Hi Graber
Did look at other CDP options including the Bryston stuff..............all my electronics are Bryston, BTW, except CDP and speakers........ They offer an optical player, essentially a transport, which I was hoping to pair with the Yggdrasil Dac. Unfortunately, I called them and it only works with THEIR BDP players, which I found odd and disconcerting. I could still use it with any DAC, but it meant another pricey piece of kit in between, so I nixed that idea. Their CDP gets great reviews, but it's a bit out of my range, $$$
Looked for other transport options, but sadly, like CDP's they seem to be getting few and far between and again, either lower level or ridiculous $$$. I don't have unlimited funds, so money is a factor. What I wanted is a high level machine, or machines, that I can afford and be happy with for a few years.
I got a lot of good advice and suggestions on the whole streaming, downloading, programming, storage, external DAC, etc. In the end it just seemed to be a lot more trouble than I wanted to fool with. I'm sure it works just fine, but I'd rather listen to my gear, than play with it.......
..I took the simple way out. New CDP, high end...........probably not the BEST out there, but a couple of levels above what I have now, good warranty and good track record based on my own experience with Marantz gear.
Really wanted to give that Schiit DAC a whirl and perhaps down the road I will. Use the 14s1 as a transport to the Schiit and run it from a laptop, but not this time around.
There are a lot of ways to do audio, but I'm a K.I.S.S., plug N play guy. The new and improved way of doing audio is via computer/web based tech...........I'm fine with that, but whether or not it's audibly better may be debatable. A number of blogs and reviews I read weren't particularly convincing on that aspect. No personal experience with it, so I have no opinion either way.
No, the Marantz box doesn't do streaming, but I don't either, so that's OK, at least for the moment. One reviewer compared it sonically to the NA11s1 network player, which Stereophile rated as A+...........that's close enough to audio nirvana for me.
Hundreds of millions of CD's out there, maybe billions,
so whether that format goes away or not, the music will be available for a long time, longer than I need to worry about :)
To each his own.
Did look at other CDP options including the Bryston stuff..............all my electronics are Bryston, BTW, except CDP and speakers........ They offer an optical player, essentially a transport, which I was hoping to pair with the Yggdrasil Dac. Unfortunately, I called them and it only works with THEIR BDP players, which I found odd and disconcerting. I could still use it with any DAC, but it meant another pricey piece of kit in between, so I nixed that idea. Their CDP gets great reviews, but it's a bit out of my range, $$$
Looked for other transport options, but sadly, like CDP's they seem to be getting few and far between and again, either lower level or ridiculous $$$. I don't have unlimited funds, so money is a factor. What I wanted is a high level machine, or machines, that I can afford and be happy with for a few years.
I got a lot of good advice and suggestions on the whole streaming, downloading, programming, storage, external DAC, etc. In the end it just seemed to be a lot more trouble than I wanted to fool with. I'm sure it works just fine, but I'd rather listen to my gear, than play with it.......
..I took the simple way out. New CDP, high end...........probably not the BEST out there, but a couple of levels above what I have now, good warranty and good track record based on my own experience with Marantz gear.
Really wanted to give that Schiit DAC a whirl and perhaps down the road I will. Use the 14s1 as a transport to the Schiit and run it from a laptop, but not this time around.
There are a lot of ways to do audio, but I'm a K.I.S.S., plug N play guy. The new and improved way of doing audio is via computer/web based tech...........I'm fine with that, but whether or not it's audibly better may be debatable. A number of blogs and reviews I read weren't particularly convincing on that aspect. No personal experience with it, so I have no opinion either way.
No, the Marantz box doesn't do streaming, but I don't either, so that's OK, at least for the moment. One reviewer compared it sonically to the NA11s1 network player, which Stereophile rated as A+...........that's close enough to audio nirvana for me.
Hundreds of millions of CD's out there, maybe billions,
so whether that format goes away or not, the music will be available for a long time, longer than I need to worry about :)
To each his own.