How do you listen to music (devices, etc.)?

[Alleric]

Apple lossless from one of our ipods for the library we have ripped. CD's in the Sony BDP-S590 for the stuff we don't. Pandora or Slacker from S590 for streaming.

That S590 is just killer for the price/feature comparison.

[Mag_Neato]

A mix: CD's via a Toshiba HD-DVD player. Apple iTunes song purchases, Apple lossless files and most recently lossless WAV files converted from my iPod files played via a Cambridge Audio id100 digital dock. Also Pandora streamed via an iPod App.

[postrokfan]

I have an Oppo 93 in the living room. For me it was worth the price because I use it for CDs, SACD, BD, and music streaming (Pandora, DLNA). I use Media Monkey for the music server and burn most everything in FLAC via EAC. I also enjoy spinning vinyl.

[Brannigan]

I have all music stored on my pc hard drive going through a toslink cable from my motherboard to my harman kardon hk 990 integrated amplifier. I usually rip my cd's to aac 400kbps since .flac seems to be toal overkill for almost anything. Even perfectly recorded music is probably indistinguishable from .flac with 400kbps aac. All the same I'll probably rip to .flac from now on since hard are getting so enormous and cheap. I can't imagine the horror of having to put cd's in a player every time I want to hear a song. Just double click and go!

[Veda]

My so called reference system consist of the RAAL towers + a laptop streaming FLAC to the all digital NAD C390DD through USB in my attempt for ultra accurate playback. I have 2 setups with PC playback while the rest is standard CD spdif to amp with built in DAC. But then when I get bored I switch amps (got so many lying around) and had to compensate when they don't have USB input etc... Sometimes they don't have analog inputs (QLS QA100). Then there's the Sinewave G33D that's USB connected to the PC used only for headphone amp.

[merrymaid520]

Throw my hat into the ring.....

Using my imac to stream FLAC files through my Squeezebox Touch and out through a PS Audio DACIII. Believe it or not, I could discern the difference using the SB DAC and the PS Audio's

[curtis]

If I want to play a disc...any disc(CD, SACD, DVD-A, DVD, BR)...it is played through an Oppo BDP-83 that is connected via HDMI to my pre/pro.

All my CDs are ripped to FLAC. The FLAC files are stored on a NAS, and played through a Sonos setup connected via optical to my pre/pro.

[jahjd2000]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'm a novice when it comes to HT music listening. I normally either stream internet radio or Spotify from my iphone to my Apple TV. After upgrading my system I'd like to sample better quality audio.

My Denon 4311c should be in tomorrow. I need to read up on Airplay's capabilities to see what formats it supports.

[Erik]

I listen to 16/44, 24/96 and 24/192 resolution FLAC files via a dedicated audio PC. The PC has no moving parts and is based on an Intel DN-2800MT mother board and ATOM processor on Windows 8 (you can search for C.A.P.S v3 in google to see the specs).

There are various players that will play HiDef audio files JRiver, Foobar, etc but I use JPLAY. From the computer, the audio stream goes to a M2TECH HiFace II USB-SPDIF converter (for proper clocking) then to a MF VDAC II for the digital to analog conversion. The VDAC is connected a 2 channel Red Wine Audio Signature 15 Integrated AMP which run a pair of Sierra-1 NRT speakers.

The audiopc is feed by a normal PC where all the music is stored. Good SQ computer audio takes some tinkering to get right, I think it is more fun than having a stand along CD/DVD/Blu Ray player.

The normal PC also serves as an HTPC. There is a blu ray drive and it is feed into a Yamaha receiver via HDMI.

The only downside with computer audio/HT is that upgrade-itis now spreads into audio cards, video cards, chasis etc.........

[NewHTbuyer]

I have the Sony s590. It can output two channel PCM. It seems to play SACDs fine. I have it hooked up to my HK3490 with both analog cables and a digital coax cable, so I can compare the two. Both work fine, but I think I like the digital hookup better.