# Digital music question - can't find that magic box!



## Salar (11 Aug 2020)

For the digi music buffs.

I listen to analogue and cd's most of the time.

However we have a large collection of cd's and cassettes which I need to log and transfer to pc.

I know how to rip cds to wav, mp3 etc and also how to transfer cassettes to my pc using audacity, so there's no problem there.

What I'm looking for is a box of tricks which I can connect to the line in on an amp and play back music using something like a usb stick?

I'm not interested in a Brennan or an amp with usb, but I don't think what I'm looking for exists.

I could just use an mp3 player and save files as mp3 I suppose, which is not ideal.

What about an external hard drive + DAC, but then how do I know what's playing?

Sorry for the long winded question!!!


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## ianrauk (11 Aug 2020)

Get yourself a Bluetooth receiver which you plug into your hifi.
You will then be able to stream your music from your PC, phone, tablet etc

Something like *this *(there are tons of alternatives available)


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## Salar (11 Aug 2020)

Thanks @ianrauk 

That would pick up my wifi, bluetooth settings on my pc, but I'd have to manage the device from the pc which is in another room. I really need some type of interface close to hifi so that I can see what's playing.


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## Salar (11 Aug 2020)

What I'm really looking for is something like a beefed up mp3 player with good display and lots of capacity.


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## ColinJ (11 Aug 2020)

It probably isn't of any use to you, but I just discovered that if I plug a USB stick into the back of my smart TV it looks at what is on it and shows a folder structure containing lists of MP3s, MP4s etc. which can then be played back through the TV and its soundbar. I haven't tried it yet, but I have a 300 GB external USB drive that I could plug in there, assuming that the USB sockets have enough DC power to run the drive.


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## Milkfloat (11 Aug 2020)

Salar said:


> What I'm really looking for is something like a beefed up mp3 player with good display and lots of capacity.


Your phone will do it. Or a Tablet / iPod etc. Easiest of all would be Spotify via an Amazon Echo.


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## ianrauk (11 Aug 2020)

Salar said:


> Thanks @ianrauk
> 
> That would pick up my wifi, bluetooth settings on my pc, but I'd have to manage the device from the pc which is in another room. I really need some type of interface close to hifi so that I can see what's playing.


If you upload your music to one of the cloud based players, you will be able to use your phone as well as your pc.


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## Salar (11 Aug 2020)

Milkfloat said:


> Your phone will do it. Or a Tablet / iPod etc. Easiest of all would be Spotify via an Amazon Echo.




Not my phone , my retro phone only allows calls and texts, that's it, doesn't even takes pictures.

I know what you mean though. I've a basic mp3 player which will do the job at a push. But I doubt I'd get all the cd's and tapes on it without using a card to expand it to 64gb. (I've approx 100 cds to do, plus at least 60 tapes  over time)


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## raleighnut (11 Aug 2020)

What you need is a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) plugged into the Computer/I Pad/Mp3_tablet then into the Aux on the Amp.


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## Salar (11 Aug 2020)

raleighnut said:


> What you need is a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) plugged into the Computer/I Pad/Mp3_tablet then into the Aux on the Amp.



That's what I was thinking, or maybe hard disk drive, DAC then amp. But there's no way to control the hard disk drive.
Mp3 players have a basic DAC, would introducing another improve things?


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## Salar (11 Aug 2020)

Think the solution might be a high quality DAC to overide (if it will) the one in the mp3 player and use a 64GB card in the mp3 player.


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## Profpointy (11 Aug 2020)

If the main PC (with all the music on) lives elsewhere, then I'd get another PC for the hi fi room, and set up the main PC as a "server" or use a backup hard drive to copy all the music and read it direct of the hi fi PC. Hi fi is undemanding. computing wise so the only thing to worry about is a quiet fan. If you've already go a tV in the hi fi room you don't even need another screen, and can also use it for netflix and so on

Re: Dac you really don't need to spend a huge amount if money. I spent maybe a couple of hundred quid on a secondhand proper studio quality professional card (maybe £600 brand new) and to be honest it only seemed marginally better than the PC in built DAC (both played through same medium-high end kit) . Firms like Meridian (pukka hi fi brand) do a DAC for quite reasonable money.

