In article <b60cf54a-7642-49c3-9f82-aacbec801a92n@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew Clarke <andrewclarke437@gmail.com> wrote:

(a) Matrimonial-visual. Where the system is in a living area, wives
tend to dislike computers, cables and peripherals.

Well I don't really have this issue, but a small old laptop is just
another piece of equipment sitting in my stereo rack....

(c) cable to an amplifier via a DAC connected to the computer's
USB port?

Yes, that's what I do.

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In article <thieqo$7v7$1@hope.eyrie.org>,
Todd M. McComb <mccomb@medieval.org> wrote:

In article <b60cf54a-7642-49c3-9f82-aacbec801a92n@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew Clarke <andrewclarke437@gmail.com> wrote:

(c) cable to an amplifier via a DAC connected to the computer's
USB port?

Yes, that's what I do.

I mean, a tablet doesn't look that different from any other consumer
electronic controls these days.... But it needs a USB port. Only
enough power to run a media player, though. And I keep my music
on an external USB, so I can move it elsewhere. So no need for any
meaningful storage on the driving device. (Or you plug in a USB
CD player as noted. $10.) Or a decent DAC, since that's separate.
My daughter bought a tablet (new) a while back for $25. (And as
far as two USB ports, there are splitters. But you do need 1.)

As far as the "looks" of it, I realize that not all wives prefer
the "rat's nest" approach to living, as mine does, but isn't that
why God invented cabinets?

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On Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at 2:02:47 PM UTC+11, Todd M. McComb wrote:

In article <thieqo$7v7$1...@hope.eyrie.org>,
Todd M. McComb <mcc...@medieval.org> wrote:

In article <b60cf54a-7642-49c3...@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew Clarke <andrewc...@gmail.com> wrote:

(c) cable to an amplifier via a DAC connected to the computer's
USB port?

Yes, that's what I do.

I mean, a tablet doesn't look that different from any other consumer electronic controls these days.... But it needs a USB port. Only
enough power to run a media player, though. And I keep my music
on an external USB, so I can move it elsewhere. So no need for any meaningful storage on the driving device. (Or you plug in a USB
CD player as noted. $10.) Or a decent DAC, since that's separate.
My daughter bought a tablet (new) a while back for $25. (And as
far as two USB ports, there are splitters. But you do need 1.)

As far as the "looks" of it, I realize that not all wives prefer
the "rat's nest" approach to living, as mine does, but isn't that
why God invented cabinets?

Still sounds a bit messy. You've got a poor little tablet with an external hard drive and an external DAC plugged into it via a cable at one end and, given the capacity of tablet batteries, a power cable at the other. Why not use a laptop with a decent
battery capacity and a couple of USB ports built in, as well as a lid upon which you can glue or tape your hard drive?

I started off using a small Windows laptop + external DAC and hard drive, but I found that subfolders kept dropping into different levels of the hierarchy on my hard drive, and I got fed up with having to march over to the thing and fiddle with JRiver
Media Center when the music stopped. My wife has lupus, and found the whole procedure dispiriting. We both find using a remote to control a BluRay player, using the TV as a monitor, is much more relaxing. And of course I often just use Bluetooth from my
Nokia phone anyway, which, in the spirit of Ren'e Magritte has a large label on the back, upon which is written "THIS IS NOT A PHONE".

Andrew Clarke
Canberra

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In article <0547c237-6235-45eb-b1f1-a4d7283dfae4n@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew Clarke <andrewclarke437@gmail.com> wrote:

Still sounds a bit messy.

The stuff just sits on a shelf.

Why not use a laptop with a decent battery capacity and a couple
of USB ports built in, as well as a lid upon which you can glue
or tape your hard drive?

I do use a laptop, which I'm sure I said, but a tablet is a cheaper buy-from-scratch option. Certainly no gluing/taping desired
though....

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On Thursday, October 6, 2022 at 4:52:09 AM UTC+11, Todd M. McComb wrote:

In article <0547c237-6235-45eb...@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew Clarke <andrewc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Still sounds a bit messy.

The stuff just sits on a shelf.

Why not use a laptop with a decent battery capacity and a couple
of USB ports built in, as well as a lid upon which you can glue
or tape your hard drive?

I do use a laptop, which I'm sure I said, but a tablet is a cheaper buy-from-scratch option. Certainly no gluing/taping desired
though....

You want cheap already? Try my Budget Audio Travel Pak, which consists of a pair of Sony ear buds (Bluetooth) and my original Nokia Retro phone, the one with the buttons on the front. Cost AUD$90.00 a few years ago. Powder blue.

Andrew Clarke
Canberra

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In article <cd3af625-6098-44df-ad82-2f0de632204an@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew Clarke <andrewclarke437@gmail.com> wrote:

Try my Budget Audio Travel Pak, which consists of a pair of Sony
ear buds (Bluetooth) and my original Nokia Retro phone, the one
with the buttons on the front. Cost AUD$90.00 a few years ago.

That's certainly something someone can consider, according to their
needs.

The situation I was describing, however, concerned keeping the same "stereo"/hi-fi/whatever quality one currently employs, but without
needing to find a now-difficult-to-obtain CD player per se.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Thursday, October 6, 2022 at 6:44:54 PM UTC+11, Todd M. McComb wrote:

In article <cd3af625-6098-44df...@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew Clarke <andrewc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Try my Budget Audio Travel Pak, which consists of a pair of Sony
ear buds (Bluetooth) and my original Nokia Retro phone, the one
with the buttons on the front. Cost AUD$90.00 a few years ago.

That's certainly something someone can consider, according to their
needs.

The situation I was describing, however, concerned keeping the same "stereo"/hi-fi/whatever quality one currently employs, but without
needing to find a now-difficult-to-obtain CD player per se.

I agree: the Travel Pak is strictly for use while using public transport, more particularly on the part of the bus furthest from the engine. I haven't tried it on light rail yet. I have a variety of ageing bits and pieces which I like to re-use from time
to time, including my faithful Lindy plug-in DAC of yesteryear.

Another reason for using a laptop: JRiver Media Centre, a genuinely gapless player on Windows. I don't know anything about the Mac equivalent as I've never used Apple products.

What are people at the top end of town going to do when their CD players give up the ghost?

Andrew Clarke
Canberra

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In article <862a5c8f-7318-437e-a739-d78f9973aa8cn@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew Clarke <andrewclarke437@gmail.com> wrote:

What are people at the top end of town going to do when their CD
players give up the ghost?

Maybe someone will take a DAC, a CDROM drive, and a small tablet,
and put them together in a nifty package. Hey, maybe they'll even
weld them into a metal box. (Fun bonus: Then they can worry about
power interference on the analog output, and charge a LOT more to
mitigate it!)

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