How do you listen to your vinyl/cds? - Music

RoundTheBend

I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Sonos vs JBL, streams? I won a JBL Flip. Something tells me Sonos has a better thing going? Just never heard them.

I've thought about investing in the JBL Flip stuff and get like mounts to put throughout the house since I already have one for that "whole house" effect.

Sometimes I just turn it up really loud to get that effect anyway... hehe.

Streams

RoundTheBend wrote:

Sonos vs JBL, streams?

I'm not intimately familiar with the JBL Flip. The standard Sonos is twice the price. Whenever you're able to go into a big box store like Target or Best Buy, they should have floor models of those that you can test sound on, which I suggest - I imagine the Sonos is going to sound better to you, but it's also about price range. I would avoid waterproof versions of anything; fun concept, but you'll hear things better if a good speaker is ~15' away from the pool than if you have those right next to you - I guess it's good for like paddling large lakes or the ocean or sth, but you'll probably be happier enjoying the natural sounds then. The JBL Flip has tiers - 3, 4, and 5 - and they all connect with different capabilities, so you'll want to look into those if you're considering it. The biggest difference is that JBL are bluetooth speakers, and Sonos is wifi. So, the connection stability and range of Sonos is going to be significantly greater than JBL. I think JBL uses an app to connect multiple devices, and Sonos does too, which is something to consider. The Sonos mobile app requires you to play through other apps, like Spotify, Bandcamp, Youtube Music, Apple, etc. or the music downloaded to your phone, but some devices (desktops are consistent) connected to the network have the option to playback any sound it's playing. That may sound confusing, but it pretty much boils down to if you listen mostly through established music apps or downloads to your phone, then you're golden. One bummer for me is that I mostly listen to new Screw tapes and and some other obscurities via YouTube (diff. than YouTube Music), so I have to use a desktop to play those back on the system; similarly, while I can play back everything I have purchased on Bandcamp, I cannot play back any available page with sample tracks or free tracks, which is frustrating. The search function for the Sonos app is its own, and can be clunky, so, in your case, it might be difficult to look up classical music unless you have exact names and titles.

RoundTheBend

I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Streams wrote:

I'm not intimately familiar with the JBL Flip. The standard Sonos is twice the price. Whenever you're able to go into a big box store like Target or Best Buy, they should have floor models of those that you can test sound on, which I suggest - I imagine the Sonos is going to sound better to you, but it's also about price range. I would avoid waterproof versions of anything; fun concept, but you'll hear things better if a good speaker is ~15' away from the pool than if you have those right next to you - I guess it's good for like paddling large lakes or the ocean or sth, but you'll probably be happier enjoying the natural sounds then. The JBL Flip has tiers - 3, 4, and 5 - and they all connect with different capabilities, so you'll want to look into those if you're considering it. The biggest difference is that JBL are bluetooth speakers, and Sonos is wifi. So, the connection stability and range of Sonos is going to be significantly greater than JBL. I think JBL uses an app to connect multiple devices, and Sonos does too, which is something to consider. The Sonos mobile app requires you to play through other apps, like Spotify, Bandcamp, Youtube Music, Apple, etc. or the music downloaded to your phone, but some devices (desktops are consistent) connected to the network have the option to playback any sound it's playing. That may sound confusing, but it pretty much boils down to if you listen mostly through established music apps or downloads to your phone, then you're golden. One bummer for me is that I mostly listen to new Screw tapes and and some other obscurities via YouTube (diff. than YouTube Music), so I have to use a desktop to play those back on the system; similarly, while I can play back everything I have purchased on Bandcamp, I cannot play back any available page with sample tracks or free tracks, which is frustrating. The search function for the Sonos app is its own, and can be clunky, so, in your case, it might be difficult to look up classical music unless you have exact names and titles.

Helpful - thanks!

I guess this means any physical media is a no go?

Johnnyo

Gender: Male

Age: 65

Location: London Town

I am one of those guys who has got a relatively high end spec but you don’t have to spend huge amounts of money to get a great sound.

If you want quality on your budget go 2nd hand.

I used to have a great pair of wharfdale doverdale speakers which had an awesome bass. Gave them away a few years ago to a young woman who works in my local record shop. They are also a great looking, very solid speaker.

Any 2nd hand rega turntable will do you very nicely. You can pick up a P1 for not too much.

I recently bought a rega elix amp which is great but a little outside your price range. It replaced my old roksan mk iii which is a nice integrated amp. Again, 2nd hand it should not break the bank.

In terms of a CD player, I’ve had a marantz 67 original se for about 15 years and that was purchased 2nd hand so it probably 20 years old now and still works great.

Hope some of this is of help

Streams

RoundTheBend wrote:

I guess this means any physical media is a no go?

I got a wifi-capable turntable and a Sonos-compatible plug-in so I can play records over the system. Sure I could find something similar for CD or cassette but, while I'm too lazy to rip LPs, ripping CDs is much more convenient.