What are you listening to right now? (VOL I)

Recurring Dream: The Very Best of Crowded House

quote:

Originally posted by Steve2:
A question for Cyrene! I am listening to Asturias by Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists. However, if I download a FLAC file and burn an audio CD will it play on a Naim CD Player? I have a CD3. I only listen to music on a computer just to get a flavor of the music. I do not listen to MP3s.

Cheers SteveT

hi. If you download a FLAC file you'll have to convert it via 'Switch' or some other program to WAV or Lossless before it'll play (at least that's what I experienced through iTunes). It will actually play though on a Naim CDP.
If you're after the new NIN download, they do it in Apple Lossless files too -- no need for conversion.

Increasingly returning to my classical roots these days.




What great value these Naxos CDs are for a £fiver.

quote:

Originally posted by Cyrene:

quote:

Originally posted by Steve2:
A question for Cyrene! I am listening to Asturias by Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists. However, if I download a FLAC file and burn an audio CD will it play on a Naim CD Player? I have a CD3. I only listen to music on a computer just to get a flavor of the music. I do not listen to MP3s.

Cheers SteveT

hi. If you download a FLAC file you'll have to convert it via 'Switch' or some other program to WAV or Lossless before it'll play (at least that's what I experienced through iTunes). It will actually play though on a Naim CDP.
If you're after the new NIN download, they do it in Apple Lossless files too -- no need for conversion.

You can convert Flac files to .wav with the free Flac front end from http://flac.sourceforge.net/

You can get a plug-in to allow Nero to burn Flac direct to CD without conversion to wav, although I always convert it to be extra safe.

I have downloaded hundreds of recordings as Flac and burned them to CDR with Nero.

Winamp can play Flac files without conversion if you wish to try them first on your computer.

I would advise that CDRs are not as permanent as silver pressed CDs, and if I have paid for Flac files, I generally back them up on a data DVD to be safe, although those in time (several years) will also fade. That said, even silver bought CDs seem to have a more limited lifetime than we were lead to believe many years ago.

I just got NIN 'Ghosts' as Flac files, and it does sound excellent, reminds me of 'Still' which accompanied 'All That Could have Been'.

Apple lossless are fine too, it is just down to your platform and comfort with various pieces of software.

Jamie

Thanks for your advice and prompt reply Cyrene it is much appreciated. Thanks also JamieL for your help on this. I am tempted to put some money in Roberts pocket rather than pay someone else for the privilege of listening to his music.

Cheers SteveT

quote:

Originally posted by Florestan:
J.S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin

Being a big admirer of the Bach Sonatas and Partitas: How's the Grumiaux reading and performance in your books, Doug ?

(Seems you have a certain preference for German - or at least European - artists...)

best regards
Stefan

Earlier in the car( ...)

Rolf Lislevand - Nuove Musiche


Now
Trio Mediaeval - Soir, dit-elle


Haim, as much as I'd love to agree wth you (and in most cases we do), I still like the late recordings. Very much, even. The earlier are OK, too, but can be fatigue if you don't really listen intensively.

Horses for courses ? You know what I mean...

Mark, I still have the extra copy here for you...

Stefan

Grateful Dead - American Beauty

quote:

Originally posted by sjust:
Earlier in the car( ...)

Rolf Lislevand - Nuove Musiche

Now
Trio Mediaeval - Soir, dit-elle

Haim, as much as I'd love to agree wth you (and in most cases we do), I still like the late recordings. Very much, even. The earlier are OK, too, but can be fatigue if you don't really listen intensively.

Horses for courses ? You know what I mean...

Mark, I still have the extra copy here for you...

Stefan

Stefan,

Look how long it took you to agree with me that you needed a CD player in the car...

You might perfectly be right about Folk Songs. The weather has drastically effected my judgement these days and I promise to give it a third try real soon.

Home alone, listening to:



Regards,
Haim

Hi Stefan,

quote:

Being a big admirer of the Bach Sonatas and Partitas: How's the Grumiaux reading and performance in your books, Doug ?

Very difficult to answer because their is no right or wrong answer here. The Grumiaux was the first recording that I had of the Sonatas and Partitas and in general, I like Grumiaux very much (my favorite is the Mozart Complete String Quintets and Bach Sonatas for violin and harpsichord). Alongside it now I have Henryk Szeryng, Hilary Hahn (partial), and Julia Fischer. All are excellent, equally valid, and have their merit but the nice thing is that they all approach phrasing, bowing, mood, tempo, style etc. in their own unique way. So I cannot fault any performance but I will say that the recording quality of the Grumiaux is slightly below the other three (IMO). I regularly rotate through all four of these and I like comparing the style of the older recordings to the newer ones (quite different). This year I hope to add Itzhak Perlman and Rachel Podger to the mix. If you like this music it is nice to have many versions to keep it fresh and interesting. If someone only wanted one recording I'd be hard pressed to suggest only one because they are all good for different reasons but to save my life I'd probably say Julia Fischer.

quote:

(Seems you have a certain preference for German - or at least European - artists...)

Natürlich, das beste oder nichts!

Doug

quote:

Originally posted by RichardM:

Richard - one of my all time favorites...vinyl or remastered cd?

Breakfast In America - Supertramp

MFSL Vinyl

Amazing sonics.

quote:

Originally posted by naim_nymph:

quote:

Originally posted by MilesSmiles:

quote:

Originally posted by naim_nymph:

~<>~ The Dave Brubeck Quartet ~<>~

... just bought this as SACD and am not sure if any work was done on the redbook layer but it sounds great.

Hello MilesSmiles, is your SACD copy a hybrid? : )

(maybe a silly question, i think they have to be to work on a naim-audio cdp)

regards ~
nymph

Yes it is - I'm only listening to the redbook layer.

Naims The Helsinki Project. If you like variation and some truly clear intersting sounds that is not run of the mill, then its worth a try.

regards

Clayhill - Acoustic