Korean Job Discussion Forums

[swigs]

Some great advice on here.

Here are the steps I would recommend.

Step 1: Burn all your CDs to an external 1 terabyte hard drive in a lossless format, like FLAC.

Step 2: Get a decent pair of Headphones. (Sennheiser HD555 is great for the price)

Step 3: Get a DAC/Headphone amp hybrid. I just ordered this: http://littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=818&sid=79d32d0a974fb1f4f4b96debd27d7604

Step 4: Enjoy about the highest quality music you can for under 1000 usd.

This setup should be much higher quality than listening to music through some other source. You could also use the DAC to run to speakers as well, kind of like a pre-amp that decodes the digital to analog in high quality.

[swigs]

But if you just want a Hi-Fi CD player you could order this: http://littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=823&sid=48fae1f85eb000429d5c41fd427b4200

But you would need some good speakers/and or amp to take advantage of it.

[bassexpander]

Wow, Tivoli sure wants a pretty penny for their CD player:

http://itempage3.auction.co.kr/DetailView.aspx?ItemNo=A531500779&listqs=class%3dSearch.Search%26keyword%3dtivoli%26nickname%3d%26frm%3d%26dom%3dauction%26isSuggestion%3dNo%26retry%3d%26x%3d0%26y%3d0%26PremiumCnt%3d16%26page%3d3%26cc%3dAB73%26listorder%3d62&listtitle=tivoli&scoredtype=0&frm2=through

[swigs]

Yeah, I agree with some other posters, that there is no reason to have a Hi-Fi CD player these days with lossless compression like FLAC. Just get a large hard drive, burn your CD's in FLAC format to your hard drive, enjoy the artwork and keep the CD for back up if you like. I agree with the OP, that buying CD's is a great way to find and buy audio, as it's still the highest quality way to buy audio at an affordable price. But there is no reason to invest in a CD player when you can listen to uncompressed audio from you computer, via a DAC, or a quality PMP or other portable music/media device.

Best of luck in what ever way you go. CD's are still great, just not for portable use. But I think Seoul has quite a few surprisingly cool CD stores.

[Hindsight]

FLAC files do sound good. Sometimes I think they sound better than the CD. This is not impossible, as the sound of the CD depends on the quality of the digital to analog converter (DAC), and other factors. CD players have to use oversampling and other gimmicks to overcome the limitations of the format. My impression is that it is apparently easier to convert FLAC files back to an analog waveform.

However, two things.

1) There may be some variation in the quality produced by the FLAC encoder program. There seem to be differences in the quality of MP3s and WMAs produced by different programs. Heck, there may be differences in in the quality of the programs used to decode the files, as well as the sound cards, of course.

2) The OP bought a simple, high quality desktop radio, and I think was trying to find a simple way to play CDs through it. He did not want to use his laptop. So that leaves three options: A component CD player, a portable CD player, or a DVD player. For the DVD deck, you can get your usual full size model, or a much smaller one with the option of AC or DC power, which Koreans sometimes use inside a car. You can also get a full DVD player, with screen and speakers.

This does not preclude using an MP3 player as a source, as well. Since many of you are suggesting FLACs, and the OP wants to purchase CDs, the question then is whether there are places where he can buy FLAC music files?

You can also get a full DVD player, with screen and speakers. I think this approach is most in keeping with the OP's simple, compact approach. Here are two quick examples:

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=114675487

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=157173594

You don't go crowding up your apartment, you can take them with you easily when you move, and it covers just about all media, including CDs, I assume. You have a remote control for the DVD player, and it presumably has instant on, unlike a laptop.

Now I am going to complicate things slightly. Some of these DVD players accept SDHC cards and USB flash drives. So my ideal portable DVD player would play avi video files, MP3s, WMAs, FLAC, APE and OGG.It would also have a spdif optial audio output for connecting to a hifi. And be region free. I don't know if you can cover all these bases. But they are features to look for.

Most important, if you live in Seoul, I would try out any DVD players first to make sure you like them, they have English menus, that they do actually play avi files from SDHC, etc. I got a cheap DVD player from gmarket and it didn't deliver on its promises. So test it out.

Anyone have some experience or insight with portable DVD players with screens?

