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What sound system do you have on boat?


Rambling Boater

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When I bought our boat many years ago it came with an old Pioneer car stereo with CD autochanger. There are 4 fairly big Pioneer car speakers, 2 each side fitted into the wooden panels. 

 

Since then I fitted a modern Pioneer car stereo with Bluetooth so I can stream music from my phone. Last night, for a change, I put on a CD and found the quality far better than the MP3 format. I was quite surprised, being old, I'd notice such a difference between 128kb and CD quality.  I'm glad I didn't bin my CD's now. 

 

Anyone have a thing called a gramophone player on their boat? 

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3 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Robert's radio in the boatman's cabin

We have a "back radio" (Roberts)in the bedroom, usually tuned to Radio 5 Live) and a "front radio" (Goodmans' Oxford) in the saloon, usually tuned to Radio 4).

For years, we had a wall-mounted Grundig radio/ CD player in the saloon, but it gave up the ghost in 2019. I think I bought it in 2000 so it hadn't done badly. Unfortunately, wall-mounted models seem to be out of fashion at the moment so I haven't replaced it.

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Cheapo FM steam radio in the kitchen. Runs on a set of four rechargable AA batteries for weeks and weeks. Minimal power consumption when cruising. Speakers and home made amplifier in the living room, running off a Mini ITX PC that is getting very old now, but runs Linux, so up to date and supported software. Good for MP3's, CD's, DVD's, streaming etc.

Jen

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14 minutes ago, Rambling Boater said:

When I bought our boat many years ago it came with an old Pioneer car stereo with CD autochanger. There are 4 fairly big Pioneer car speakers, 2 each side fitted into the wooden panels. 

 

Since then I fitted a modern Pioneer car stereo with Bluetooth so I can stream music from my phone. Last night, for a change, I put on a CD and found the quality far better than the MP3 format. I was quite surprised, being old, I'd notice such a difference between 128kb and CD quality.  I'm glad I didn't bin my CD's now. 

 

Anyone have a thing called a gramophone player on their boat? 

I've got an old wind up gramophone complete with new needles somewhere under the stairs. Unfortunately it's the diaphragm type rather than horn. Keep thinking I'll take it to the boat for the craic.   

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28 minutes ago, Rambling Boater said:

When I bought our boat many years ago it came with an old Pioneer car stereo with CD autochanger. There are 4 fairly big Pioneer car speakers, 2 each side fitted into the wooden panels. 

 

Since then I fitted a modern Pioneer car stereo with Bluetooth so I can stream music from my phone. Last night, for a change, I put on a CD and found the quality far better than the MP3 format. I was quite surprised, being old, I'd notice such a difference between 128kb and CD quality.  I'm glad I didn't bin my CD's now. 

 

Anyone have a thing called a gramophone player on their boat? 

128kb MP3s are pretty nasty, you don't need a top-notch system to show this.

 

320kb (or 256kb VBR) MP3s are indistinguishable from CD for almost everybody -- when I was ripping my CD collection (so I can use a USB stick or SD card for storage/playback) I did a lot of research into this, including my own listening tests on revealing music through studio monitor speakers and headphones, and that's what I found too. I've even digitised a fair number of my favourite vinyl records.

 

It means I've now got the entire music library available at home, in the car, when moving, or on a boat -- anything that can play MP3s off a USB stick or SD card, which is most things nowadays. The Roberts radios are an excellent-quality portable solution if that's what you're looking for, we use a Stream 93i (which we also take on boating holidays), you might still be able to find one cheap, or the Stream 94i which replaced it -- they can also stream from a PC if you have one onboard, or (94i only) a phone via Bluetooth.

 

https://www.whathifi.com/roberts/stream-94i/review

Edited by IanD
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Spotify and a pair of little bluetooth speakers!

 

I am a traditional type person and like CDs and wires but have had to accept that Spotify and Bluetooth is pretty good..

The speakers are the Ruark MR1mk2, they are small but just about qualify as "proper" HiFi speakers.

I use a DAC and optical cable to connect but my wife uses Bluetooth and I can't hear the difference, some of the newer Bluetooth protocols are able to do HiFi quality. Also its essential to get a paid subscription to Spotify, this gets rid of the adverts but more importantly gives the option of user higher bitrates which really does sort out the quality limitations of streaming.

 

I must confess that I mostly let Spotify choose my music for me which is much more interesting than making my own decisions. There is a LOT of good music about.

 

.............Dave

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3 minutes ago, IanD said:

The Roberts radios are an excellent-quality portable solution.

They've always had that reputation, and I've had a few over the years - I still got an R900 at home which has a lovely tone and which gave 15 years' good service, though it currently needs attention.

   But about four years ago I bought a new Roberts Vintage (which looks like a shrunken R900). It looked nice, sounded quite good and had a rechargeable battery. But after just under two years it suddenly conked out. Luckily this was a couple of weeks before the expiry of its warranty period, so John Lewis replaced it. That was about two years ago, so I'm wondering if the new one's going to conk out too. A life of only two years is far less than I'd expect from a Roberts. especially as it cost over £100.

