Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

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Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby audiostar » Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:11 pm

Sunday Life
The Philippine Star

Cocktail
AUDIOFILE By Val A. Villanueva
Sunday,February 19, 2012

Image

It’s hard to imagine a life without CDs especially if you have collected tons of them. But we’ll have to brace ourselves for the inevitable; we’re getting closer and closer to that day. Piracy and the development of other downloadable digital formats have tightened the noose on this 1980s creation. With the clear signs of its imminent death, it will take a miracle for it to survive.

Only time will tell if audio companies will still manufacture CD players in the future. If they do stop, it’s going to be one helluva nightmare if you haven’t ripped your CDs to any media storage yet. Truth is, many music lovers have already made the jump, either by ripping to or downloading from iTunes (or Windows Media) their CD collection and seem to be happy with the move.

Many of you might wonder why this self-proclaimed analog enthusiast is writing about digital audio. I must confess that there are times I still enjoy listening to music recorded on CDs. There’s no argument -- at least for me -- that vinyl is the far superior music format. But there are song selections which are hard to find on vinyl, so there.

Also, many readers have been asking me if they can get high quality sound reproduction from ripped or downloaded music. Of course, some have taken notice of the proliferation of high resolution servers and their supposed ‘vinyl-like’ sound. I’ve searched the net for answers and was floored by the selling prices of these so called hi-res servers.

To be honest, all you need are a good sound card (I recommend mid to high end model of Sound Blaster), a large storage (500GB up) hard drive, fast processors, iTunes or Window’s Media installed in your computer, a computer speaker system (Cambridge Soundworks, if you can find one) and a lot of patience in copying your CD collections. After that, you’re good to go.

In case you belong to that group of listeners who want to hear their ripped music in larger and exclusive listening environment, then you have to get wired to big speakers. If you can afford that kind of set up, by all means go for the pricey servers. I haven’t heard one yet so I cannot give you an honest-to-goodness sonic evaluation.

But there’s one particular hi-res affordable server that has gotten my attention. On paper, it seems to me to be worth checking out. It’s the Cocktail Audio X10 which can directly play CDs, and rip their music to its 500GB hard drive (upgradable to 1TB). You can stream and replicate files from devices hooked to one another and get to listen to internet radio too.

One good thing about it is that you can have it from a local dealer (Audioamplified) so the constant worry in warranties is no longer a problem. Except for Apple’s lossless, it supports AAC, FLAC, Mp3, WAV (don’t worry about the acronyms meaning; they are all music formats) and 24-bit high resolution audio. Two USB inputs afford you the opportunity to listen to and reproduce music to and from other components.

It appears to be a solid but light enough apparatus.

One of the reviews I read heralds the product as a fantastic way to store music and audio files in one place and have easy remote control access to them at the touch of a button.

In a nutshell, Cocktail is a boxed mechanical hard drive which can seamlessly hook up to any Hi-Fi system and home network, via Ethernet. With this, one can play music anywhere in the house.

Let me reiterate: From among the myriad of hi-res music servers I’ve searched, on paper Cocktail seems to be better than the other brands. I haven’t heard it sing, much less touch or see it physically. This article is in response to many of your queries about high resolution servers, and how they can help you store your favorite music and relieve you of worrying about where to keep your CD collection (which by now may occupy half the space of your music or living room). You can either keep the physical disc for posterity or throw them away for recycling.

Although I do not have first-hand knowledge about Cocktail, one thing I can assure you is that Audioamplified (audioamplified.com) is a reputable audio shop. You can listen to the Cocktail Audio at their Libis, Quezon City, store. The shop also allows home auditions so I suggest you check it out.


For comments or questions, please e-mail me at audioglow@yahoo.com or at vphl@hotmail.com. You can also visit www.wiredstate.com for quick answers to your audio concerns.
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby Superman » Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:40 pm

CONGRATS Val for another great article!