[Horangi Munshin]

I've had a pair of those Britz speakers for about 7 years! I love them!

[talltony4]

Ah, so FLAC files are just a lossless conversion of a conventional CD? Probably not for me then

Some research on Wikipedia about DVD and SACD turned up the following interesting facts:

-DVD audio and SACD are locked in a format war
-The amount of popular music released on each format is minimal, (but, I think, probably equivalent to vinyl)
-I think for both formats, but especially for DVD audio, the extra bandwidth is sometimes used for multiple channels rather than for higher fidelity stereo.
-and the most interesting fact: in controlled, double-blind testing, listeners have been unable to tell the difference between normal CD and SACD/DVD audio!

SO, I think I just want a portable CD player. Has anyone got one for sale? I really want this!

http://www.aloaudio.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_6&products_id=3

but I would settle for whatever, as long as the ESP is switchable

thanks

Talltony

[bassexpander]

I own about 25 SACD's. Whether or not people can tell the difference is largely due to:

1. The original encoding of the disc.
2. The quality of the system they are listening on.

It's a sad trajedy that hurt the format -- some SACD's were not actually any better than CD's due to the masters the songs came from. I have an album by The Police which is this way.

And there were issues with early SACD's lacking bass response.

There is, however, a huge difference between CD and SACD when the songs were recorded with SACD playback in mind. I have a few of these discs. I turned one on at a party and actually freaked out a few people who thought someone in the room started singing and playing guitar. It was pretty cool. I also have a somewhat pricey system, however.

A lot of music squashes the dynamic range. A tremendous dynamic range is where SACD really excels. Squash it too much, and you lose so much.

[smogdonkey]

I hate reading about crap like this for the same reason I love, and then hate, stopping by my parents' house. I sit around and listen to vinyl and hook up my computer at their house, and I enjoy the 'listening room' with the Klipschorns and sound dampeners, laying back in an old barber chair in the middle of the room.

Then I go home and wonder why my wonderful music collection sounds like crap again.

I had a different pair of wood-box Ashtons for about $50 with a sub and two satellites hooked up to the PC in Korea that worked very well for me.

[Hindsight]

Interesting post, smogdonkey. You love your parents' hifi, yet you were happy with your Ashtons.

I have a real hifi here. Yet I am happy with my smaller Ashton's, too. I actually bought mine at 14,000 won.

If I sit in the sweet spot for my speakers with a good recording, the effect is sort of magical -- very realistic. Yet if I am listening to the Ashtons the sound is good enough that I can enjoy it, too.

Cheap audio equipment has come a long way. Sometimes I look at them and think that if I had had them 10 or 20 years ago, I would have been willing to pay hundreds of dollars for them.

But not all cheap audio gear is good, of course. You have to know what to listen for, or at least be lucky. There's only so many manufacturers of the prime components, and then lots and lots of companies put that stuff into boxes to make speakers or MP3 players, etc. I really think some surplus moderately high end components are making their way into dirt cheap gear. Also, the Ashton probably has a digital T-amp or something like it.

There are some really bad computer speakers here, especially ones in plastic cases. But there are some new types of speaker drivers that might be good, too, on some of them.

I've been listening more closely to those Britz BR-1000A speakers in my classroom. They are actually very good, though the computer's sound card is weak.

So my advice is get some good amplified speakers when you get here. Nearly everyone has a computer or MP3 player. Add some decent, reasonably priced speakers and you will have a very pleasant sound system that you can enjoy, even if you are a hifi geek.

BTW, the best portable CD player I've heard, by far, is the Citizen CD-140. I've plugged it into my hi-fi and compared them to my bottom of the line high end Sony CD deck, along with Sony's flagship DVD recorder' cd section. The Citizen appeared to bear a family resemblance in the sound, as tough it had some common DAC components. By this point, sales of high end CD gear was plummeting, so it was possible they were dumping chips into cheap gear like portable players. The Citizen puts out more than enough power to blow out a portable headphone set, and has a nice radio.

If you can find any of these era, grab them if you play CDs.On the other hand, there are other ways to get sound out of a CD these days. And there are some nice new CD players that do MP3 files and sometimes even CDV files through a video out jack.