Digital Audio for Dummies

In case it means anything to anyone, it seems that Bluesound does not play DSD files. Auralic Aries does and seems to be way more advanced. Still, it also seem to require NAS somewhere else in the home and is not a dedicated music player. Please let me/us know if this is incorrect as I just looked it up on their websites and might have not picked every detail right.

Echolane,

From my own experience, classical tags are painful. I just finished re-tagging all my classical music. What is out there, on the Internet and automatic tagging services, is beyond inconsistent. If you are picky about it, you are in for frustration. If you just want an album and will play it from the beginning and never look at the screen, you will be happy. In short, good luck with that. Not to mention that some of the programs will put some albums together as one because they have same name (Mahler 4th symphony, for example). That is another topic, I guess.

As far as transferring LPs to digital format goes, I recently bought Korg DS DAC 10 R (or some combination of these letters, I do not have it here right now) and ripped some DSD files from LPs. I cannot claim that I have the world's best system to play it on, but it sounds good enough that I did not regret. There may be better programs to do it, but I used Korg's own and it takes some learning if you are not a computer-wired soul.

There are many options on the market and I am sure each has some advantages. For a two-channel (well, those DSDs from LPs are actually mono) person who does not want to have the computer in his system permanently and prefers semi-traditional approach with a dedicated player, SONY is quite fine. Check other ones recommended in the thread and see and hear what suits you.

I have no experience with Bluesound. However, SONY can rip CDs directly to the machine. Just connect a CD drive ($25 at Best Buy) to it. It is $2000 so that may be the limiting point that OP may need to decide for himself. Otherwise, as non-computer-savy person as I am, I can say that the computer part, if you do not rip directly to the SONY but transfer it from the computer, is as simple as it gets as is the operation after the music has been transferred. Sound is great, too.

I forgot to add, in case you do decide on SONY HAP-Z1 ES, feel free to ask for details about ripping, etc. It would not make sense to go into it now, but offer stands.

You sound like me. I bought SONY HAP-Z1 ES more than two years ago. It feels like just another piece of gear in the old-school way, but works for what you need it for. Sound is great, plays whatever you throw in it, I believe. Simple to operate, but there is a glitch or two initially. Once the music is on it, you operate it as some sort of a CD player with many many songs on one CD. Every now and then, I check out other brands with similar products and none of them seems that simple in the long run. No NAS, no fancy protocols. Just a music storage and Internet radio (don't dismiss it just yet) in a box that would not look as overly futuristic in your 1970s-1980s system. And to repeat, it does sound great. 21st century great. Hits way way above the price.