# FIIO M11 VS APPLE IPOD 7TH GEN.



## GS3 (Feb 19, 2006)

Does anyone have any experience with these two devices? want to find out or want to know if there is a big SQ difference that can be hear in a moving car between both of these devices?

I currently have the 6th GEN. IPOD and it's giving out and want to find out if I should stick with the IPOD or try something new?

Thank you for any inputs or comments.


----------



## asianinvasion21 (Sep 24, 2012)

GS3 said:


> Does anyone have any experience with these two devices? want to find out or want to know if there is a big SQ difference that can be hear in a moving car between both of these devices?
> 
> I currently have the 6th GEN. IPOD and it's giving out and want to find out if I should stick with the IPOD or try something new?
> 
> Thank you for any inputs or comments.


If your running optical out there really shouldn't be too much of a sq difference between the devices.


----------



## EmoJackson (Aug 13, 2018)

What are your music files, Flac, Alac, MP3? hehehe


----------



## GS3 (Feb 19, 2006)

EmoJackson said:


> What are your music files, Flac, Alac, MP3? hehehe


to be honest, I don't quit know, I don't really pay attention, some are purchased from itune store and some are uploaded to the itune via cd and converted and then into the ipod.

what is the best way or method to ensure it is the best quality every time I upload cd's into itune for conversion?


----------



## asianinvasion21 (Sep 24, 2012)

GS3 said:


> to be honest, I don't quit know, I don't really pay attention, some are purchased from itune store and some are uploaded to the itune via cd and converted and then into the ipod.
> 
> what is the best way or method to ensure it is the best quality every time I upload cd's into itune for conversion?


If your not playing Hi-Res of Flac files just use a streaming service to play music. Most stream at 320kbps and you can save music for offline playback.


----------



## GS3 (Feb 19, 2006)

asianinvasion21 said:


> If your not playing Hi-Res of Flac files just use a streaming service to play music. Most stream at 320kbps and you can save music for offline playback.


what is the best program or method to convert all music to hi-res or flac? is there such a thing? sorry for all the questions, I need lots of help with this, have not pay any attention to all the different file formats and conversion possibilities.


----------



## asianinvasion21 (Sep 24, 2012)

GS3 said:


> what is the best program or method to convert all music to hi-res or flac? is there such a thing? sorry for all the questions, I need lots of help with this, have not pay any attention to all the different file formats and conversion possibilities.


You can't upsample files and make quality better. Its like magnifying a pixelated picture. Do some research online for streaming music. I used to download music and its a waste of time by today's standard. Most of the streaming services probably have a better bitrate then what you currently have downloaded. If you don't know what you download, I would assume its not the greatest quality for playback.


----------



## K-pop sucks (May 28, 2018)

Just keep your iPod.


----------



## Jcmamma (Apr 5, 2017)

I just recently switched from my iphoneX with Dragonfly Red to a fiio m11 as my source. I use Qobus and Tidal as streaming/down loading of music. The audio difference is CrAzY better with the M11. But as mentioned earlier, the quality of your files make a huge difference. With that being said, even my Itunes music stages and over all sounds better. 
The M11 is an amazing dap imo.


----------



## Asdcreation (Dec 11, 2018)

Yeah for hi res files,dap is nice;I heard they launching m11 pro this month end & m15 in holiday season .I am using dragonfly cobalt with samsung s9+ for the time being,sounds great


----------



## biglou001 (Mar 5, 2012)

I bought a used iPod classic that had been upgraded to 256gb. I uploaded my entire cd collection on it. I used iTunes ALAC format, which is as close to flac as iTunes will get you. I’m running a Pioneer P99RS and couldn’t be happier. The iPods show up in the classifieds every one in awhile. Mine stays in my car all the time, even in winter here in Alaska.


----------



## truckerfte (Jul 30, 2010)

In a moving car I don't think I could tell the difference. 

Right now I'm considering selling my built iPods and going fiio. Mostly for the convenience of being to load whatever I want on it. Right now it's a juggling act, have a classic 5.5 with 1tb, but stock software, a few 128 And 256 minis, some on rb, some on stock apple software....

I'd start selling the things off, but I don't think the market is there anymore....


----------



## biglou001 (Mar 5, 2012)

truckerfte said:


> In a moving car I don't think I could tell the difference.
> 
> Right now I'm considering selling my built iPods and going fiio. Mostly for the convenience of being to load whatever I want on it. Right now it's a juggling act, have a classic 5.5 with 1tb, but stock software, a few 128 And 256 minis, some on rb, some on stock apple software....
> 
> I'd start selling the things off, but I don't think the market is there anymore....


If you were to sell your 1tb classic, what would you want for it?


----------



## truckerfte (Jul 30, 2010)

biglou001 said:


> If you were to sell your 1tb classic, what would you want for it?


