Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

An android. Currently I can cast to my TV but that doesn't do gapless.

Im looking for a way to do what Roon does with paying roon cash. Mostly streaming tidal to be honest.

For Raspberry Pi and Tidal I use Volumio on the Pi and Bubble UPNP to send Tidal to it (it can also do the same with your plex library). The full version costs a couple of quid but works nicely to send a whole variety of stuff to a whole variety of other stuff.

can you use bubble upnp from plexamp?

No. It's a standalone app that basically takes your various music libraries (plex, tidal, local files, network, dropbox, etc) and "casts" it to various devices using different protocols (google cast, UPNP/DLNA, etc).

It's not a beautiful interface but it has a lot of functionality.

I have a Marantz CD-48 in my system powered by another Marantz piece (PM6010 OSE KI sig.).
I find there is a bit (lot?) of brightness in the sound and instruments don't sound that natural, with a lack of bass (for me).
I have been offered a Rega Apollo (mk. I) for £260. Is that a good option to remedy the brightness/no bass situation? And 2, is that a fair price for it given it's fairly old now?

the 601s are famously bright, aren't they?

I actually didn't think they could have been the reason behind this brightness.
I do want to move to floostanders in the longer-term (sometime next year or even later, as I'll need more room for sure).

The first review I got from a search mentioned quite a few reviewers had found it bright, although they used lots of different ways to describe that.

i have a diy gainclone amp here that i bought off a hifi forum for not a lot of money. i wanted a spare amp and something i could stick between the imac and the speakers if we wanted to watch any telly. this has dual volume controls.

it is pretty good! i did not expect it to sond as good as it does. the highs are a bit rolled off, but this is excellent in a single source set up.

You should try my tiny tripath with the big Tannoys some time.

Without doubt I've come to the same conclusion. There are aspects of the HiFi game that don't make any sense at all. Listen to an album like Harry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall and you have to wonder what we've forgotten about recording techniques in the past 60 years.

Have you listened to anything on the International Anthem label? Stuff on that label sounds uniformly well recorded and mastered, puts a lot of 'audiophile' vinyl releases to shame.

Yes, I have IARC0030 Alabaster De Plume - To Cy & Lee, Instrumentals Vol. 1 released earlier this year. I was recommending it in the vinyl junkies thread a few months ago. Really good music, recording and pressing all very good. Pressed at Pallas. I think Pallas can do a great job if labels don't ask them to cut corners, historically they have a good reputation.

My own limited straw poll which is probably 1200 pieces in the last few years has Speakers Corner at the top of the pile for musical content, mastering, pressing and sleeves. If you are in Europe they are by far the best value of the well established labels. In the states Analogue Productions would be my pick.

I have a lot of these types of pressings and they are really enjoyable to own and play, even buying from a distributor the American ones are painful to get hold of though.

I should keep a look out for more from International Anthem. If you've not heard Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders it's worth a listen on any format, the LP was actually pretty good considering it's quite a quiet recording.

Is it a fools errand to try and fix the auto return on my SL 1300mk2? The local repair guy seemed a bit bemused and clearly hadn't done it before, so I decided to take the deck back before he started taking it apart. I can just about solder basic wire connections, I'm definitely a novice. I do have a cheap temperature adjustable soldering iron at least...

This forum post includes a fairly comprehensive run through of what it involves: https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/i-have-a-technics-sl-1300-mk2-that-has-a-auto-return-issue-help-please.698321/page-2

What's your track record like on repairing this type of thing. I managed a few bits on the SL1200 without any help before the internet came along. It's much easier in the age of tutorials. There's usually not much danger that you will break it and never put it back together again right?

Err.. not great. I managed to screw up replacing the power cord on an old 1200, but I didn't have a proper soldering iron and was young and wreckless. Got there eventually with the help of a mate with better soldering skills. I'd like to think I'm a lot better at following instructions these days.

I'd happily pay someone to do it, but the local expert didn't seem at all familiar or really willing to research it, which rang alarm bells.

I'm usually quite willing to open something up but there have been casualties and sometimes I couldn't diagnose the problem. The mechanical stuff inside that era of decks is that would worry me. I have a big tape deck that needs a new belt drive, having seen the manual I've put the job off for about 10 years.

I have been having issues with the Marantz CD player cutting out very briefly on some tracks.
I did try to clean it up including the lens however it's still happening.
So yesterday I replaced it with an even older machine (Philips 610) and not only it plays perfectly (so far) but the brightness I mentioned earlier with the Marantz amp+cd has gone.
It all sounds pretty good now even if the bass is still too timid. I guess it's down the speakers. Still very happy.
Now to build a decent tt.

I've had some luck replacing power supply capacitors in older CD players. Good news regarding the Philips. Like you say, bass could be speaker dependant. If you position them in a corner they should get a +6db boost in the bass range. That's the principal smaller speakers use to develop bass.

Set up roon as it was cheap for BF. Searching tidal is Slow. Did anyone else have this problem?

Never have but it might be processing your library if you've only just set it up. The Roon forum is quite useful, just title your thread something like "I'm stopping my trial because Roon is too expensive" It will run and run :)

I'm considering 2 options for my turntable upgrade.
I've been offered a Thorens TD166 mkII for £200 (no cartridge).
Or I've got my Rega P3, RB220 arm (new), upgrade external rewiring kit, and an E3. All this as a kit and needs to be built.

Main question is which is likely to sound best? (Could use the E3 on the Thorens as stopgap although I have my eyes on either 2M Blue or AT V540)

It was something to do with running it in a container. I'm not good enough at docker to fix it so just installed in normally on my server. I'll keep it for the 3 months. Dont think id pay full price for it.

It's not for everyone but I bought the lifetime when it was cheaper and I use it so much its not even a consideration. Although I've also got Plex it doesn't seem to cover the same territory. I do think that Roon have to be very careful as they are on a shrinking island. Having said that they've been developing this software since Meridian and Sooloos and the integration with high end streaming kit is seamless.

I also like all the extra metadata and the recommendations, pretty much everything about it really, except the price, which I've already paid and forgotten.

I haven't got much of a library either so mainly as a vehicle to get the high bit rate audio from tidal to stream via my av receiver. Probably not the intended consumer. Something with the upcoming tidal connect would probably suit me better.

I think it comes to life with either a big library or a lot of endpoints. We have a lot of small endpoints that can function in unison or not depending on location.

The metadata is probably beyond Tidal but their recommends are likely up there, better or improving. Plex radio is pretty decent too. If Plex had more endpoint control (that I could find) it might kill Roon for a lot of people.