Moderator: audiostar
Superman wrote:CONGRATS Val for another great article!
CONGRATS also Noel, Katz, Tyrone for bringing in this very promising product! BEST REGARDS!
audiostar wrote:Superman wrote:CONGRATS Val for another great article!
CONGRATS also Noel, Katz, Tyrone for bringing in this very promising product! BEST REGARDS!
Banat na
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!
Banat na
Sino babanatan natin? Hehehe!!
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.
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!!!
audiostar wrote:Sunday Life
The Philippine Star
Cocktail
AUDIOFILE By Val A. Villanueva
Sunday,February 19, 2012
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.
Superman wrote:CONGRATS Val for another great article!
CONGRATS also Noel, Katz, Tyrone for bringing in this very promising product! BEST REGARDS!
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!!!
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
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest