CD player and turntable. Which one is used more depends on the format of the music I most recently purchased. Right now I just bought a bunch of used albums so the turntable is now getting a workout.
Turntable here. Maine radio content is scant at best, and the NPR affiliate just keeps getting blander and blander. I have many may hundreds of CD's and a PLEX-based media server, but I've been listening overwhelmingly to LP's for the past 4-5 years after a 25-year hiatus.
I too use my Ãtude tuner most, just for casual listening which is what I do most of the time, while I am doing other things. But for serious listening my turntable sees the most attention. CD ranks third, but perhaps a new CD player could change that? Time will tell.
I have been in audio for a long time and remember my father buying a Capart console unit with stereo which no one had ever heard of. Ultimately we got a FM station that played some stereo and shortly after that got stereo records. I remember one had a choice-mono for $1 and stereo for $2.
Later I lived in Philadelphia and later yet outside NYC and experienced quality, stereo FM. Today I still have a public FM station with jazz in the afternoons and classical other times. It is not quality programing, however. I listen always to it but in the car. Texas is not a good place to listen to quality FM jazz.
While vinyl is still unrivaled, my Empirical Audio Mac Mini raid music server is most used and close to vinyl using dsd files through Pure Music. It is so easy to merely touch the Ipad screen and have the music play. No getting the disc or record out, putting it in the player, listening, and removing and return it to storage.
Streaming spotify. I could probably live with a pair of dynaudio xeo 5's with a peachtree i-dac with an i-phone streaming spotify. It would be the simpliest, cleanest system I can think of and still sound really quite good.
My most used source is my Denon Blu-ray player, followed by my AppleTV which I use to stream Netflix and what TV shows I buy off of iTunes.
I do not have cable or a dish but I buy a lot of tv shows on DVD and movies on Blu-ray. That is why the above is so, however, when it comes to music the only source that I use is my Pro-Ject Xtension Turntable.
I currently use my xbox which I have basically turned into a media server which can pull from my mac. It's pretty easy to set up, and works pretty well. I am just now getting involved in the audio community and am still learning the "ropes", but I have plans on buying a good tuner and system.
I'm using a 17 inch Mac pro interfaced with my iPod classic going into the Inova.. I am also using the Oppo 95 for blue rays and CD, SACD Going straight into the INOVA,and I am thrilled with the results Thus far speakers are Magnapans 1.7 For a budget based system like this based on the INOVAS vision I think the future of audio is based more on a system as this
Here it is now 2011. . . .It would be interesting to see the same posts today. I'm betting the Mac Mini or PC would top the list. Anybody out there????
Tuner. I have lived in many cities and now reside in Seattle. There are truly amazing radio stations here that are commercial free. Some talk and fund drives but mostly just music and community supported. It is nice to listen to professional DJs; they bring alot to the table.
24 and 7 - various FM tuners win out both at home and in vehicles (I have two Tandberg 3011A tuners - one for my main system and another for a six zone home system). We have a handful of good local FM stations including Jones College out of JAX FL. I simply don't want to download or buy every piece of music I enjoy - and enjoy catching them randomly on FM.
Towards evenings or off-days in a more leisurely mode, I prefer SACD, DVD-A, HDCD disks and soon, Blu-Ray Audio. After much effort and luck setting-up my system, redbooks are getting much more "air time".
#1 Small Dish receiver. XM and Sirius feeds. This when I do housework, work in the yard or over Christmas for the holiday feeds. Same receiver feeds TV audio thru the same system.
#2 CD player. This also acts as a DAC from the DVD and Small Dish receiver.
#3 DVD 'universal' player. just for movies. Audio portion thru DAC.
#4 Airport Express streaming ALAC files from confuser.....again thru the DAC.
No CD or turntable in my systems only a Sonos zone players for internet radio and to read my music server that's it. Different systems around the house tubes, solid state class "A" "AB & "D" amps all controlled via zone players. All zone players connected to DAC's feeding the amps.
Actually, the best $230 I have spent has been for an Apple TV. When not listening seriously, there is nothing better then listening to you entire libray in the shuffle mode. While it may not be the untimate sound quality, it is fairly good if your ripped in AIFF. This is my most listened to sounce of late. Internet radio in my system is also a bonus. You can POO POO me all you want but as I mentioned it so great to hit shuffle and let it rip. It is like having your own radio station.
When the thread started many years ago, it would have been CD/SACD. Now it is vinyl, though I am going to make an effort to listen more to some of the great music I have on CD.
For all you guys with a tuner and nothing worth listening to, spend a hundred bucks on a whole house fm transmitter and connect it to your computer. I just did and it is great. I hooked up with Shoutcast on the internet and they have thousands of radio stations from all over the world. Granted many of them are at low bit rates but I find that stations with 128k and up are very enjoyable through my old MD Etude. Plus you can listen to your cd's stored on the computer and they sound almost as good as the original cd. So to answer the original question, I listen to the tuner 95% and cd 5%.
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