Do you still buy music CD’s. The last few years I have really gotten into buying them again, using services like Tidal to find music as well as recommendations from YouTube and friends.
I like having my music with me, on my laptop and my portable music player so I still rip my CDs. Back in the early days I used iTunes but now I use a dedicated ripping tool called dBPoweramp, it has tools for ripping and batch converting files from one format to another, this is useful as I rip to FLAC and then create copies in an Apple format for my old iPod. Yes I still have an iPod classic going strong.
Once ripped, I copy them to my NAS and from there to the devices that need them, such as my Roon Core Server, my travel laptop and music players.
This week as I was in town I bought two classic Fleetwood Mac albums as well as one my Dire Straits. All for a typical months stream fee.
I also buy and play vinyl but my record player like my CD player is in need of replacing, but I still spin a disk occasionally, either vinyl or CD.
A change of monitors means a change around on the desk. I am still working on the best places for everything but I have taken the opportunity to change the cabling. One additional thing I will be doing is upgrading my work mouse, I want something better then this old Dell mouse that I can configure for ‘no natural scrolling’ while still having the touch pad set to natural. You would think Apple would allow you to set them independently in the OS but no.
The sound source is also changing for my music and this bit has proven the most difficult. Finding a high quality USB-B to USB-C cable. Its proving harder then you expect unless you want a cheap £2.00 printer cable from Amazon.
So for a new year resolution I set myself a musical goal of practicing at least 5 minutes a day, for six days a week for the whole of January. So far it’s been good. I have yet to miss a day for piano and only missed one day in the first week for banjo.
I am seeing more and more people on line talking about getting rid of a certain music streaming service.
Vinyl is also making a comeback as well as CD’s. There was a recent report about Vinyl now being the number one seller of physical media in the UK. If you go by price that is correct but not numbers, CD’s can be anywhere from £5 to £25, but vinyl tends to start at £20 now. Many are buying to collect and not play.
Many people are getting back into more focused listening. Sitting down, and actually choosing to listen to an album. While I have all my CD’s ripped to my Roon server, I’ll often sit back at night, pop a CD into the draw and just listen to a whole album.
I also see DAP’s (Digital Music Players) even making a come back. If I do not want to be disturbed I’ll pull out my old hard disk based iPod classic and listen to an Album. Cutting myself off from my phone and notifications is a blessing sometimes.
I cannot see physical media beating streaming, and having streaming available for finding new music and seeing if I like it is the best thing about it.
One thing I would like to see is people making a choice about what streaming service they use. Some do pay more to the artists and if you like a song then buy it.
My office music system as you can see from the old picture above is basic, a MacPro running Roon endpoint software, connected via USB to a Schiit Preamp with a USB DAC built into it. Then out to a pair of active RuakAudio desktop speakers.
Its seems since COVID the last few years have been a bit of a blur with family commitments, Ill health, hospital visits.
I have managed recently to go on two wildlife shoots and have also gotten to the studio to photograph new models several times over this year.
Photography wise things are improving.
Fitness I need to do something. Just before COVID I was thinking of starting swimming again so might look into that.
Music, well, I have a new Roon server and recently updated my streamer and amp over the last few years. Next on the list is a new rack and to start looking at a new record deck and speakers.
One thing I have not been doing this last year is playing music. One of the reasons is the end room we use as our music room / library has become a dump it room. We have been decorating one of the guest bedrooms and we ripped out all the built in wardrobes. All this stuff that was in there and the bedroom contents prevented me from getting to the piano. I have a banjo in the office which I have also not touched and for that I have no excuse.
So I have given myself the task of playing for five minutes a day for six days a week for the whole of January. Lets see if we can get back into this which I do love.
Last journalling. I have a cupboard of journals but I stopped a few years ago for no real reason and I miss it, so will start up writing once a week.
My morning routine used to start with our radio alarm clock broadcasting our local commercial radio station; LINCSFM. An award winning station, with local presenters highlighting local events. It was good entertainment and fun.
Like much local media and local small independent shops, everyone is under a lot of pressure. Our local newspaper has gone from daily to once a week. And now the local radio station has gone.
Thanks to a change in legislation by the last conservative government, the local Media Act 2024 enabled larger companies to buy up local radio stations and last Friday they were able to remove all local broadcasting.
Its a sad good bye to:
Steve and Karen (North East)
John Harrison and Liesl Soards (and producer James Crookes) (South Yorkshire)
Alex and Nicola (East Yorkshire)
Elliot and Matilda (Staffordshire)
Leanne and Joel (Lancashire and Liverpool)
JD and Roisin (West Midlands)
Jo and Sparky (East Midlands)
Joseph Begley (Lincs)
Leigh and Claire (South Wales)
Neil and Saffy (Cornwall)
Mylo and Rosie (West Yorkshire)
In the mean time I’ll be tuning into my local BBC station for their breakfast show, and I see a new local radio station is trying to start up. https://www.lincssound.com So I’ll be giving them a listen when they start up on the 30th June.
Like most people today, I tend to stream music rather than play physical media, but streaming services pay artists very little money.
So I occasionally buy physical media. So far this year I have bought eight new CD’s and a few second hand vinyl albums.
I rip my CD’s to Flac and import them into Roon to manage, thus I can stream them when out on my phone and around the house to any Roon end point.
So every few months I run a report in Roon on my listening, and any artist that comes up high on the list I go out and buy their CD. I have a physical copy and they get paid better.
