2. pc-audio
  3. 187772-9022

I'm at a digital loss or getting over UI mountain

So far, I hate digital audio. Let me explain...

I was an early adopter of one of the Olive machines. Easy to use, which was a big plus for my wife but it sounded terrible. Good for some background music. As the company began to disappear, so did its functionality. First the radio left when they stopped paying for it. They stopped supporting the wireless transfer. Then, Gracenote no longer updated etc. 

Since then I tried to organize a digital collection in my Mac Mini and iTunes. I have thousands of CDs ripped in ALAC, thousands of pieces in FLAC and MP3. I carefully built a library in iTunes only to lose all the artwork in the iOS upgrade to Music recently. After the Olive, I bought a Sony HAP digital player which upsamples everything and sounds WAY better but, can't seem to categorize things correctly. All the careful work in the Mac Mini is lost in translation. 

If I look in Genre: Reggae, for example, there should be thousands of albums and yet there are a handful. There seems to be no way to alter this. Furthermore, try find albums that should be classified as Various Artists - most get lost somewhere. And don't even get me started on Classical music and its filing system. 

I usually just go over to my albums and select something to play. It never changes operating systems, its UI is excellent, taxonomy never changes, always sounds good...So why mess around with digital?

I'm intrigued with Roon and wonder if it could solve the UI and taxonomy issues but, I don't know anyone who uses it. Of course, someone just bought it so, will it be around? I can't seem to rely on Apple either although it seemed the best most stable bet. 

I've agonized on whether to get a DAC/streamer but library management is most critical to me. I have been looking at the Hifi Rose lineup as I really like the one box solution (easy to use for wife). But if I implement Roon, I still need a computer somewhere to host it. Since I already have the MacMini it seems like a good place to start. However, how to deal with all the UI stuff?

Perhaps hivemind you can help me out here? 

joemarsh

Showing 2 responses by ghdprentice

ghdprentice
7,492 posts
 

I understand why folks like Roon. I have tried it.

 

For the last forty years I have been early adopter of hundreds of software products, for personal computing, groups, and global enterprises. The one thing that you can be certain of is that today’s specialty niche software will be gone tomorrow. I can’t off hand think of a single program I used in the 1980’s that is still in use… Lotus 123, Word Perfect, DOS… photo processing, browsers. Niche stuff has much smaller life cycles. Either the functions will be included in other companies devices, or company will get purchased and included in someone’s devices, or the product and company will whither away and disappear.

Its time is probably limited. If you love it, use it. But I’d think hard about buying a lifetime license.

ghdprentice
7,492 posts
 

I would like to propose that streaming has fundamentally changed music for the audiophile. It has been a complete paradigm shift. Ownership points you to a very limited library, and being confined to that library. My ownership is 4,000 albums. Something you could kind of keep in your head. Streaming opens you up to about one million albums. With a good streamer, depending on the rest of your system, the streamer can have higher quality than your CDs, stored files, or vinyl.

 

You can make the transition into a new Paradym with an old way of looking things. Then over time you are likely to discover that this is a different world. When you have basically access to all music, things change from locating the same old stuff to exploration. My habits completely changed over the first couple years of streaming once the sound quality was equal or better than CDs and vinyl.

 

So, first, I recommend putting a lot of effort into getting a very high quality streamer. Personally I prefer Aurrender at about any price point. I would not worry about taking your old files along and organizing them. Sure, throw them onto your streamer in case you lose your internet.

The Roon question is a good one. Great quality streamers have exploration and library tools. They will combine the stuff you own with stuff you find in streaming. Roon is a good exploration tool, but it is a hassle, cost money, may degrade the sound, and is really unnecessary. The functions provided with Aurrender are really adequate to help you navigate, explore, and collect new music (leave breadcrumbs to find what you liked).

 

If your personality is very anal retentive then a streamer that supports Roon is the way to go. But not a PC or MAC… a real high quality dedicated streamer.

My recommendation is to work on getting a world class streamer for your system… focusing on sound quality… then learn what the world of streaming is like.

I now primarily listen to music I have never heard before instead of the stuff I bought… everything I bought is already there. Sometimes I’ll locate an album I used to listen all the time and listen to earlier and later recordings by the group or adjacent groups. It is a truely incredible works of music and opportunity to explore.

 

 

Oh yes, you want to use the Qobuz service. Sound the best and the have over half a million high resolution albums… and that is growing every day… and for the cost of buying a new CD each month… what a deal!

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