I tried the coundcard direct into the power amps, and damn me, it was a very significant upgrade! So that went too!

Then I upgraded the soundcard and bought some Sennheiser 595s, and found the hi-fi was getting less and less use. The power amps went earlier this year, and I sold the Senns too. I now listen to AKG 701s with an Asus Essence STX. I don't think I'll go back to hi-fi any time soon.

I keep thinking I'll add a better PSU, but as you say, it doesn't really need to be better - indeed it's pretty chuff' remarkable as it is!

Dear George,

I'm saddened that the man of whom it has been suggested has the best ears on the forum, and is arguably amongst the most eloquent in describing the effects of various bits of kit on what you call 'replay' should no longer be using Naim. I think the key might be in that, to my mind, slightly old-fashioned word replay. You are a musician and your brain is able to fill in the gaps so that the hi-fi illusion appears more like real, live music.

I've read elsewhere that you're leaving the forum which I'm sorry to hear. I don't know what's gone on because I don't follow that many threads, but I would like you to know that your eulogising of your Nait5i/ SBL combo kept me in Naim world a few years ago, when I was struggling to find the some speakers that work in this room. Even now, I would love it if you had a Nait XS and whatever speakers took your fancy, be they ESL-57s, SBLs, your beloved Royds or something else that you've been keeping quiet about. But it's not to be!

We both like the Quad electrostatics (er, 57s), and although I've only heard them once, I like Stax headphones too. Do you like them? Could they be your ultimate upgrade?

Best wishes,
Chris

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
I realise that it is unconventional to post about one's replay in the Music Room, but as you may note what I am using is so distilled that it barely counts as a replay set at all, but merely a music box.

I have even made arrangements to part with my Lavry DA10, so all that is left is a computer with Windows XP [service pack three] running iTunes feeding a nice pair of Sennheiser HD 415 headphones straight off the sound-card.

So how is it possible that this can be a satisfactory method of playing music. I do not know, but in gradually ripping about an eighth or tenth of my CDs, I have realised that they have never yielded so much music as in this arrangement, whatever set I was running. It may not be the ultimate in computer audio, but it is a musical upgrade in every sense from any conventional CD player running through loudspeakers, that I have ever been able to afford.

If I spent loads more on it, then no doubt it could be even finer, but it does not need to be.

I still have the old Naim set and Royds, but can no longer see a reason to set them up again. I am curiously relaxed about the thought that I could not possibly vex anyone with my music using this arrangement!




I had just listened to the Italian Symphony of Mendelsohnn, and was also copying some Beethoven to HD, when I took this.



My CRT melted down, so this new LG 18 inch model does very nicely for good visibility of the iTunes, as well as DVDs. I do not have a Television.



Copying some Beethoven to PC HD. I cannot think that I require [or would find other than bothersome] any further assistance than a list and search engine to optimise my listening experience in the sense of selecting the very music to listen to!

Shortly I shall use a NAS with two SATA Drives in RAID configuration to increase the capacity of the system to encompass my remaining 400 or so CDs.

I hope to also get the files onto a completely portable HD so as to be useful when travelling.

ATB from George

George,


You cannot fool me, I understand why you posted this here, mods please move to HiFi corner, as the post is about a "new set", where it will be debated as it should be. This notion about a sound card/cheap Dac is better than a quality Cd player bemuses me I've heard loads of Dac's/streaming systems over the past year and not one is better than my CDX.

Right that should get the ball rolling.



Dean...

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
Shortly I shall use a NAS with two SATA Drives in RAID configuration to increase the capacity of the system to encompass my remaining 400 or so CDs.

RAID is really for increasing speed not capacity. Best bet is to buy an ordinary high capacity SATA, and unless you're running high performance Windows apps, you should go for quiet and efficiency drives for music replay. Samsung's Ecogreen or Spinpoint F1s fit the bill. If you've got 400 CDs, a 500GB drive should do you fine; you'll want an external drive of the same capacity for backup, which will also do you for portability too.

Whizzkid - don't be silly.

EW

Is it sensible to call Dean silly?

IMO the most important thing is George is enjoying his music in a way that works for him.
A recent study by the WHO found no one is immune to the upgraditus pathogen.
Unless funds don't allow, &/or borrowing isn't an option.

quote:

Originally posted by Earwicker:
RAID is really for increasing speed not capacity.

Actually, the aim of RAID depends on the implementation.

RAID 0, often referred to as striping increases performance, but increases risk of failure and loss of data.

RAID 1, often referred to as mirroring, increases data security at the expense of capacity.

RAID = Redundant Array of Inexpensive Discs

John

John - thanks for setting me straight! He'd be better with a nice quiet standard SATA though wouldn't he, for playing music? Then backup to an external drive that's portable too?

555 - Umm, well I don't know! Should I be worried?!

You need to ask Dean.

Just to clear one thing up.

I don't think this means I have to leave the Forum, but as it goes I would rather stick to music and lunacy, here and in the Padded Cell, except for the lovely, if rare, occasions when I listen to someone else's Naim set!

Dean, don't worry; it is here for a reason. I am right out of energy for talking about hifi! I have been the full circle, and am more than happy as things are progressing.

I don't know about the the upgrading bug, John, but to test the hypothesis that no one is immune I would need to win the lottery. I do know that some replay does not quite cut the mustard, but this does. I would be upset to part with listening to Bach and Haydn, as the most significant among a larger number of favourite composers.

Thanks for all the comments, and ATB from George

Here's my shambles:

Good hoh!

More organised than mine at the moment, but it will recover soon!

CDs everywhere!!!

ATB from George

quote:

Originally posted by Earwicker:


Whizzkid - don't be silly.