CONGRATS also Noel, Katz, Tyrone for bringing in this very promising product! BEST REGARDS! :clap: :clap: :clap:
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby audiostar » Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:33 pm

Superman wrote:CONGRATS Val for another great article!

CONGRATS also Noel, Katz, Tyrone for bringing in this very promising product! BEST REGARDS! :clap: :clap: :clap:


Banat na :devil:
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby Superman » Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:06 pm

audiostar wrote:
Superman wrote:CONGRATS Val for another great article!

CONGRATS also Noel, Katz, Tyrone for bringing in this very promising product! BEST REGARDS! :clap: :clap: :clap:


Banat na :devil:

Sino babanatan natin? Hehehe!!
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby audiostar » Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:49 pm

Superman wrote:
audiostar wrote:
Superman wrote:CONGRATS Val for another great article!

CONGRATS also Noel, Katz, Tyrone for bringing in this very promising product! BEST REGARDS! :clap: :clap: :clap:


Banat na :devil:

Sino babanatan natin? Hehehe!!
:devil: :devil: :devil:
:devil: :devil: :devil:
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby O.D. Yeo » Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:23 am

Congratulations on another fine article, Val!

I've had a number of discussions with some friends on this subject in the past few weeks. I'll try and summarize some of the salient points that I deem very important in selecting a music server.

As in most audio gear, the most important are: SQ, budget, features, and upgradability. If you can get all of the above within your budget, then by all means, go for it! However, in case, as most of us do, one prefers to start off with the basics and build up the system as the budget increases, then I would suggest the following:

1. While sound quality is of course most important, IMO this can be most significantly improved over time by way of a better dac. Very Important, therefore, is that the server selected has a digital output, which will allow the use of an external dac.

2. Other than a better dac which can process hi-rez downloads and a more silent hard drive with larger capacity, I don't think there is much more that one can do on his own to upgrade the server.

3. Most other upgrades will come by way of software updates. It is important, therefore, that the brand is an established one, which will support the product in the future years.

4. IMO, the important features to look for are those which make it easy to use: one-step ripping and burning, well-managed metadata to allow easy playback (ex. by genre, album name, album artwork, artist, track title. Some go further and allow access by composer, conductor, etc.)

5. While the built-in monitor quality and the supplied remote control also help, more important might be the ability to use your phone or tablet as the monitor and remote controller.

6. Other useful features, which appear to be more often standard than not, are: Internet radio, multi-room playback, etc.

I hope this is useful to some who are considering a music server.
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby audiostar » Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:12 am

O.D. Yeo wrote:Congratulations on another fine article, Val!

I've had a number of discussions with some friends on this subject in the past few weeks. I'll try and summarize some of the salient points that I deem very important in selecting a music server.

As in most audio gear, the most important are: SQ, budget, features, and upgradability. If you can get all of the above within your budget, then by all means, go for it! However, in case, as most of us do, one prefers to start off with the basics and build up the system as the budget increases, then I would suggest the following:

1. While sound quality is of course most important, IMO this can be most significantly improved over time by way of a better dac. Very Important, therefore, is that the server selected has a digital output, which will allow the use of an external dac.

2. Other than a better dac which can process hi-rez downloads and a more silent hard drive with larger capacity, I don't think there is much more that one can do on his own to upgrade the server.

3. Most other upgrades will come by way of software updates. It is important, therefore, that the brand is an established one, which will support the product in the future years.

4. IMO, the important features to look for are those which make it easy to use: one-step ripping and burning, well-managed metadata to allow easy playback (ex. by genre, album name, album artwork, artist, track title. Some go further and allow access by composer, conductor, etc.)

5. While the built-in monitor quality and the supplied remote control also help, more important might be the ability to use your phone or tablet as the monitor and remote controller.
Ii
6. Other useful features, which appear to be more often standard than not, are: Internet radio, multi-room playback, etc.
I hope this is useful to some who are considering a music server.


Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this particular subject Billy. I'm sure many will take
note of your valuable insights. Cheers!!! :-)
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby Noel_14 » Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:03 pm

audiostar wrote:
O.D. Yeo wrote:Congratulations on another fine article, Val!

I've had a number of discussions with some friends on this subject in the past few weeks. I'll try and summarize some of the salient points that I deem very important in selecting a music server.

As in most audio gear, the most important are: SQ, budget, features, and upgradability. If you can get all of the above within your budget, then by all means, go for it! However, in case, as most of us do, one prefers to start off with the basics and build up the system as the budget increases, then I would suggest the following:

1. While sound quality is of course most important, IMO this can be most significantly improved over time by way of a better dac. Very Important, therefore, is that the server selected has a digital output, which will allow the use of an external dac.

2. Other than a better dac which can process hi-rez downloads and a more silent hard drive with larger capacity, I don't think there is much more that one can do on his own to upgrade the server.

3. Most other upgrades will come by way of software updates. It is important, therefore, that the brand is an established one, which will support the product in the future years.

4. IMO, the important features to look for are those which make it easy to use: one-step ripping and burning, well-managed metadata to allow easy playback (ex. by genre, album name, album artwork, artist, track title. Some go further and allow access by composer, conductor, etc.)

5. While the built-in monitor quality and the supplied remote control also help, more important might be the ability to use your phone or tablet as the monitor and remote controller.
Ii
6. Other useful features, which appear to be more often standard than not, are: Internet radio, multi-room playback, etc.
I hope this is useful to some who are considering a music server.


Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this particular subject Billy. I'm sure many will take
note of your valuable insights. Cheers!!! :-)


Hope this help, for additional info about the product please visit http://www.cocktailaudio.com
It has digital output. Software and firmware upgrade are posted in the site for download, new updated firmware within this week. The new firmware will support Gapless playback function, WebInterface and other nice functions... Freedb is also upgraded in regular basis for download.

Cheers
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby katz_tabuney14 » Tue Feb 21, 2012 1:16 pm

audiostar wrote:Sunday Life
The Philippine Star

Cocktail
AUDIOFILE By Val A. Villanueva
Sunday,February 19, 2012

Image

It’s hard to imagine a life without CDs especially if you have collected tons of them. But we’ll have to brace ourselves for the inevitable; we’re getting closer and closer to that day. Piracy and the development of other downloadable digital formats have tightened the noose on this 1980s creation. With the clear signs of its imminent death, it will take a miracle for it to survive.

Only time will tell if audio companies will still manufacture CD players in the future. If they do stop, it’s going to be one helluva nightmare if you haven’t ripped your CDs to any media storage yet. Truth is, many music lovers have already made the jump, either by ripping to or downloading from iTunes (or Windows Media) their CD collection and seem to be happy with the move.

Many of you might wonder why this self-proclaimed analog enthusiast is writing about digital audio. I must confess that there are times I still enjoy listening to music recorded on CDs. There’s no argument -- at least for me -- that vinyl is the far superior music format. But there are song selections which are hard to find on vinyl, so there.

Also, many readers have been asking me if they can get high quality sound reproduction from ripped or downloaded music. Of course, some have taken notice of the proliferation of high resolution servers and their supposed ‘vinyl-like’ sound. I’ve searched the net for answers and was floored by the selling prices of these so called hi-res servers.

To be honest, all you need are a good sound card (I recommend mid to high end model of Sound Blaster), a large storage (500GB up) hard drive, fast processors, iTunes or Window’s Media installed in your computer, a computer speaker system (Cambridge Soundworks, if you can find one) and a lot of patience in copying your CD collections. After that, you’re good to go.

In case you belong to that group of listeners who want to hear their ripped music in larger and exclusive listening environment, then you have to get wired to big speakers. If you can afford that kind of set up, by all means go for the pricey servers. I haven’t heard one yet so I cannot give you an honest-to-goodness sonic evaluation.

