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Hard Drive Forward!
I have never thought I would say it but music stored on hard drive seems to have many of the advantages (not all the advantages however) of vinyl. Or to put it in another way, some of the "nastys" associated with CD seems to be removed when music is stored and played back from hard drive.
I now regularly use (don't say this too loud!) the Red Wine modified iPod or the Olive, again modified by Red Wine.
I was minded to write this short article having spent the weekend listening to music from the hard drive off an Olive, via a 47Lab Gemini DAC, Mactone pre and power amplifier and into some Living Voice Avatar speakers, all strung together with Kondo interconnects and speaker cables. The point is that the music was reproduced in an entirely satisfying, lively and non-fatiguing way. This system isn't, of course, to coin a phrase "chopped liver" but in the world of audio it remains an "affordable" system.
As I have said before, the fact that Mactone is so little known is one of the great mysteries of audio. It sounds just so good, leading TAS to call it the "best kept secret in audio!"
The future of two channelled audio probably rests on its ability to reinvent itself after the desolate years of CD. The years after vinyl, which have been dominated by Red Book CD, have been a disaster. It is a nasty medium with nasty long term listening experiences associated with it. While LPs continue to delight some, the fact of the matter is more convenience is now required by most, and hard drive offers the way out from the horrors of CDs.
I don't download from iTune (I am not sure I know how!) but instead I transfer my CDs onto hard drive. Why is it that the music is much more satisfying via a hard drive, having originally been placed there from a CD? The answer is ...... I have no idea! All I know is that a day listening on CD leaves me frustrated, while a day listening to music stored on hard drive does not. I encourage more of you to try it!
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