Firms like Naim do DACS for frankly stupid money.

It's worth loading the CDs up in "lossless" not MP3 format. MP3 is OK in the car and sounds OK in the house but there is clear difference if you listen side by side to both formats


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## raleighnut (11 Aug 2020)

Salar said:


> Think the solution might be a high quality DAC to overide (if it will) the one in the mp3 player and use a 64GB card in the mp3 player.


You'd still be running compressed MP3 files but hard wired to a DAC (HDMI cable) would be better sounding than anything 'bluetooth', WAV files from a computer would be best, nearly as good as CD but there's still losses from digital 'jitter' in the computer.


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## Venod (11 Aug 2020)

I have all my music on a NAS drive, that connects to the same wifi as my Yamaha amp, I use a phone to control it, but you do need a smart phone, there are loads of apps that do this Bubble PNP is my favourite, Yamaha also do a music cast app to control speakers in other rooms if thats your thing.
Before I had the Yamaha I had a wifi interface that plugged into my Teac amp, but again the smart phone was the controler.
I have used the TV plugged into the amp to also control the music, but different TVs have a different aproach, some don't let you browse the library while something is playing, Samsung has the best app, but again not all Samsungs may be the same.


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## Salar (12 Aug 2020)

Thanks All,

Didn't consider using a TV as a screen, good idea, there's a tv in the room which I could rig up to if need be.

Regarding a pc in the room, could maybe use a mini laptop, android or tablet ( not into Ipads though).

Need to find some layout diagrams now to show how to connect everything up.

The reason I'm doing this is we've downsized to a smaller property and my proper hifi has been "archived" in the loft as it's not allowed in the living room. 

So what I'm left with is a Technics mini separates system from the early 90's to play around with.


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## Salar (12 Aug 2020)

raleighnut said:


> What you need is a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) plugged into the Computer/I Pad/Mp3_tablet then into the Aux on the Amp.



Yes, I think that's the way to go  I'm thinking a refurbished tablet which I can transfer music to, an inline portable DAC connected to amps line in.

The only thing which I'm not sure about is a lot of tablets mp3 players etc only have a headphone jack to connect to, won't this reduce sound quality, I don't know ? but isn't the music in a digital format any way.

Thanks all


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## Milkfloat (12 Aug 2020)

Your cheapest solution would be a smart phone or a tablet and it offers so much more than music.


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## icowden (12 Aug 2020)

Another approach is to look at buying a SONOS - but you'll stlll need a Smartphone to act as the controller.

Your biggest problem seems to be the controller. You have an amp. You have the tracks - you need a way to link one to the other and to control what is playing.
I have a stack of music on my PC which I can play via my SONOS, but using my smartphone to control and choose what playlist or CD I want to listen to. That said, more often than not I just hit up Amazon music these days and play that over SONOS instead.


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## Milkfloat (12 Aug 2020)

Much cheaper than a Sonos is the Amazon Echo or even a Chromecast audio.

https://www.whathifi.com/google/chromecast-audio/review


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## icowden (12 Aug 2020)

Can the Echo or Chromecast hook up to a PC for local tracks though?


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## Milkfloat (12 Aug 2020)

icowden said:


> Can the Echo or Chromecast hook up to a PC for local tracks though?


Over bluetooth/wifi yes.


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## Venod (12 Aug 2020)

Chromcast audio is a good piece of kit, I use it in the garage to play my music from the NAS and Spotify/digital radio from my phone to my old hifi.


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## marzjennings (12 Aug 2020)

How about something like a Pyle amp that could take a usb stick or an SD card. You could run it as a pre-amp into your existing set up.


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## swee'pea99 (12 Aug 2020)

Salar said:


> What I'm looking for is a box of tricks which I can connect to the line in on an amp and play back music


This is one of the ways I listen to music, with one of these




(Sony NW-A3000)

or these




(Philips HDD120)

or these




(Creative Zen Touch)

plugged directly into the amp through a 10m 3.5mm jack -> amp inputs lead. 

You have fingertip control (keep the player on the sofa), and can skip, rewind, ff, adjust volume, whatever - and the sound quality is really very good. 

the Philips one (the second, above) actually makes high quality recordings to MP3 as well!

