After spending considerable time researching and reading archive posts here I was hoping I might be able to ask for feedback on my plans and choices for my music collection. I know I’m going on here a bit, but hopefully the kind Folks here can provide some feedback and/or suggestions on all or a part of my endeavors.

I’m 52, work at home in a comfortable office. I have a good computer, plenty of drive space, a large CD collection, and listen to CD’s often. I have an old Marantz 2270 with a walnut case in very good shape. It’s a tank, but I’m sure the technology is quite dated, circa 1974. On top of it is a NAD CD player and I listen trough two PSB Alpha B1’s on stands. I also have an older Ipod, but will probably replace it with a non Apple player like a Sandisk.

I’m in the beginning end of ripping my large CD collection to a dedicated drive using EAC, Accuraterip and FLAC. Took a bit of learning curve, but I’m on my way.

I’m thinking of using Winamp as a player and running a 20 foot cable from my five year old sound card to the audio aux RCA plugs of the Marantz. This way I can listen to my collection through the PSB’s while in the office and also rip CD’s using Winamp with lame-out plugin for use in the car, boat or portable player.

Am I on the right track here? I can tell the difference between an MP3 CD and the original CD in my system. I’m hoping I will get the same quality streaming my music from the dedicated hard drive FLAC files using Winamp and still be able to make MP3 disks that are pretty much throwaway or ripped off from the car or boat proof.

Should I buy a new sound card? I’m an old dinosaur and would have a hard time giving up my Marantz. It’s a culture thing, kickback memories from Sansui speakers and reel to reels…. Never mind….

Anyway, I don’t want any video skins and could care less if my monitor plays an electronic lava lamp. I don’t have time to get too involved, but I do enjoy listening to better music than my Ipod buds.

Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

Cheers,

Up in AK

What kind of cable do you have in mind? You should certainly be using individually screened cores. Off the top of my head, I think the kind of screened cable typically used for audio has a capacitance of about 100 pF per foot, in which case your twenty foot length would be 2 nF. The important detail here is the product of cable capacitance and sound card output impedance, eg a 1 kilohm output impedance with a 2 nF cable gives 2 microseconds. To avoid noticeable loss of high frequencies you should be aiming for 5 microseconds or less (1 dB down at 16 kHz). To find out whether your proposed setup will be acceptable you'll need some information about your sound card.

What sound card do you currently have? It looks to me like it could be the "weak link" in your setup. If you have an integrated sound card (as in, attached to the motherboard) you will definitely want to get a better one as these tend to be very noisy and low-quality all around. I'm happy with my $20 Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit, but some people prefer more expensive $60 or even $100 cards.

If you think your amp sounds good, stick with it. I don't even think analog amplifier technology has changed much since the 70s (but don't quote me), a good amp then should still be a good amp now.

Try Lame MP3 VBR circa 200 kbps and you will not be able to tell the difference from the original.

By the way. Why don't you try SB or Roku Sound Bridge to conect directly from your computer to the stereo (no need for sound card.) They have remote control that allows you to browse your computer's collection (and play lists) from the amplifier's location.

Is 20 ft the most you'll ever need? Do you care if you have to boot up a PC to listen to music?

This weekend my wife and I (we're about your age) are installing a Sonos system which will play drectly off a networked harddrive, without having to boot a PC. We've ripped our 1300 CD collection to it (plus maybe a thousand other tracks from other sources). We're using 192-320 kbps VBR MP3 because we can't hear any audible difference with the original CD's and that way we can copy the same files to play on our iPod and still fit our whole collection on it.

Sonos is wireless, comes with cute remotes with built-in displays, and automatically forms a mesh network so if you ever move into a mansion you can you can expand it to as many zones as you need to fit. It also plays internet radio.

I'd be interested in your comments on how the setup goes and your thoughts on the use of the system after it is up and running. Perhaps you'll post these. Thanks.