EW

So my views are not valid in context to this new found freedom on George's part? and your agreement that a sound card is better as a quality Cd player can not be challenged? Also the reason George posted this in here is that he would get a kinder response to his "new set" than in HiFi Corner as he has had some history with his controversial views on HiFi over the past few years causing him to take a "sabbatical" so I don't think I'm being silly really and your dismissive response to my post is well just..... thats why this should be in HiFi Corner.

Also Earwicker please post your findings and journey in HiFi Corner I think many there will enjoy the story.



Dean...

Dean - Yup, I will at some point, but it'd take a bit of writing. Meantime, well, it depends on the soundcard, I think you'll find the Essence STX will outshine most CDPs on purely technical grounds, then it's down to taste as ever. It will annihilate a CDX in terms of S/N ratio, distortion, dynamic range, resolution and tonal accuracy, but it's whatever makes you happy!

quote:

Originally posted by Earwicker:
It will annihilate a CDX in terms of S/N ratio, distortion, dynamic range, resolution and tonal accuracy, but it's whatever makes you happy!

Such a bold claim that and I have a picture that might help in explaining my view in this matter,






Dean...

Also the reason George posted this in here is that he would get a kinder response to his "new set" than in HiFi Corner as he has had some history with his controversial views on HiFi over the past few years causing him to take a "sabbatical"

Dear Dean,

There are a few things that cannot quite be left to stand uncommented on by me in you post, given that your comments were about me and my contribution to the Naim forum over the years.

The reason I posted here is because the tone of the Hifi Room has taken a serious dip in recent times, to the extent where the type of discusssion that would undoubtedly have followed would have been most unpleasant for me. I know EW has been going this way for a good two or three years and he is well infront of me. I put it here for the musicos to have a look at a solution that they might consider worth auditioning.

As for my posts in the Hifi Room, there is nothing controversial about them. They were all perfectly right in the very sense that I expressed honest opinions, and reported without let or hindrance my own appreciations of my experience. This is something where the experience of another may produce a different appreciation of it and subsequent opinion. We are all different and listen with different priorities. Trolling would be controversial as would be someone who posted differently every day. There are enough of both there. Views and opinions evolve over time as experience allows for an ever subtler position.

But my personal feeling that I should refrain from commenting on Hifi is simply that I am not using any Naim pieces any more, and this is the Naim forum.

I suspect this degree of scruple in the issue is not widespread!

I would post in the Hifi Room if I had a Naim Hifi related experience that might be interesting. I suspect that otherwise - considering that I no longer have any Naim pieces in use - that commenting in the main section would rather silly.

I am not selling the Naim pieces I have - at least at this stage, and this is not soliciting for potential purchasers - but will keep them till I am ready to part with them in time. If I anticiapted ever building up loudspeaker replay again then they will not go, as there is no amplifier maker that I have more respect for. When I sell them, no one here will be any the wiser!

But I will tell you that what I am getting has the immediacy without harshness that I remember from 78 replay on an acoustic gramophone. It has a visceral directness that I never found in vinyl replay, and only partly found in CD replay using a player which error corrects in real time. I am not saying that CD players cannot work well enough to be better than what I have but rather that the cost would be disproportional given that I am achieving something satisfactory for me at a rather small cost in comparison. The same files contained in CDs actually are amazingly finer when drawn from a hard drive, and no doubt - if I wanted to optimise it further - spending more money could make it even finer. I am talking of the way the old CDS2 I had for several years worked - for general information. The CDS3 is an significant improvement ...

As I said earlier in the thread, so long as the quality is going the right way then I have no problem accepting that it is not expensive to get it, or even potentially not the best that money could buy!

In the Hifi Room, there is next to no acceptance that the quality can be fine this side of spending mega-bucks, and accepting a quality of intermediate level is virtually a heresy nowadays ...

So you see that I am happy with my replay, and happy for this thread to be here.

It will probably be my last on Hifi, excepting a report or two after visits to friends with Naim kit ...

ATB from George

George, I've been watching how this thread would develop and I'm afraid I judge the Music Room to be the wrong place, whatever you may wish. I have moved it to the Distributed Audio room. Hopefully you will be comfortable with that.

Dear Richard,

Probably it has served its purpose.

If you like then please delete it altogether. Not one for the Archive by now!

Better things have been written!

AT from George

Once a musician.....that is the look. Honestly George, you're coming from what many would think an odd arrangement and without Naim to keep you warm. Of course these choices were made in full awareness and whatevver rings your bell is the hammer of choice.

Dear John,

It does, and then a bit, so not complaining.

Strange to say my bumping into Naim co-incided with the end of my playing - enforced by a left hand injury.

It was like coming to a new girl-friend on the rebound, and such was the loss from the playing that the rebound has taken nine years to wear off. The first love was music rather than playing in any case, so I am being faithful.

I don't expect Naim enthusiasts to like it but its true.

Before and while I played I had a monumentally crap system. After my playing stopped I ended up with a sort of comforter - a very fine Naim set of its time.

Now I am reverting to something much simpler. Indeed anyone coming in my home and seeing my stuff now would not even know there was any music in the house!

I can never return to rubbish replay, but I can still enjoy replay that is direct and simple.

Best wishes from George

PS: I shall continue to post in the Music Room if allowed ...

quote:

Originally posted by Earwicker:
Here's my shambles:

Where's the naim gear?

Dear Mike,

You can post in the Music Room even if you don't have a Naim set!

EW gave me the marvelous Beethoven Quartet recordings [for American Columbia] of the Budapest Quartet, so believe me, he is a very fine gentleman - Naim set or not!

ATB from George