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Just now, TheBiscuits said:

 

Agreed.  Try either a higher bitrate mp3 or (better) FLAC if your phone/media player supports it.

Debatable ?

 

Apart from reading up on this -- from sources which actually did properly controlled listening tests, not just "this sounds better" anecdotes -- have you actually done a proper comparison yourself? Preferably one where you don't know which is which to avoid any preconceived conclusions...

Just now, Athy said:

They've always had that reputation, and I've had a few over the years - I still got an R900 at home which has a lovely tone and which gave 15 years' good service, though it currently needs attention.

   But about four years ago I bought a new Roberts Vintage (which looks like a shrunken R900). It looked nice, sounded quite good and had a rechargeable battery. But after just under two years it suddenly conked out. Luckily this was a couple of weeks before the expiry of its warranty period, so John Lewis replaced it. That was about two years ago, so I'm wondering if the new one's going to conk out too. A life of only two years is far less than I'd expect from a Roberts. especially as it cost over £100.

We've had ours about 5 years now with no problem. All electrical devices fail sometimes, the question is are they especially bad or not. All I can say is that the Roberts radios seem to be better built than most...

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10 minutes ago, dmr said:

Spotify and a pair of little bluetooth speakers!

 

I am a traditional type person and like CDs and wires but have had to accept that Spotify and Bluetooth is pretty good..

The speakers are the Ruark MR1mk2, they are small but just about qualify as "proper" HiFi speakers.

I use a DAC and optical cable to connect but my wife uses Bluetooth and I can't hear the difference, some of the newer Bluetooth protocols are able to do HiFi quality. Also its essential to get a paid subscription to Spotify, this gets rid of the adverts but more importantly gives the option of user higher bitrates which really does sort out the quality limitations of streaming.

 

I must confess that I mostly let Spotify choose my music for me which is much more interesting than making my own decisions. There is a LOT of good music about.

 

.............Dave

I guess that depends on your musical taste and your music collection, a lot of the stuff I've got isn't on things like Spotify...

 

Call me old-fashioned but I also still prefer to buy (or pay for and download) music not stream it, because the band/musician gets a lot more money that way and a lot of them (not the big headline acts) have been struggling to survive for years given the tiny amount that streaming services pay.

Edited by IanD
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3 minutes ago, IanD said:

Debatable ?

 

Apart from reading up on this -- from sources which actually did properly controlled listening tests, not just "this sounds better" anecdotes -- have you actually done a proper comparison yourself? Preferably one where you don't know which is which to avoid any preconceived conclusions...

 

but FLAC is lossless so in theory is identical to the CD it's come from, MP3 is compressed so must lose something somewhere.

that said, it all depends on what you're listening to it with and through as well

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7 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

 

but FLAC is lossless so in theory is identical to the CD it's come from, MP3 is compressed so must lose something somewhere.

that said, it all depends on what you're listening to it with and through as well

True, but that's in theory and you listen with your ears; what matters is -- can you hear the difference or not?

 

I used high-quality studio gear (I've even got the studio masters for the band I used to play with) and in spite of trying hard on material that shows up any compression artefacts I couldn't reliably spot any difference between the original and 320kb/256kbVBR MP3s.

 

This is borne out by multiple properly-controlled tests that have been done over the years by reputable sources.

 

Just because "everyone knows..." or "this article said..." doesn't make it true; this is true in many fields, and especially hi-fi and audio where there's an awful lot of bullsh*t flying round the web... ?

Edited by IanD
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1 minute ago, Hudds Lad said:

 

but FLAC is lossless so in theory is identical to the CD it's come from, MP3 is compressed so must lose something somewhere.

that said, it all depends on what you're listening to it with and through as well

I thought anything which is digitised has loss by definition. One of the benefits of  analogue (e.g tape and vinyl). The trouble is that most masters are recorded digitally these days, so most music is digital from the start. 

 

Recently I was quite surprised by the quality from some old cassette tapes I had from the 90s  

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38 minutes ago, IanD said:

320kb (or 256kb VBR) MP3s are indistinguishable from CD for almost everybody --

Only because most people listen on systems that are Shyte.

Even in my decomposing state I can still hear the difference between MP3 and CD in a blind test. It might help that the system here, despite being 40years old, is better than average?

Marantz CD5000 with modified op-amps/caps

Quad 34/405-2 recently refurbed by Quad 

Quad 11L loudspeakers on stands

It's basically the system I had on Parglena slightly excessive for a boat but great in its own dedicated room in the house.

 

Edited by Loddon
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23 minutes ago, Rambling Boater said:

I thought anything which is digitised has loss by definition. One of the benefits of  analogue (e.g tape and vinyl). The trouble is that most masters are recorded digitally these days, so most music is digital from the start. 

 

Recently I was quite surprised by the quality from some old cassette tapes I had from the 90s  

Better not get started on the digital vs. analogue argument, it'll be more heated than cassette vs. pumpout... ?

