neveronfriday

I'm not quite sure, actually. Seriously though. I have a ton of LP rips that often sound so much better than even the best CD remasters (YMMV) of the same sessions. These exceed CD (redbook) standards and usually need to be burned to DVD and then played via a DVD player because of the higher "resolution". Because I a) have so many of these and b) don't have too much cash, I'm looking for an affordable way to play these via my stereo by hooking up a notebook/netbook to which I attach one or more hard drives (on which I keep these LP rips). This notebook will be connected to my amp via the above mentioned DAC (a converter) which needs to be able to feed the higher "resolution" to the amp without producing nothing but static or sounds of dying pigs (that's what it sounded like when dumb me tried to burn this stuff to a standard CD years ago). So, in the end, I'll have a small Netbook standing next to my PC with a media player on it (Foobar) via which I can access thousands of tracks neatly organized in many hundreds of folders on my external drive(s).

Great, Claude. Thanks! I'll keep diggin' to confirm.

Sure, why not. A file is a file is a file. Sure, but I get confused with all that digital conversion. An LP rip at 24/96 can't be burned to CD (Redbook standard) but has to be burned to DVD (and played via hardware that can read that). So, I never know what is actually output from, say, the netbook (via any "out") and what the V-Dac then does with it. I guess I have to read more.

*groan*

And one more: I still haven't figured out if I can actually run my LP rips 24/96 through a setup like that (I think so)? Claude, do you have an answer to that (for people like me who are dumb and blind)?

Yep, one of the (many) major incentives for me. BTW: The guy used the "Musical Fidelity V-DAC" which I checked out (see above).

Tried to edit and timed out several times: The Dac is around Euro 250 (and the heart of it all). It can also be used for other things on top of what this guy did with it. Ignore his home-network angle ... I'm going to do it without that aspect. My current plan: a) My netbook. b) Buy the DAC. c) Connect any drive (or two) ... d) Connect to my amp. e) Done. I checked out a setup like that about four weeks ago and it was about as audiophile as you can get. Superb sound (with FLAC)!

Flurin, I've been in the same boat for quite a while but I've got a link here that might interest you (German, longer read ... take your time). Until I read that, I was quite sure that it would take tons of money to do what I want to do (especially, to be independent of streaming etc. ... no time to explain right now why). In short: This guy bought himself a cheapo Netbook (one whose fan could be shut down 99% of the time without ruining anything), hooked it up to a (realtively) cheap but excellent (!) DAC (Digital Audio Converter) and then hooked his external drive(s) into the Netbook (which runs foobar). Bingo! Done. I never really thought about a route like that which basically prevents you from having to either buy into expensive hardware you can hook up to your amp and helps you stay away from the various streaming solutions (which I wanted to). Read it and get some good ideas! I have 18 external drives (some 1,5 TB) and this guy's solution can be had from around 500-700 Euro (or considerably cheaper, if you already have any of the parts at home, which I do). For some (!) people I think this comes as close to realizing what they've always wanted to do at a very affordable price! Here, in german, his basic premises: "- high-endiger Klang - maximale Formatflexibilität bezüglich der Audiofiles - leichte Bedienbarkeit bei minimalem Pflegeaufwand - schickes Design der Bediengeräte - Kosten- und Energiesparsamkeit - Internetzugang" http://www.fairaudio.de/leserberichte/2009...obar-usb-1.html

Cowon S9 (32 GB) After lots of trial and error, I eneded up with the S9. Flac (plus lots of other formats), video, great sound (with your own headphones, NOT with the ones that come along with the S9). 32GB is the maximum (and enough for me, even with FLAC), the GUI is a bit confusing in the details (can be exchanged with freely available alternatives) and it's a bit pricey, but all around, probably the best-sounding player at the moment (some Sony players come close, albeit with other difficulties; they aren't compatible with 64bit Vista, for example). The S9 has been a constant companion of mine and has never once let me down. The sound is, again, fabulous (and you know, I'm a rather picky guy).

Thanks so much for your recommendation, Jeff. I know I probably come across as a complete newb here, but I'd prefer recommendations from around 1980 (preferably even 1990) and up. I have some of the older recordings (Rubinstein, Lipatti, etc.) as rips (legit, by the way) but on my shelf I want more modern recordings. I know many of these might not measure up to the best from the 1940s, 50s and 60s, but I'm hoping there are some recommendations that come close.

Thanks Hans! Time to jump on the Lee/Christy and the Reece, I guess. Edit: Just did ...