I'd have to think about it for a minute, and change to an upgraded battery before I sold it.(stock replacement battery only has about 5 hour life). 

But it won't be anywhere near what those eBay guys are selling them for, lol


----------



## Phobos223 (Aug 20, 2019)

Just curious, how do you guys connect these devices to your amps? Digital out like Toslink or just high quality analog interconnect? Sorry for newb question, just dont have any experience directly connecting these devices


----------



## Jcmamma (Apr 5, 2017)

I connect 3.5mm>rca>dsp


----------



## asianinvasion21 (Sep 24, 2012)

Phobos223 said:


> Just curious, how do you guys connect these devices to your amps? Digital out like Toslink or just high quality analog interconnect? Sorry for newb question, just dont have any experience directly connecting these devices


If your not using toslink/coaxial with your device then you are not bypassing the devices internal dac. You should be running toslink/coaxial straight to the processor for the best sound quality. If you have an ipod/usb drive running through your head unit then you are not in the same ballpark of sound quality. You would actually have better SQ popping in a factory CD.


----------



## Phobos223 (Aug 20, 2019)

asianinvasion21 said:


> If your not using toslink/coaxial with your device then you are not bypassing the devices internal dac. You should be running toslink/coaxial straight to the processor for the best sound quality. If you have an ipod/usb drive running through your head unit then you are not in the same ballpark of sound quality. You would actually have better SQ popping in a factory CD.


Thanks for the reply - So in my truck, I am using a NAV-TV interface + Toslink cable currently to connect my factory headunit and all its functions to my DSP/AMP.

I was thinking to get a high end digital music player and having a second direct connection to the DSP via either RCA or digital SPDIF (if possible) from the digital music player.

Thinking behind this would be that I would have better sound quality when playing higher resolution music files this way than if I was playing with music play or phone connected via aux input into the factory system.

Would it be worth it?

Again, my 2 options are something like this:


Music player/phone --> aux 3.5 (or bluetooth) --> factory sound system -> NAV-TV with Toslink output --> DSP

or

Music player/phone --> directly to DSP via 3.5 to RCA or some sort of digital interface


Waste of time/money? Thanks again for the input


----------



## asianinvasion21 (Sep 24, 2012)

Phobos223 said:


> Thanks for the reply - So in my truck, I am using a NAV-TV interface + Toslink cable currently to connect my factory headunit and all its functions to my DSP/AMP.
> 
> I was thinking to get a high end digital music player and having a second direct connection to the DSP via either RCA or digital SPDIF (if possible) from the digital music player.
> 
> ...


The combo I used was less than $15 and provides optical output to the processor. Just an otg cable with a usb soundcard. I use toslink out of the soundcard directly to the DSP.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/7-1-Ch-USB-...4AAOSwfVhaBNaf

https://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-C-3-1-T...f804490a1ed082


----------



## Phobos223 (Aug 20, 2019)

asianinvasion21 said:


> The combo I used was less than $15 and provides optical output to the processor. Just an otg cable with a usb soundcard. I use toslink out of the soundcard directly to the DSP.
> 
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/7-1-Ch-USB-...4AAOSwfVhaBNaf
> 
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-C-3-1-T...f804490a1ed082


Thanks again. Surely doing this would be better than going through option #1 I posted right? Seems like high end player direct to the DSP with either toslink or even 3.5 would be better


----------



## asianinvasion21 (Sep 24, 2012)

Phobos223 said:


> Thanks again. Surely doing this would be better than going through option #1 I posted right? Seems like high end player direct to the DSP with either toslink or even 3.5 would be better


Using a DAP to the DSP is going to be the best option. If your referring to a 3.5 aux jack stay away from that. The whole point is going all digital to the processor. There is not much of a difference in SQ if your running all digital to the processor. I would just use your phone for the digital output. Using a 3.5 to an RCA input is probably the worst thing you can do.


----------



## Phobos223 (Aug 20, 2019)

asianinvasion21 said:


> Using a DAP to the DSP is going to be the best option. If your referring to a 3.5 aux jack stay away from that. The whole point is going all digital to the processor. There is not much of a difference in SQ if your running all digital to the processor. I would just use your phone for the digital output. Using a 3.5 to an RCA input is probably the worst thing you can do.


So just to be clear, you are saying using my phone with the $15 usb to optical device you posted which keeps the signal digital all the way to the DSP, would be better than an M11 connected directly to the amp via a 3.5 to RCA?

If that is the case, I wonder if just putting digital files on USB stick and having factory head unit pipe them through the NAV-TV to the DSP over Toslink would be just as good?


----------



## GS3 (Feb 19, 2006)

asianinvasion21 said:


> View attachment 249267
> 
> 
> The combo I used was less than $15 and provides optical output to the processor. Just an otg cable with a usb soundcard. I use toslink out of the soundcard directly to the DSP.
> ...


