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Unfortunately, I used to rip in mp3, until I became a bit better educated. Now I never rip to anything but FLAC.

I ripped 25 in FLAC. My wife bought it and left it laying around, so I couldn't help myself. Fed it to EAC and had a nice FLAC copy a few minutes later.

I never realized how bad my mp3's were until I bought my Kef speakers. I'm just streaming from apps for now.

Today's 2 channel moment provided by Rush and Rick Wakeman.

Just finished ripping the 3 CDs of R40. Seems something went slightly awry, and I ended up with .WAV versions instead of .FLAC, but it's all good.

While I was waiting for one PC to turn out the rips, I was listening to Rick Wakeman's "Arthur", ripped to .FLAC by moi, from Rick's 25th Anniversary 4 CD set.

Following that up with Rick and the New English Rock Ensemble - Out Of The Blue.

Today I had some time this afternoon. I decided to spend it out shopping my favorite spots for used CD's. I ended up with 16 new to me CD's to add to the collection. I found some selections from Rush, Queen, Mark Knopfler and Lindsey Buckingham to name a few. Not a bad haul for $20 and about 1 hour's time. Hopefully in the next day or two I will get the chance to go over each one following my usual methods. First, I clean the case inside and out replacing parts as needed, then I clean both sides of the CD and polish any scratches out if needed restoring the CD to like new condition. Finally, I place the CD's in a stack next to my stereo ready to be played at my leisure and I add them to a spreadsheet I keep in my car to prevent purchasing the same title twice.

I do the same... got to clean and listen before you file.

And I keep a list online of the LPs I have. I got frustrated when I'd come home from a road trip and find I bought a title already on my shelf. So now I just check my online list on my phone when I'm at a record store.

I have a stack of duplicates to sell. Silver lining is I get to pick the best of the two.

In years collecting CD's, I think I have bought duplicates maybe 3-4 times and all were when I didn't have a copy of my inventory with me. No worries though. My brother collects CD's too, although not as active about it as I am, and I just give them to him for his collection. If he has them then they go to my 12 year old nephew who is now starting to really get into music.

I wanted to hydro dip my amp either wood or carbon fiber due to its worn finish. After taking it apart I noticed it was actually MDF? Weird right. So I ended up spraying it instead.

I recently bought a crown xls 1502 out of curiosity. I am planning to send my bryston amp in for some minor repairs and I wanted something cheap and powerful to hold me over. I was also very curious to get some firsthand insight into the "watts is watts" debate.

Jury is still out for me but the crown certainly doesn't sound terrible, it looks kinda funny having an 8lb amp driving the 250 lb pair of dynaudio confidence speakers.

Back end of last week, I added a Nikko pre amp to my 2 channel system. Well, it doesn't rain, it pours. Today, I found a Cambridge Audio 540A integrated amp in great condition, so I bought it.

So now the preamp stage of the Cambridge Audio is feeding my Bryston. Sounds pretty good to me.

Id ditch the Cambridge and buy a Photo Pre Bet it sounds even better

I'll flip the Cambridge in time. I have my sights set on a tube preamp, but it's $2000 used. Funds don't stretch that far at this time.

Keep your photo Pre external to the pre-amp.

listened to some steely dan in pure direct along with a few other .flac's

Put the Mark Levinson 23.5 amp back in as the backbone of the system. Classic awesomeness and a great sonic match to the Reference 5s.

Thats a big beast !

It's not the biggest or most powerful amp on the block but it just does everything so well, even at it's advanced age. It throws a great sound stage on jazz and classical that can still give me tingles, yet can be authoritative when I want to rock.

Today I made the rounds and picked up 8 new-to-me CD's to add to my collection. Hopefully, this evening I can find the time to clean them all, replace any jewel case parts needing replacement and spin a few once the kids are in bed.

Today i finally received my LP that i ordered Feb 4th.

Rocked ripped Red Book and Hirez files on SSD in my SUV for two hours driving to a customer. Love my Focal speakers and McIntosh amp.

Quality in the studio and mastering are most important to SQ, but HiRez is delightful when the source is of good quality.

Update...I didn't get a chance to listen to any of the CD's I picked up today but I did find time to clean & recondition 25 of the latest used CD's I've picked up. I really hate polishing scratches out with Turtle Wax but it sure is an effective way to remove minor scratches and scuff marks on used CD's. At least I only had to do this on 3 of the 25 discs.

Today I ordered a new Ortofon Quintet Blue LOMC cartridge for my table. Can't wait to try it out!

Worth waiting for.

Today, I ordered a 100-pack of new CD jewel cases. I have run out and need more to restore future used CD's I add to my collection. I also got the chance to spin a few of my recent CD finds. In all, it has been a relaxing day sitting in front of my speakers.

Today, I received word that the latest addition to my 2 channel system is on its way: a Sony reel to reel tape recorder. Hell, yeah!!! I've wanted one for years.

Pix will follow.

Sweet addition! I always wanted one too but never pulled the trigger on one.

Visited my favourite 2 channel store today. As promised, here are a few photographs.

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Congratulations! Reel to reel is really fun. Do you have any source material already?

No. I bought the incidental music to 2001:A Space Odyssey on open reel and am waiting for it to arrive. The "Blue Danube" is going to sound AWESOME.

Looks like my R2R collection might grow pretty fast. I won an eBay auction today and have a 10.5 inch machine on the way too. Not a bad price either. The description included the word "mint" so here's hoping.

I have sourced some collections locally so I'll soon have a decent supply of tape, most of which appears to be prerecorded. At least one collection comes with yet another machine.

Awesome - I can't wait to get the updates once everything is in!

I was lucky to inherit an incredible amount of prerecorded material from my grandfather, mostly opera and classical. I love listening to them because he is the one who introduced the world of hifi to me at a very young age and every tape evokes the memories I have of sitting with him for hours growing up.