The *NOT BORING!* Hi-Fi faff chat and sales

Thanks @legrandefromage .. i hear you, i've never paid for anything online which i can get for free.. never paid to download any films, tv or music.. i've been using mac for 20yrs but i've never used the macstore.. i pay for an internet connection.. everything i need is here.

My main motivation isn't perfect lossless it's just stepping up the sound quality from what i'm currently doing (which is mp3) and if i'm going to pay (excuse me while i go scrub muself in the shower) i might as well pay for something decent.
 
Another oddity with CD is the volume.. Sign O' The Times (1987) is the quietest CD i own.. i need to crank the amp up to 75% to fill the house with sound from this CD.. yet something like Innervisions, which is possibly one of my loudest CDs (remasterd in 2000) at 15% volume feels like the flippin house is about to collapse.
 
I have tried Tidal "master" quality. It was quite a mixed bag, a lot of music isn't available in anything higher than cd quality, then there are newer recordings that do step up in quality, but others where you get an unmixed master that is interesting but not actually very pleasant to listen to. Simple cd quality is much more usable.

I won't defend streaming platforms, I listen to a wide variety of music, but only the most played artists I listen to, are getting paid as I understand it. No, it isn't Taylor Swift, but I am not sure it is very fair still, or beneficial for the artists. When I like an album, I will buy the cd.
 
I tend to buy most of my CDs from the second hand market.. i'd like to see artist getting fair pay but as someone who's seen their industry decimated by globalisation.. everyone flocking to buy their goods as cheaply as possible from China..

"£100 made in the UK? fk that, i can buy it from China for £5" i've got more of a 'it's every man for themselves approach' which is why i don't pay for anything online.. we either all support each other or not at all.
 
More than a bit impressed with our new telly. We accidentally broke the previous one after catching it with the corner of a centre speaker, it scanned itself and gave me an angry red led to say that it was fooped

18 hours later an electronic voucher from currys arrived via the insurance so we could click and collect its replacement

It's 4 years newer so the processing power is immense. Just waiting on something to really test it
 
@Betsy
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/the-not-boring-hi-fi-faff-chat-and-sales.80994/post-3261256

Did you not get on with the Brennan B2? I’m considering buying one, would be good to know what you disliked about it. Cheers.

Don't buy one from Brennan.. they're really disingenuous!

I bought what was described as a 'refurbished' Brennan B2 direct from the Brennan Store. If you view their 'Refurbished Stock' page, the units are advertised as.. They may have been opened but are not pre-owned with a small discount on RRP

This was bullshit, when i opened the box, it looked brand new, all the wires were neatly bundled, everything was wrapped in plastic, there was a protective film over the display but when i plugged it in there was already 334 songs by 30 artists installed on the HD.. in effect, someone else's music library so it was just an old unit which had been returned.. they'd fixed it, repackaged it and were selling it as new 😲

If Brennan had just remembered to wipe the HD, I wouldn't have known any better... shady af! .. luckily stupid too.
I sent the unit back the next day via Special D.. they didn't offer a returns label so i had to pay for it.. They claim on the website "We will refund your money as soon as we receive the unit" but in my experience.. getting my money back was like getting blood out of a stone... it took 7 days and 13 mails for them even to acknowledge they'd received it.. i was emailing them their own name and signature from the tracking and they still insisted they didn't have it.

If you really want one, just get a one used from eBay.. because there is no guarantee that the unit you get from Brennan won't be used and it'll be a lot more expensive.
 
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^this is true

I don't want to endlessly toggle through.. I want a screen with something akin to my itunes library (which is not my phone) so i can just click/play.

When i ask friends of mine the same Q's.. they say "get raspberry pi.. use such and such a viewer ect" but i think i just glaze over because they're proper nerds who work in tech and it's just a bit beyond my level of understanding.
 
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