Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

I hate to say it but Roon would make your problems with Tidal streaming go away. The KEF's are very popular on the Roon forum. It seems that people have issues streaming to them above 44/16 wirelessly but that needn't be a problem.

£1k later you can have an NUC running Roon and a lifetime licence. I'm very happy I went down that route but it seems like a lot of money at the outset. You can of course subscribe to Roon annually.

Interesting.

I was looking at these a while ago for a low box count hifi solution, but got a bit bogged down in what I would use for the source.

How do you have these set up?

For ref, my main system source is NAS > Laptop via ethernet > DAC > amp. I get that looks quite clunky in "modern times"!

£1k later you can have an NUC running Roon and a lifetime licence.

Yeah, that's why I curtailed my investigations into the KEFs...

Yeah, that's kind of the conclusion I've been coming to, but adding a roon subscription essentially to solve an interface problem that shouldn't exist feels bad, and opens another avenue to pour money down.

But given I've been buying a lot of stuff on Bandcamp and am gradually amassing a flac library again, maybe it is just time to bite the bullet on that.

Are they active speakers or do you have an amp sitting somewhere?

I never got a soundbar for my TV (mostly because the neighbours already whinge about the TV by itself) but if I could get better sound at low volume maybe I wouldn't need to crank it up. Really, I should just save cash for moving but Covid fucked that.

Primarily, we stream directly to them using Spotify connect - so the spotify app on a phone, or computer, or anything just acts as a remote and the speakers handle all the streaming and dac duties. It's as simple as turning them on, hitting play in the app and selecting the LS50s as the output. If Spotify ever open up a 'hifi quality' tier all of my issues would disappear...

For records, I have a Rega phono stage that just plugs in to the back of the master speaker.

£1k later you can have an NUC running Roon and a lifetime licence. I'm very happy I went down that route but it seems like a lot of money at the outset. You can of course subscribe to Roon annually.

I feel seen. (Bought a NUC as my iMac kept going to sleep) havent bought the lifetime sub yet..

Lifetime sub seems to be going up in price! I'm sure it used to be £350

mostly because the neighbours already whinge about the TV

at low volume

Isnt it the low freq that pentrate moar?!? Wouldnt they complain moar?

#MoarBass

I'm a bit weary of spending that much on what is essentially a service. At the moment you'd be the best part of 5 years down the line before you started benefitting from the life time sub.

I was thinking with better speakers I might not need the whole thing turned up as much for the same clarity, etc. ie. instead of bouncing most of the shitty tv speaker sound into the cabinet I could aim better speakers at the sofa.

I doubt my TV could produce enough bass for them to get annoyed with, can only assume it's the higher pitched stuff. Much like the noises their friggin children make that I've never mentioned...

They are active. Here's a pic of the back. I set the volume and bass to 50% on the back and haven't had to adjust since. For 70 quid I can't recommend them enough, especially vs the muddy sound I was putting up with before. Subtitles have become an annoying distraction vs an essential requirement.

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They did put it up by £200, without warning. Tempers flared but they have said they discuss ending the lifetime subs regularly and one day new lifetime subs will not be an option. Of course existing lifetime subs would still stand.

I think they changed the balance significantly with the price rise. I got in at the lower price which still seemed high but I'll be in profit soon!

I'm all for moar speakers. So do it!

Usual rulez... On stands, at ear level, away from walls.

I am trying to sort out a 5.1 (5.0 actually as the bass might be a bit much) for the same reason, the smaller rear speakers will mean not having to turn the volume up so much.

I have also noticed a lot of movies might as well be silent movies. Crank my soundbar to full tilt to hear them speak.
But EXPLOSIONS , my god, rock the neighbourhood!

On stands, at ear level, away from walls.

Usual problem, london flat, no chance, none at all.

a lot of movies might as well be silent movies

Yeah, dialogue that's almost impossible to hear so you turn it up and then fucking BOOM or they play some music that's 2x volume of the rest of the film.

I think they're just a few mm too wide to fit sideways under the TV here. Poo.

dialogue that's almost impossible to hear so you turn it up and then fucking BOOM or they play some music that's 2x volume of the rest of the film.

I read somewhere that this is because we're using 2.0 channels (TV or soundbars) rather that the true 5.1 where the movie relies on the centre channel for voices. Not sure how true, but, like i said, #moarspeakers

That is very likely the reason but there should be two audio streams available for movies and your tv should be set to play the appropriate one. Whether the guys mixing it ever bothered to do a proper 2 channel mix probably depends on budget though.

Usually in a 5.1 the centre channel carries the dialogue. So much mumbling goes on these days it probably doesn't help anyway.

A lot of soundbars and AV amps have DRC (sometimes night mode) which boosts the dialogue and cuts the bass back on the explosions, etc

He introduced it as his "glory hole". Top Freudian slippage

There is another meaning, which was common in my youth. A glory hole was simply an untidy room, no sexual inyourendo at all.

great, if it works... Not on mine sadly

I think it partly depends on the source. Dolby Digital has extra encoding for DRC but other stuff won't necessarily.

Roon / Tidal

I am really liking Audirvana and Audirvana Remote to stream Tidal from MacBook. Only £80 for the licence. Not nearly as richly featured as Roon but it’s a decent interface and ties in your saved library too. You do need to have your computer on, that’s the only downside. Works great for me as it’s my work system.

If your streamer is an airplay device (e.g. rPi with any of the main music streaming OSs) then you can go straight from your phone from the Tidal app no hassle at all just like Spotify.

Of course Plex does Tidal integration too.

This discussion has lead me to investigate Tidal and Roon and now I have a bit of a dilemma.

I currently use JRiver MC which is fine to play files from my NAS and stream stuff from the internet. It's a decent piece of software and costs very little (one off licence payment).

There is something like 300 Gb of FLAC files on my NAS (all ripped from CDs which I own); I don't use any streaming services other than internet radio.

I could get Roon and Tidal HiFi for about £30 / month. This would give me:

A much nicer user interface from what i can see of Roon on their website, with additional features that would make it really easy, particularly when coupled to Tidal, to explore new music;
A pretty much complete library which would negate the need to buy and rip CDs, keep various storage places mirrored etc;
Largely negate the problems of transporting music around;
Enable simple second systems with e.g. just a set of wireless speakers.

I'm kind of tempted to try it out.

Any views on this? am I over stating the benefits? Any views on how good the Tidal catalogue is?