Hi everyone, after I've gotten my Beethoven sonatas fix with the Brendel (1993-1996), Paul Lewis and Gulda recordings (yes, I like those three very much although some of you might heartily disagree and recommend other recordings), I want to try to assemble a somewhat complete Chopin solo piano collection. What I'm looking for are recommendations I can read more up on and spend some time checking out before I hit that "Buy me now" button. What I'm looking for are newer relevant recordings (in your opinion) in good to excellent sound quality. I'm not such a big fan of all of these Brilliant Classics and whatnot "complete" boxes that try to stuff it all in, so what I'm looking for, if at all possible, are "Complete Nocturnes", "Complete Waltzes", etc. sets that you might recommend and I can assemble into a "Complete" Chopin solo piano section on my shelf. What I don't want to do - although it might be the right thing to do - is piece together all the nocturnes across a myriad of different recordings by various artists. I'm looking for, again, "complete" boxes, if at all possible or worthwhile So, any recommendations you have while keeping these premises in mind? Thanks for looking and commenting. P.S.: I can only check in here irregularly at the moment, so please allow for a later/irregular response on my part. Thanks!

That box is way too expensive. In comparison to the OP box, they nearly added 20 Euro for one more CD. Pricing sucks on this one.

Play.com still has this up for a little over 10 Pounds. Is that an outfit that actually honors its prices (it's obviously too low compared to other sites where you have to pay way over Euro 40 for the box)? If yes, I'll give it a shot.

Same here. Been too slow for days, but only at certain times. Almost gave up posting the link to the Piano Jazz photos a few minutes ago because what I posted simply wouldn't show up. Page just got stuck ... again and again.

I really don't have more than a few seconds until some time next week. Here's the link. Should work for everyone. I tried to make the cover shots legible. If the Google web album starts as a slide show (I believe it always does), you can cancel that and then look at each photo individually. Try it. The box itself looks nice and is the usual Harmonia Mund job. Cardboad box (in this case too big for what it's holding (was there supposed to be more or did they just buy a default-sized one?), a thick booklet and 25 CDs in plain cardboard slipcases. I took some photos of the box wrapped and open, one or two of the front of some CDs and two booklet shots (disc 1 and 2 or sth like that). As usual, notes are in French (front of booklet) and English (back), and at the end there's a tabular A-Z artist index (artist, title, CD, page of bookle4t and rec. date). I simply don't have time to see how much overlap there's between the first (puke green) Piano Jazz box mentioned above somewhere and this one, but I assume there must be. I just checked if CD1 of that box and CD 1 of this one are identical ... they are not. Everything else has to wait a week. I'm simply too busy here ... sorry. Link: Piano Jazz Box (Photos) P.S.: If the photo is too small and when you are on the album page, there's a magnifying glass top right. Click on it and then "drag" the enlarged image by clicking into the photo, holding the mouse button down and, well, dragging. Try it.

I received the box today. That was fast. I'm going to take some really quick and dirty photos of the back cover of each cardboard sleeve and post a link to the photos when done. Should be up in an hour the latest. Watch this space.

I thought "Quiet Nights" was probably the worst of all of her albums (all of which I have ... yeah, I admit it). It's boring, totally devoid of any emotion ... cold. I don't want to be too harsh but can't help it here: I thought it sucked, royally ... all of it.

Well, was just notified that the box has been sent on its long and convoluted journey across a supposedly unified Europe. Should be here next week.

Shall do when it gets here. Will take a while though. Amazon.fr to Germany has never been very fast (but always reliable). Sometimes France seems further away than the States. And I only live a few miles away from the border between France and Germany.

Happy birthday!

P.S.: Hell, I just ordered it. At that price, the other 15 CDs are surely worth it.

Yo, Guy! Thanks for the heads up. I have that puke-green "The History of Piano Jazz" released in 2003 ... I'll investigate this weekend how much overlap there is. No matter what, that's a killer price for that number of CDs if they all indeed have the quality I've gotten accustomed to whenever I read "Francis & Schwarz". I'm still in denial re the probable death of the Trésors series. Loved it and hate to see it disappear. Volkher P.S.: I'm seriously considering heading to Paris in February of 2010 or, if impossible around that time, before June of 2010. Could you let me know here or via PM if you might be around (or know that you are spending longer periods away from Paris next year ... which I'm sure you're doing)? I'd love to meet up for one excellent bottle of French wine (my treat).

Guy, happy birthday and all the best! Volkher P.S.: The weather should be just as nice around your place as it is here at the moment.

Got the Brookmeyer in fine shape upon my return from a two-week Denmark trip and am one happy camper. Thanks a million! On Amazon I would have given this business transaction the highest rating. Buy what's left here with confidence.