Recently we had workmen digging up the road and they cut through the main fibre optic cable delivering broadband to the village.
We have very poor mobile phone signal in the village so suddenly no streaming services. With the several hundred CD’s I own ripped to my own media server I could still stream to devices around the house.
I also buy DVD’s still. These are also ripped to file and held on my media server, so we could still stream movies from our own library.
My thirty year old amplifier has been having a few issues over this last year, so I have been looking at replacements.
An Audiolab or Music Fidelity was top of my list. Long term I would love a pair of class A mono block power amps, but for now an integrated amplifier was on the list.sea moss pills
At first the Audiolab was top of my list, but they discontinued the model I wanted before I could place an order, the offers were very good. So I was looking at Music Fidelity; the M3 was available at a good price but I wanted better, The M6 was fantastic but I could not find any offers. The M5 is a good solid class D amp that would drive anything and got good reviews. So I waited and the deal came, so I pulled the trigger. Yep a stunning amp, and the build in DAC is not too bad as well.
So that was my Hifi purchases for the year, or so I thought.
I was on holiday in Walberswick talking photographs of the Suffolk when the Black Friday deals started come through. I have been looking at the Cambridge Audio Streamer for a couple of years. I can plug in the TV, it can act as a Roon end point and it has internet radio, so lots of options. Guess what, a great offer came up. Up to now I have been either using an old iPhone 6 or my iPad as the streamer solution, now I had this option.
I was in the Walkerswick local bar having a meal with Caroline and Ted when the email came through. It was a no brainer. So I now have, a record deck, CD player also thirty years old and starting to fail and a brand new streamer.
So what’s for the future. Well in the main listening room, a new record deck, a new CD player and new speakers, but my amplifier and streamer are now sorted.
So back to the title of this post: Serious or casual listening; well casual its streaming either from my own server with Flac rips of my cd’s or on line streaming services, to either my main system, the Sonos in the kitchen or my system on in my office.
For serious listening I either put on a CD or a record, sit back with a nice whiskey and relax.
I like many people have too many hobbies. Not only that but they all some to want all my free cash. If I had one hobby life would be much easier. My main daybjob is an IT Engineer; that’s my main income, but messing around with computers is also a hobby. My second job and second income is that of a Photographer; Portraits, Portfolios, Weddings and commercial business portraits but its also a hobby.
I love travelling to lovely areas to take landscape photographs, using a mix of equipment including film, small, medium and large format.
I also have a small watch collection, mid tier pieces like SINN, unique pieces like British watchmaker FEARs; with my love of tech there is also an Apple Watch.
Watch Macro with Profoto A10
I have a fountain pen collection from low end Kaweco and TWSBI to higher end Pelikan and Montblanc and my love of coffee could also be called a hobby, I have brewers from Kalita, Chemex and Aeropress and a mid range espresso machine, and believe me once you get into espresso at home it really does become a crazy hobby, and you start buying custom, distribution tools, porta filters etc.
Lastly my love of music, I used to play the guitar, and now play banjo and piano (badly), but enjoy it. I also love listening to music. From popular opera, Beethoven, and Mozart, to pop like the recent Taylor Swift like her Evermore Album, Lana Del Rey, and most 1980’s pop, like the Communards, Duran Duran, Eurythmics and country and folk like Edwina Hayes, Ashley McBryde and even Sheryl Crow.
How do I listen to my music. Well when on the go, its an iPhone and Apple EarPods, its not hifi but its good enough. Sat at my desk in the company office, I may use a higher in ear sennheiser headphones, sometimes with an external battery DAC like the Cord Mojo. I have detailed how I listen in my office at home, A usb out of my desktop Mac, to a Schiit DAC and pre-amp then either to a pair of higher end Meze over ear headphones or my Ruark active speakers.
In the lounge I have may main hifi.
Its a low-end system I have had since my student days, with for now a days a basic Denon amp and a pair of Celestion DL4 stand mount speakers.
Its now fronted by a decent CD player, and a DAC being fed by an old iPad acting as a Roon Ready end point to stream to.
At some point I want to upgrade all of this starting with a dedicated streamer/dac and new speakers. If I was being sensible I should get something like a pair of Kev LS50 Meta’s, but part of me wants a nice set of floor standers but would they be too much for that room.
As always things will have to wait, I have a new studio flash to buy but I keep looking and investigating. As I said at the start – too many hobbies and they all seem to cost too much money.
If you are like me and still have a large vinyl and cd collection you may sometimes want to stream them. A lot of my older stuff is not on the major streaming services. So you will want to rip those CD’s to a hard drive so you can still stream around your home or to what ever device you want. Welcome to the world of music formats or shall we say containers.
Now the majority of music is all encoded to PCM 16-bit/44.1kHz audio. While there is a growing library of high resolution music, few music services offer it or broadcast/stream it.
So for the majority of listeners things like 24-bit/192kHz, MQA, DSD can all be safely ignored.
Lets get back onto the subject; you have a CD, your a Mac user with iTunes or Music as its now called and you want to simply rip it but preserve the quality.
In Music, select file, preferences and then Files, and Import Settings. From the drop down list select Apple Lossless Encoder. Its a compressed format, lossless, and can easily be converted to other open standards if necessary but just about all hardware supports apple lossless.
You might want to copy those rips to a spare hard drive, Apple products can occasionally do odd things, like delete your music files and then stream lossy versions from the cloud.