Is there or where is the optical Toslink output on the 7.1 ch-USB soundcard?


----------



## asianinvasion21 (Sep 24, 2012)

Phobos223 said:


> So just to be clear, you are saying using my phone with the $15 usb to optical device you posted which keeps the signal digital all the way to the DSP, would be better than an M11 connected directly to the amp via a 3.5 to RCA?
> 
> If that is the case, I wonder if just putting digital files on USB stick and having factory head unit pipe them through the NAV-TV to the DSP over Toslink would be just as good?


Do some research man, the less things you have in the signal chain the better. By doing that you have multiple dac conversions happening before the signal reaches the processor. The less conversions you have the better. If you can go DAP straight to the processor there are a lot of benefits. You are also taking full advantage of Hi-Res & Lossless playback. I guarantee your factory head unit does not have Hi-Res playback or a half decent dac in it. Optical straight to the processor is a day and night difference from a factory head unit to a processor.


----------



## asianinvasion21 (Sep 24, 2012)

GS3 said:


> Is there or where is the optical Toslink output on the 7.1 ch-USB soundcard?


It uses a mini toslink out of the aux jack.


----------



## GS3 (Feb 19, 2006)

asianinvasion21 said:


> It uses a mini toslink out of the aux jack.


thanks!


----------



## OldFatBald (Sep 25, 2019)

I am looking at the Fiio M11 Pro using the optical into my JL Audio VXi-Hub optical input.

Does the M11 Pro have a way to setup playlists?
Control them through an Android phone app? Their ads say so, but without actually using one???
Is the M11 Pro user friendly?


----------



## cmusic (Nov 16, 2006)

OldFatBald said:


> I am looking at the Fiio M11 Pro using the optical into my JL Audio VXi-Hub optical input.
> 
> Does the M11 Pro have a way to setup playlists?
> Control them through an Android phone app? Their ads say so, but without actually using one???
> Is the M11 Pro user friendly?


Yes, playlists can be setup on the Fiio. I use an iPhone so I can't answer about using the android app. The M11 I have is very easy to use. I really like it a lot! 

The differences between the M11 and the M11 Pro are mostly in a slightly longer battery life, a larger internal hard drive, and a slightly better DAC and amplifier stage. Since you plan on using the digital outputs, you will not be using the DAC. I get probably 12-15 hours of use on my M11 without needing to recharge. So the extra cost of the M11 Pro might not be beneficial to you.


----------



## OldFatBald (Sep 25, 2019)

cmusic said:


> Yes, playlists can be setup on the Fiio. I use an iPhone so I can't answer about using the android app. The M11 I have is very easy to use. I really like it a lot!


Awesome, thank you for that info.



> The differences between the M11 and the M11 Pro are mostly in a slightly longer battery life, a larger internal hard drive, and a slightly better DAC and amplifier stage. Since you plan on using the digital outputs, you will not be using the DAC. I get probably 12-15 hours of use on my M11 without needing to recharge. So the extra cost of the M11 Pro might not be beneficial to you.


That is good to know as saving $250-$300 for an around town car is always good!

Is the Fiio M11 able to play different file formats in one playlist without a problem.

I want to use it for multiple file formats from ripping specific songs from CDs to downloading Hi-Res singles.

I mainly want to use it as a music storage device with different playlists for music that I have accumulated over the years and in the future. I was going to get an Audison Bit Play which I decided against due to the bad reviews.


----------



## AVIDEDTR (Sep 11, 2008)

OldFatBald said:


> Awesome, thank you for that info.
> 
> 
> That is good to know as saving $250-$300 for an around town car is always good!
> ...


100% yes it can


----------



## OldFatBald (Sep 25, 2019)

cmusic said:


> ...The differences between the M11 and the M11 Pro are mostly in a slightly longer battery life, a larger internal hard drive, and a slightly better DAC and amplifier stage. Since you plan on using the digital outputs, you will not be using the DAC. I get probably 12-15 hours of use on my M11 without needing to recharge. So the extra cost of the M11 Pro might not be beneficial to you.


I just went through the Fiio online comparison chart between the M11 & M11-Pro and you are correct. It looks like the major difference is the Pro's DAC which like you mentioned I will not be using.

Their download center takes me to a page that is all non-English Asian font with Chrome but I can get to the English versions with Explorer which seems a little strange to me???

It will be awhile until I get the car stereo installed as I am still in the middle of the LS engine install/swap and I already have a pile of JL Audio equipment taking up storage space!!

The User manual doesn't seem to have been written by a native English speaker which is too bad as there are plenty of them roaming around China and the manual is not that long.