 

Yes almost everything is recorded digitally nowadays and has been for many years (at least 20), because it not only makes recording easier but -- done properly, and not mangled during mastering -- is higher quality. The last album we did using analogue (2 inch tape!) was in 1997, and things like corrections and retakes (needed with a 10-piece band!) were an absolute pain in the ar*e. Nowadays it's all done straight to hard disk and life is *so*much easier.

 

Unfortunately the "loudness wars" mean that almost all music nowadays uses a lot of things like compression and processing to get the overall volume and "excitement" up, at the cost of sound quality -- but this isn't the fault of "digital", it's the fault of modern producers. This is really obvious if you transfer old vinyl albums to digital; put these on shuffle with newer CD-age or WWW-age stuff and they're *way* quieter, because the peaks haven't been squashed down to get the overall level up.

Edited by IanD
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5 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Only because most people listen on systems that are Shyte.

Even in my decomposing state I can still hear the difference between MP3 and CD in a blind test. It might help that the system here, despite being 40years old, is better than average?

Marantz CD5000 with modified op-amps Quad 34/405-2 recently refurbed by Quad 

Quad 11L loudspeakers on stands

It's basically the system I had on Parglena slightly excessive for a boat but great in its own dedicated room in the house.

 

That doesn't fit with either my experience or that of many properly-conducted listening tests on high-quality equipment.

 

Typical 128k MP3s, yes, the difference is like night and day.

 

320k MP3s, the differences are very small and most people can't spot them even using high-quality equipment and demanding recordings.

 

Have you done proper blind tests yourself (ABx) and with what MP3 bit rate?

 

If you have and can reliably spot the difference between original and 320k MP3s -- congratulations, you're one of the rare "golden ears" ?

 

If you haven't or can't, you're not, it doesn't matter how good your equipment is ?

Edited by IanD
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5 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Only because most people listen on systems that are Shyte.

Even in my decomposing state I can still hear the difference between MP3 and CD in a blind test. It might help that the system here, despite being 40years old, is better than average?

Marantz CD5000 with modified op-amps Quad 34/405-2 recently refurbed by Quad 

Quad 11L loudspeakers on stands

It's basically the system I had on Parglena slightly excessive for a boat but great in its own dedicated room in the house.

 

I gave my system away to my nephew recently, that was almost as hard as the book collection  :)

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55 minutes ago, dmr said:

Spotify and a pair of little bluetooth speakers!

 

I am a traditional type person and like CDs and wires but have had to accept that Spotify and Bluetooth is pretty good..

The speakers are the Ruark MR1mk2, they are small but just about qualify as "proper" HiFi speakers.

I use a DAC and optical cable to connect but my wife uses Bluetooth and I can't hear the difference, some of the newer Bluetooth protocols are able to do HiFi quality. Also its essential to get a paid subscription to Spotify, this gets rid of the adverts but more importantly gives the option of user higher bitrates which really does sort out the quality limitations of streaming.

 

I must confess that I mostly let Spotify choose my music for me which is much more interesting than making my own decisions. There is a LOT of good music about.

 

.............Dave

 

Another vote for Spotify. Not on a boat for us but at home, in the car and in the caravan.

 

The convenience set against the lack of need to tote physical media around is well worth it to me. I was very sceptical about music streaming until a few years ago when I tried the free versions firstly of Google Music (as was) and then Spotify. I now have paid for Spotify for about two years.

 

I still fire up my Sony Turntable at home from time to time for that 'authentic' vinyl sound but the ability to call up an artist and/or song by voice beats the whole 'authentic' experience hands down. I've also been able to delve into various different music genres that I would have been reluctant to try had I needed to buy it on 'physical' media.

 

Edit. The best speakers I have are a Harmon Kardon set that came with a previously bought Dell PC years ago. Two small speakers with a large sub woofer that sits on the floor. They have been used with several PC's since I bought them and I'll be gutted if they ever pack in. They have that ability to be crystal clear with enough bass even on low volumes.

 

 

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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49 minutes ago, IanD said:

Typical 128k MP3s, yes, the difference is like night and day.

 

320k MP3s, the differences are very small and most people can't spot them even using high-quality equipment and demanding recordings.

 

Have you done proper blind tests yourself (ABx) and with what MP3 bit rate?

Yes I did a test when moving into the cottage a few years ago.

I will add that it's not all music but more specific parts of tracks that I know well, normaly solo guitar/piano pieces such as Wish You Were Here and the begining of Telegraph Road.

 

 

Edited by Loddon
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In the engine 'ole I have a cheap car radio - which bluetooths to the phone for music on the move.

 

In the main cabin, I have a Logitech surround sound system connected to a (12v) HDMI/BT box the connects to the phone, Pi(kodi), Chromecast and Roku.  In the winter, the surround system is replaced with a smaller 12v powered pair of stereo speakers. 

 

Sound sources include free Spotify and Soundcloud and stuff I've ripped from CD's (which now live in a big box under the bed).

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