Pale Blue Ego;318179 Wrote: > I believe Denon just introduced a $500 gold-plated ethernet cable. > > As for The Absolute Sound, I've actually been very impressed with the > way they've embraced file-based playback as a serious emerging trend. > It's just funny to see them approach it from a point of view which is > heavily skewed by decades of traditional audiophilia. > > The same issue features a re-review of the QSonix Q110 Music Server and > in particular its partnership with MusicGiants online service. That > review is also laughably naive in many spots. They do mention several > issues which would be deal-breakers for Squeezebox users, but they tend > to gloss over these fundamental flaws to embrace an overwhelmingly fun > experience - "I was like a kid in a candy store!" The reality: > > The system costs $5,995 for a 250-GB capacity and $9095 for 1.5-TB. > It's hard to justify a $3000 price increase for a $300 hardware > upgrade. Ooh wait - the $9000 model has a 17" touch screen instead of > a 15", LOL. > > There is no support for non-proprietary formats. The only choices are > WMA Lossless, WMA 320kbps, and WMA 192kbps. UGH. > > A recent hardware upgrade features "far less fan noise" - as if ANY fan > noise is acceptable in a high-end listening environment. > > > I don't have the original review in front of me, but I believe that was > the one where they panned the QSonix's sound quality as being very > flawed and strongly suggested investing in a top-quality outboard DAC. > So, $6000 - $9000 is just the beginning if you want the thing to > actually sound good. > > Most of the review is concerned with the MusicGiants service. The > reviewer was ga-ga over the idea that he could just point, click, pay, > and get CD-quality music files. MusicGiants calls these files "HD", > because according to the company, CD audio is "high definition" > compared to mp3. The reviewer (Robert Harley) takes them to task and > calls this policy "misleading". > > A few titles are available in "SuperHD", which is music encoded as > 20-bit, 88.2kHz WMA files. No mention is made of the sources, though. > I strongly suspect these are standard CD WAV files run through the WMP > encoder, because the company says they will soon have "thousands of > titles" available in SuperHD. Laughably, "the QSonix system "does not > yet have the ability to handle SuperHD files". > > > Pricing: Tracks are $1.29 each and the minimum purchase is $20. > Hmm...so you'd have to buy at least 16 tracks every time you buy. That > doesn't seem consumer-friendly at all. The reviewer didn't mention the > price of the SuperHD files, so I checked the MusicGiants site. Looks > like a lot of the SuperHD files are only available full albums, not as > individual tracks. I added an album to my cart, and the price was > $19.99. I guess I'd have to add at least one more track or album to my > cart to meet the $20 minimum, LOL. > > The review also covers the MusicGiants "Concierge Collection" - groups > of albums and tracks that you buy in a block (no discount over > individual track prices, though). These collections typically cost > $1200 - $1500 and are mailed to you on a small hard drive. The minimum > "concierge" purchase is $495. The reviewer seemed to think this was a > wonderful way to buy music, and the concept is heavily promoted on the > MusicGiants site. Mr. Harley thinks this could be ideal way to build a > hi-def collection: > > > "Audiophiles want hi-res sources, but record companies have shown no > interest in a new high-res packaged medium. With the availability of > universally compatible files, who needs a new format?" > > Universally compatible? He's talking about WMA files with DRM. Mr. > Harley is just completely clueless here. > > MusicGiants selection is also fairly paltry. There were only 3 Pink > Floyd albums available, no Zappa titles at all, and for artists with > extensive catalogs, there seemed to be offerings only from one record > company, leaving out huge chunks of careers. > > > Also an issue was a dearth of metadata. Mr. Harley lamented the fact > that he couldn't tell when an album was released or who the individual > players were. In addition, when metadata was supplied, it was often > wrong. For instance, Clapton's "461 Ocean Boulevard" was listed with a > release date of 1996. They're obviously pulling their metadata from > Amazon. To address this problem, MusicGiants says they are "very > close" to a deal with the All-Music Guide site to provide better > metadata. > > > Anyway, the QSonix + MusicGiants combo is a pretty expensive candy > store! It's also an exclusively Windows candy store. But, expense is > not a problem for many audiophiles, and the ability to show off their > sexy touchscreen interface will trump any concerns about price, sound > quality, fan noise, DRM, shoddy metadata, limited selection, or OS > compatibility. > > >
Qsonix is actully a great device in order to catalog and store your music. Qsonix supports WAV files and FLAC audio too. in addition, they are HD compatiable. I have 2000+ CDs in my unit at WAV, WMA Lossless, and a hand full of HD files(from MusicGiants). Qsonix is about the interface and the User experience, that's what you pay for not hardware. I see your points, but your opinion seems extremely bias (for good reasons im sure). Truth be told, the Qsonix S/PDIF out sounds great without my outboard DAC. I understand that everyone has their own ears though. Simply put, qsonix has created a flawless interface to re-explore your music. some of the MusicGiants issues you described i can agree with. However, the quality is there in my opinion. If we all based opinions off of reviews(from a mag that you bashed as well) we would be mindless robots... As the old saying goes - "don't bash it till you try it." -- marc0716 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ marc0716's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=21765 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=49614 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
