Sneaky ds

[Gbeer7]

Good morning all !

Been a while since i've posted. Let you know what i've been up to ! Got myself a Linn Sneaky DS and linked to the audiolab monoblocs through the KEF 5QQSE is absolutely awesome ! Really loving it. Going through the slow process of ripping CD's to Flac via DBpoweramp. The beatles stereo and mono sound amazing though it ! Can't get enough music at the moment !!

[The Vinyl Adventure]

welcome to the very small club of members of aos with linn streamers as the source ... your club registration number is 0000002 ;)
what are you using as a media server and what cd rip software are you using?

[Stratmangler]

welcome to the very small club of members of aos with linn streamers as the source ... your club registration number is 0000002 ;)
what are you using as a media server and what cd rip software are you using?

Ahem!!!

That might be
Going through the slow process of ripping CD's to Flac via DBpoweramp.

;):lolsign:

[The Vinyl Adventure]

ha, thats the second time today i havent read a post properly... i blame the shit hold music that i am listening to ... its putting me off

[Gbeer7]

Thank you ! Yeah using DBpoweramp. My server is a 1tb QNAP. Would have liked at 2tb but couldn't afford that. Using the laptop and kinksy desktop but hope to get an IPAD next yeah to control it. Very impressed by it.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

id just get an ipod touch if i were you, chorus ds and plug player are both better than kinsky by a margin.
id be interested to know how you get on with the qnap... i get a regular issue with drop outs using my pc as a server ... but i know that this is down to the short comings of using a pd...
can i get a link to the qnap you use.. what media server do you have installed on it?

[Gbeer7]

Hi, i'll look at the box when i get home and let you know what QNAP model it is. I'm using twonky media on the NAS. So far i've not had any dropouts, hope it doesn't change now i said that ! Just plugged into my BT homehub and was off and running. I bought it from Tyson's and they were very helpful.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

nah you should be fine with a nas from what i understand...
i only really have issues because of the set up... ultimate (where i got mine from) were telling my they used to have issues that were resolved once they had a decent nas in place
do you know off the top of your head what the nas cost? my need for one is getting pretty great as im soon to be moving the computer out of the office at home into an office else where which will leave me musicless unless i find a solution...

[Gbeer7]

I think it was about £200, that was for a TB of space. You can get smaller disk space. As i said mines a QNAP, but i don't think it matters who you go with. Tyson's were good enough to pre installing Twonky on the drive for me. But probably fairly easy to do yourself.

[moo-fi]

Another one to add to the Linn streaming group. I found that 1TB to be find as I use an Netgear Duo with twin drives mirrored. Hate for a drive to go down without a back up:doh: Otherwise it personal choice on the software side of things, I desktop uses (T)wonky which hasn't been that stable and my laptop which is a Mac uses Chorus which has been a joy to use. The NAS has enough room for both FLAC and Apple lossless from over 1000 CD's which is enough for my use.
The only issue I have with my NAS is it isn't the quietest beast but at least it sits in another room. But whatever you use enjoy having loads a music only a mouse click away.

Fred

[The Vinyl Adventure]

which ds do you have fred?

(you migh get a request from the forum police to put something in the welcome section at some point soon so that might be worth doing )

[Ali Tait]

Hamish,I use a Drobo and find it a great piece of kit.Plenty on ebay.

[moo-fi]

Hi Hamish, just written war and peace in the welcome section before the suggestions get less subtle. But to answer your question it is an Accurate with dynamic upgrade which does make a huge difference but upsets my Krell when I want to use the phono stage, so I suspect it is a little noisy being a switched mode supply. I find the off switch solves this problem though on the small amount of time I use the turntable.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Yeah, the dynamik psu is a vast upgrade!
Akurate eh, that's my only upgrade path... But I find the connectivity of the majik ds-I too usefull at the mo... (and I'm skint) :)

[moo-fi]

When I jump from CD I tried the whole Linn range and there is quite a difference between the two but sometimes I do wish for a digital out. I also tried the Naim side of the coin but you can see which way I jumped. As for being skint your not the only one, my stop gap phono stage which was only supposed to fill in for a couple of months is still looking at me a year later.
Though I do like the idea of active speakers, she likes horns and since she is paying for them I think she will win and I don't think I will kick a pair of big Aparas out of the house. All she is waiting for is for me to finance the matching amps so she may have to wait awhile.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

the akurate is defiantly an improvement over the majik, i heard one when i was last at my dealer, although only for a short time as i told them to turn it off.... i dont mind listening to the klimax, as it is way above the sort of money i could ever justify... the akurate though... tempting... especially at the £3k s/h value...
but like i said, im happy with the ds-i for now... until of course they bring out a akurate ds-i... then im really in trouble :)
good to have another fellow linn ds user in the otherwise sea of linn sceptics that is the art of sound
we just need a klimax user now and aos with have the full set ;)

[moo-fi]

I spent two day's going between Klimax and Accurate and it was a horrid call to make. I just couldn't justify the huge leap in price, if it had been 7 or 8K then I would have gone the whole hog but at 3 times the price:stalks: Also my other half is very much involved with the final choice and yes she reads all the magazines and knows what she likes. So no sneaking stuff in either as she will not only tell me what it is but how much it costs. The good news is I don't have to justify how much the hifi costs or how big it is:ner:

Fred

[Ali Tait]

Yeah, the dynamik psu is a vast upgrade!
Akurate eh, that's my only upgrade path... But I find the connectivity of the majik ds-I too usefull at the mo... (and I'm skint) :)

This is one thing that annoys me about commercial kit.Why didn't they design a decent PSU in the first place!

Ok,yes I know,so they can fleece more money out of you.Beats me why the mags always call this "A good upgrade path" What bollocks! Should have made it good in the first place!

Rant over. :lol:

[SteveW]

the akurate is defiantly an improvement over the majik, i heard one when i was last at my dealer, although only for a short time as i told them to turn it off.... i dont mind listening to the klimax, as it is way above the sort of money i could ever justify... the akurate though... tempting... especially at the £3k s/h value...
but like i said, im happy with the ds-i for now... until of course they bring out a akurate ds-i... then im really in trouble :)
good to have another fellow linn ds user in the otherwise sea of linn sceptics that is the art of sound
we just need a klimax user now and aos with have the full set ;)

Just biding my time...
I'm curious though Hamish. What part of the DSi do you use, as opposed to your old majikDS ?

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Digital inputs from DVD and freesat(for radio) ... In my set up the majik sounds more dynamic than the caiman, so using the inputs on it makes loads of sence...

Ali, yeah, right on, cost me money that was worth it for the upgrade, but so annoying that it wasn't built in the first place

Te is more of a story behind the dynamik though, the built it after they lost supply o the previous one, so it is now a standard in the ds units ... It's only the people who bought it before it was standard, like me that suffer... When they put the dynamik in the price of the standard unit stayed the same...

[Ali Tait]

It does get my goat I must say.A lot of manufacturers deliberately make their gear not as good as it could be so they can sell "upgrades" How cynical IMO.

[moo-fi]

I suppose we should be thankful that they don't add extra boxes for the new and improved power supply. At least I paid less for my DS and improved PSU than current list. Linn at least reduced the price for DS's with the old power supply close to change over, saved £250 but it would have been nice if it came out as fully finished.

[Ali Tait]

Indeed.Not just Linn bashing though.A lot of makers do this type of thing,and certainly a lot make their lower range stuff deliberately less good in order to sell more expensive kit.