All these players come up on ebay constantly, and can be had for as little as a tenner, including delivery. They're 20gb, and hold loads of music - certainly the kind of shopping list you describe would be no kind of challenge. I just checked the one I have here on my desk, and it reports 2,912 tracks. 

Battery life tends to be poor - no more than two or three hours, typically - though you can buy and fit replacements, which push that up to 10-12 hours. But since they live on the sofa, that's not really any great hardship.


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## MontyVeda (12 Aug 2020)

Some DAB radios (Pure Evoke & Flow i think) can connect to your PC via wifi and allows you to browse your music files on the radio display and play what you want.


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## Salar (12 Aug 2020)

marzjennings said:


> How about something like a Pyle amp that could take a usb stick or an SD card. You could run it as a pre-amp into your existing set up.
> 
> View attachment 541225




Yes, that type of thing caught my eye, I initially dismissed them, but it might be the neatest (and cheapest solution  ) and easily incorporated into my system
Wonder if or how it displays what is playing, is it just bluetooth.


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## Salar (12 Aug 2020)

Thanks @swee'pea99 

I'll check them out on fleabay.


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## raleighnut (12 Aug 2020)

Salar said:


> Yes, I think that's the way to go  I'm thinking a refurbished tablet which I can transfer music to, an inline portable DAC connected to amps line in.
> 
> The only thing which I'm not sure about is a lot of tablets mp3 players etc only have a headphone jack to connect to, won't this reduce sound quality, I don't know ? but isn't the music in a digital format any way.
> 
> Thanks all


The charge port is generally micro HDMI, they'll connect through that well Maz's I pad mini does into my CD player's HDMI input to the internal DAC in that, so does my mates 'smartphone' (he's got 'spotify' on that as a 2nd user from his daughters account)


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## Salar (12 Aug 2020)

Yes @raleighnut the charge port does work. I just plugged my mp3 player into pc and it played.


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## accountantpete (18 Aug 2020)

As I mentioned in another thread there is a slightly complicated answer to all your problems - all you need is a Raspberry Pi 3/4 with a HAT on.

The Rpi is then loaded with a music playing OS such as Moode or Volumino and connected to your router for internet based streaming/radio or you can plug in a USB flash drive loaded with flac music files and the os will happily play these.

The HAT can either be a spdif extractor like Hifiberry digi or the cheaper chinese PIFI which then connect to your dac or you can get a dac HAT which will do everything. Either way these plug into your amp and speaker setup.

The set up of the os is slightly complicated as most are headless and need to be addressed via http - so you need an old smartphone/tablet/laptop as a remote control.

The end result is you get to maximise the sound quality - if that is what you are after.


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## rogerzilla (19 Aug 2020)

I have a Cambridge Audio NP30 that does all this stuff.


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## gom (20 Aug 2020)

When I discovered that iPods were no longer being made (and iTunes became appalling post v10) I looked around for hi-qual mp3 players and settled on Fiio (reading on-line reviews). I now have X1 and X3, although these exact models have now been replaced. Originally used at work, but I found good when plugged into a mini-hifi via line-out (they have options for headphones or line-out from the headphone socket). The X3 has a digital out, but I never got round to using it. 
Both take a micro SD for storage (none internal), and can handle 128Gb.
They support .mp3, .flac, .m4a & probably others.
You can find things via album, artist, etc. tag in the file, but I find the files+folders view is the best way.
I don't know what would now be considered a a quality "mp3" player, but I do find browsing from the player a very easy way to select and play stuff - so I agree with other posters that a good "mp3" is the way to go. I have another gadget that will play music from the PC via wifi, but it is a right pain to use, so I don't bother.


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## Tremorpheus (31 Aug 2020)

How about a a pirate audio line out with raspberry pi zero and pibow zero case from pimoroni.com? DAC and screen with local buttons, Spotify, plex server, local mp3 etc support and not expensive


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## Tremorpheus (31 Aug 2020)

Tremorpheus said:


> How about a a pirate audio line out with raspberry pi zero and pibow zero case from pimoroni.com? DAC and screen with local buttons, Spotify, plex server, local mp3 etc support and not expensive


P.s. forgot to say smartphone/tablet web interface too..


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