Zero Head Units for my need??? WTF!

[analog414]

Hello everyone. Audio purist here. I just got my new Chevy Express van and I need a stereo that will play from my mass storage device (3TB HDD) my live music recordings that are 24bit/192khz (NEVER MP3). I no longer play cd's. I rip those and play the files. Alpine was a good player for myself but none of those support my needs. Wow I am a fish out of water. I also will go with two coaxial speakers and a power amplifier. That's it!! I want pure clean sound! I don't care about anything else. Any thoughts?

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[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Hello everyone. Audio purist here. I just got my new Chevy Express van and I need a stereo that will play from my mass storage device (3TB HDD) my live music recordings that are 24bit/192khz (NEVER MP3). I no longer play cd's. I rip those and play the files. Alpine was a good player for myself but none of those support my needs. Wow I am a fish out of water. I also will go with two coaxial speakers and a power amplifier. That's it!! I want pure clean sound! I don't care about anything else. Any thoughts?

most head units with a USB port can read and power an hard drive.

The source is important but its nothing compared to every other audio aspect aka processing via quality head unit with good DACs, tuning, speaker quality, amplification, speaker positioning etc.. Without addressing all of those, your high quality flac files will sound just like MP3s or worse. Might want to do components vs coaxials if you care anything about staging and imaging.

Most pioneer radios can play flac via usb nowadays along with 13 band EQ, network active capable, etc..

 

[analog414]

The Pioneer does not support 24b/192khz //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

With such a large file collection I recommend using a portable media player with an aux cable into the head unit of your choice. I like using offline songs in FLAC format from Tidal HiFi, but you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between lossless files and 320 kbps MP3s in a van traveling at speed. I hate having a cord plugged into my phone, which is my portable media player, so I use AptX Bluetooth almost entirely in the car. That causes a small loss in audio quality, which may be too much to ask of you, but again that small extra fidelity is lost in a moving vehicle.

 

[analog414]

I found the one and only head unit that will play my files.

 

Sony RSX-GS9 High-res digital media receiver (does not play CDs) at Crutchfield.com

 

Now I need a power amp

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

lol focusing too much on the source while neglecting the most important parts of the install will lead you to disappointment. That 1500 could have went to acoustical deadening and treatments, fiberglass work to make a killer 3 way active front stage and a digital sound processor that easily rivals that sony and it'll sound 1000x better than that sony and a pair of coaxials which is sad beyond belief.

 

[analog414]

lol focusing too much on the source while neglecting the most important parts of the install will lead you to disappointment. That 1500 could have went to acoustical deadening and treatments, fiberglass work to make a killer 3 way active front stage and a digital sound processor that easily rivals that sony and it'll sound 1000x better than that sony and a pair of coaxials which is sad beyond belief.

I see now what you are talking about. I just saw this. "nothing is more important in any hi fi system then the source!"

 

[analog414]

a digital sound processor that easily rivals that sony

That Sony is specially designed for digital processing. What processor are you talking about that could be better then the one built in that unit?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

That Sony is specially designed for digital processing. What processor are you talking about that could be better then the one built in that unit?

audison bit one, jbl ms8, arc audio ps8, helix dsp/dsp pro, rockford 3sixty.3 all are superior offering 8 channels of bandpass capable tuneability with 31 bands of EQ. vs that sony's puny 10 band and 6 channels of output. All you need is a reciever that handles FLAC and you are fine.

I see now what you are talking about. I just saw this. "nothing is more important in any hi fi system then the source!"

I've been to a few SQ competitions where there were several people like you who think flac is everything and they got beaten bad by people streaming bluetooth with spotify premium which is only 320kbps or itunes which is 256kbps(what the 1st place winner used for demos and he indeed sounded THE BEST). The reason why they lost is because the people who won used their money way better and had proper car audio knowledge with a much superior install vs the transitioning home audio/head fi audio person that has ZERO grasp of what car audio sound quality truely entails. PS the spotify guy had much MUCH cheaper equipment than the other guys. He placed 3rd in a group of 16 people while the others got dead almost dead last, grouped in with the SPL guys that are trying to do sound quality.

So NO that comment is FALSE and proven FALSE at competitions where the pros compete at. You just need to be past a certain threshold, afterwards its SEVERE diminishing returns. Money could have been spent on BETTER quality drivers and a BETTER install/tune instead.

Your initial post about using coaxials is VERY concerning because very few, if any person in their right minds use coaxials anymore for true sound quality.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

It don't matter what the source is doing if the envirement is destroying it.

 

[analog414]

It don't matter what the source is doing if the envirement is destroying it.

Assume then that the car is parked. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[analog414]

audison bit one, jbl ms8, arc audio ps8, helix dsp/dsp pro, rockford 3sixty.3 all are superior offering 8 channels of bandpass capable tuneability with 31 bands of EQ. vs that sony's puny 10 band and 6 channels of output. All you need is a reciever that handles FLAC and you are fine.


I've been to a few SQ competitions where there were several people like you who think flac is everything and they got beaten bad by people streaming bluetooth with spotify premium which is only 320kbps or itunes which is 256kbps(what the 1st place winner used for demos and he indeed sounded THE BEST). The reason why they lost is because the people who won used their money way better and had proper car audio knowledge with a much superior install vs the transitioning home audio/head fi audio person that has ZERO grasp of what car audio sound quality truely entails. PS the spotify guy had much MUCH cheaper equipment than the other guys. He placed 3rd in a group of 16 people while the others got dead almost dead last, grouped in with the SPL guys that are trying to do sound quality.

So NO that comment is FALSE and proven FALSE at competitions where the pros compete at. You just need to be past a certain threshold, afterwards its SEVERE diminishing returns. Money could have been spent on BETTER quality drivers and a BETTER install/tune instead.

Your initial post about using coaxials is VERY concerning because very few, if any person in their right minds use coaxials anymore for true sound quality.

The source is the music or recording. FLAC losses sound quality over WAV

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Assume then that the car is parked. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Still not getting it. The car is not a square room with you sitting in the middle

 

[staan]

imho recording a "live" performance @ 24/96 or trying to use 24/96 recordings for listening is a waste pf space. it would be tough to discern a difference between 24/96 and 16/44.1 in a clean studio monitoring scenario, even more impossible with a live recording and even further worsened by listening in a suboptimal car listening environment. I suggest ripping and down sampling your material to a lower standard and listening to it on a head unit that is more universal.

 

[analog414]

tough to discern a difference between 24/96 and 16/44

Tough for you. Not me. In all due respect.