But there’s one particular hi-res affordable server that has gotten my attention. On paper, it seems to me to be worth checking out. It’s the Cocktail Audio X10 which can directly play CDs, and rip their music to its 500GB hard drive (upgradable to 1TB). You can stream and replicate files from devices hooked to one another and get to listen to internet radio too.

One good thing about it is that you can have it from a local dealer (Audioamplified) so the constant worry in warranties is no longer a problem. Except for Apple’s lossless, it supports AAC, FLAC, Mp3, WAV (don’t worry about the acronyms meaning; they are all music formats) and 24-bit high resolution audio. Two USB inputs afford you the opportunity to listen to and reproduce music to and from other components.

It appears to be a solid but light enough apparatus.

One of the reviews I read heralds the product as a fantastic way to store music and audio files in one place and have easy remote control access to them at the touch of a button.

In a nutshell, Cocktail is a boxed mechanical hard drive which can seamlessly hook up to any Hi-Fi system and home network, via Ethernet. With this, one can play music anywhere in the house.

Let me reiterate: From among the myriad of hi-res music servers I’ve searched, on paper Cocktail seems to be better than the other brands. I haven’t heard it sing, much less touch or see it physically. This article is in response to many of your queries about high resolution servers, and how they can help you store your favorite music and relieve you of worrying about where to keep your CD collection (which by now may occupy half the space of your music or living room). You can either keep the physical disc for posterity or throw them away for recycling.

Although I do not have first-hand knowledge about Cocktail, one thing I can assure you is that Audioamplified (audioamplified.com) is a reputable audio shop. You can listen to the Cocktail Audio at their Libis, Quezon City, store. The shop also allows home auditions so I suggest you check it out.


For comments or questions, please e-mail me at audioglow@yahoo.com or at vphl@hotmail.com. You can also visit http://www.wiredstate.com for quick answers to your audio concerns.


Thanks sir Val for your good feedback, even though you haven't heard the item yet, but still you give a good impression. :)

Just like what Cocktail Audio puts in their tag line in their website.

"The cocktailAudio X10 looks just like a traditional micro Hi-Fi system at the frist glance.
But, you will be very surprised at X10 after a short review of it."


Here's the product overview http://www.cocktailaudio.com/overview.html

I would say small but terrible! :rock:


Superman wrote:CONGRATS Val for another great article!

CONGRATS also Noel, Katz, Tyrone for bringing in this very promising product! BEST REGARDS! :clap: :clap: :clap:



When you arrive sir here in manila sana makapasyal po kau dito store! :)


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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby Noel_14 » Tue Feb 21, 2012 1:29 pm

audiostar wrote:
O.D. Yeo wrote:Congratulations on another fine article, Val!

I've had a number of discussions with some friends on this subject in the past few weeks. I'll try and summarize some of the salient points that I deem very important in selecting a music server.

As in most audio gear, the most important are: SQ, budget, features, and upgradability. If you can get all of the above within your budget, then by all means, go for it! However, in case, as most of us do, one prefers to start off with the basics and build up the system as the budget increases, then I would suggest the following:

1. While sound quality is of course most important, IMO this can be most significantly improved over time by way of a better dac. Very Important, therefore, is that the server selected has a digital output, which will allow the use of an external dac.

2. Other than a better dac which can process hi-rez downloads and a more silent hard drive with larger capacity, I don't think there is much more that one can do on his own to upgrade the server.

3. Most other upgrades will come by way of software updates. It is important, therefore, that the brand is an established one, which will support the product in the future years.

4. IMO, the important features to look for are those which make it easy to use: one-step ripping and burning, well-managed metadata to allow easy playback (ex. by genre, album name, album artwork, artist, track title. Some go further and allow access by composer, conductor, etc.)

5. While the built-in monitor quality and the supplied remote control also help, more important might be the ability to use your phone or tablet as the monitor and remote controller.
Ii
6. Other useful features, which appear to be more often standard than not, are: Internet radio, multi-room playback, etc.
I hope this is useful to some who are considering a music server.


Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this particular subject Billy. I'm sure many will take
note of your valuable insights. Cheers!!! :-)


Cocktail Audio X10 supports the following:
1. It has optical out for external DAC
2.Built-in DAC is CIrrus Logic supports up to 24/192 upsampling
3.Support up to 2TB HDD, software upgradeable
4. Software and firmware upgrade are regularly posted in the site for download, new updated firmware within this week. The new firmware will support Gapless playback function, WebInterface and other nice functions.
5. Freedb is also upgraded in regular basis and can be downloaded in the site
6. This is not touch screen, so remote is included. Who need a touch screen when you use remote with ease :)
7. UPnP Server/Client and Samba Server/Client streaming playback the file in various networked storages like PC, NAS or other networked devices.
8. Support various audio codec format such as MP3, FLAC, WAV, WMA, AAC, M4A, PCM, OGG, M3U, PLS.
9. CD storage with database function. You can load(rip) all your audio CD collection into the hard disk to give you instant access to any of you music. You can rip CD into various audio codec like MP3, OGG, FLAC or WAV.
10. Recording old collection of LP or cassettes You can record them into the hard disk of X10 with ease via line-in.
11. Networking and Music Streamer. Connect into your home network through Ethernet or WiFi(optional). It really tells the story that X10 can do. You can directly play music files in remote computer and import them into the music database of X10.
12. Advanced Internet Radio Once X10 is connected to network(internet), you can enjoy the most advanced internet radio in the world.
13. Control X10 with iPhone/iPad or Andorid phone
• Install Eyevo(EyeconTroller) into iPhone/iPad
or Android phone.
• Play file from cocktailAudio X10 on via
iPhone/iPad and Android phone.
• Play file from server(for example, your PC)
on cocktailAudio X10 via iPhone/iPad or
Android phone.
• Play file from my phone on cocktailAudio X10

Banatan na! Before stock runs out

Cheers
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby audiostar » Tue Feb 21, 2012 5:47 pm

Thanks for all your inputs. This will make it easier to those interested to make an informed decision :)
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby katz_tabuney14 » Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:16 pm

For additional info here's the specification for cocktail

Cocktail Audio X10 Specifications:
Image
*specification may change without prior notice
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby Noel_14 » Sat Feb 25, 2012 3:00 pm

For all the owners of Cocktail Audio X10 new firmware (R1644) is now available. Kindly PM your email, we will send you the updated firmware.
New stocks of Cocktail Audio X10 arriving early March.

Cheers
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby katz_tabuney14 » Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:48 pm

Noel_14 wrote:For all the owners of Cocktail Audio X10 new firmware (R1644) is now available. Kindly PM your email, we will send you the updated firmware.
New stocks of Cocktail Audio X10 arriving early March.

Cheers



New firmware update is now ready for download. Just please visit coctail audio website http://www.cocktailaudio.com/firmware.html and install it to your unit.

Here's the features of new firmware.

1) Gapless playback function.
2) Web Server/Webinterface function.* Possible to add album cover art through internet.
4) Recording for iRadio WMA/ASF/AAC streaming stations.
5) My Playlist(vertual playlist) function.
6) To list up albums by album cover art view.
7) FTP Server function.
8 ) Others


enjoy!

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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby katz_tabuney14 » Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:12 am

For all those curious, here's what's inside the box of cocktail audio.




:geek:
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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby katz_tabuney14 » Wed Mar 07, 2012 4:29 pm

Introductory Promo Price for Cocktail x10 and Roth Audio Oli speakers

Image


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Re: Rip those notes: Cocktail it is

Postby katz_tabuney14 » Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:21 pm

New stocks of cocktail audio, finally arrived!!!

Order and reserve now coz stocks run out so fast!!! ]:) ]:) ]:)


please call :call: 395-5115 / 738-6002. for orders and reservation.


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