When I get to the point of installing the M11 in my car, I am sure that I will have a few more questions regarding the setup configuration such as;

** DoP or D2P? - I assume D2P
* Gain set - High? - Is there a gain with the Optical Output?
* Rolloff filter mode? Again is there one with the Optical Output?*


----------



## AVIDEDTR (Sep 11, 2008)

OldFatBald said:


> I just went through the Fiio online comparison chart between the M11 & M11-Pro and you are correct. It looks like the major difference is the Pro's DAC which like you mentioned I will not be using.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Coax out no optical unless you convert it externally

Sent from my SM-G975W using Tapatalk


----------



## OldFatBald (Sep 25, 2019)

AVIDEDTR said:


> Coax out no optical unless you convert it externally
> 
> Sent from my SM-G975W using Tapatalk


Well, there goes my idea of hooking it into my car’s audio system using SPDIF optical,

I had read the reply above (post #26) stating _“thanks?”_ to the _“It uses a mini toslink out of the aux jack”_ and didn’t bother reading any of the other posts, my fault. I thought that they were referring to the M11 using a mini Toslink out but;

From pg. 4 of the M11’s User Manual V1.2
*11) 3.5mm PO/LO/ SPDIF coaxial output: Shared Phone/line / coaxial output port. 
Switch between the three outputs in M11 Settings ->Audio Settings -> Multifunctional Output.*

I wasn’t really wanting to spend the $$$ on an Astrell & Kern

I could use a Coax to Toslink converter, but I don’t have any experience with them and that is introducing another point of error.


----------



## OldFatBald (Sep 25, 2019)

I really wanted to use the optical input of the JL Audio VX-hub but I think that I will end up getting a M11 and just use a stereo 3.5 to dual RCA adapter and use the non-SPDIF headphone out (LO) to a set of analog inputs on one of my VXi amps

The M11 looks like a nice unit to store lots of non-compressed music on.

I am not sure if I am missing part of the user manual that has the descriptions of the abbreviations, but I found somewhere that they refer to the following as:

*PO - "Power Out"* - used for headphones etc
*LO - "Line Out"* - typical Analog Line Out *** The one I would set the output to ***
*SPDIF* - self explanatory (except I assumed - my fault - that it was optical)


----------



## Asdcreation (Dec 11, 2018)

You can use mini toslink to toslink optical cable,mini toslink will go into 3.5mm port of m11 or spdif port whichever you want ,I have used fiio x7 mk 2 like that before,only thing is the volume will be controlled by your drc 205 knob or m11,spdif is usually pretty loud as it's high output ,so using 3.5mm port will give better control on volume


----------



## OldFatBald (Sep 25, 2019)

Asdcreation said:


> You can use mini toslink to toslink optical cable,mini toslink will go into 3.5mm port of m11 or spdif port whichever you want ,I have used fiio x7 mk 2 like that before,only thing is the volume will be controlled by your drc 205 knob or m11,spdif is usually pretty loud as it's high output ,so using 3.5mm port will give better control on volume



How does it use a mini-Toslink out of the M11 if there is no SPDIF optical and only SPDIF coaxial out?


----------



## Asdcreation (Dec 11, 2018)

Ok just checked the specs of m11 so does not say optical my bad, I thought its same as fiio x7 mk2,fiio x7 mk 2 have 2 different ports for high(spdif) & low level(3.5mm port),both worked with mini toslink to toslink optical cable. Not sure it will work with m11,might give it a try if you are buying from amazon as you can return it & get refund if it does not work


----------



## dwhyte91 (Sep 30, 2019)

So just reading through this, I was considering getting a new phone because I’m out of storage space but an m11 would be easier. I have an iPhone X so there’s no “need” to upgrade. I currently use Tidal to stream/download hi res music and connect to my oem HU through USB. If I’m reading all this correctly, using the USB connection defeats using a high res media player and I need a way to connect past the oem HU? What about using the BT connection to my Dayton dsp with the M11? If it’s not going to be any better than being connected with my phone I’ll just get a phone with a bigger storage space.


----------



## datooff (Aug 5, 2019)

Newbie question:

Will SQ of Fiio M11 be better via optical to DSP 
vs Samsung S10 -> Type-C to USB -> USB/SPDIF converter -> optical to dsp.

Thank you.


----------



## OldFatBald (Sep 25, 2019)

datooff said:


> Newbie question:
> 
> Will SQ of Fiio M11 be better via optical to DSP
> vs Samsung S10 -> Type-C to USB -> USB/SPDIF converter -> optical to dsp.
> ...


According to the M11 manual, it doesn’t have an optical output.


----------



## datooff (Aug 5, 2019)

OldFatBald said:


> According to the M11 manual, it doesn’t have an optical output.


or via coaxial


----------



## OldFatBald (Sep 25, 2019)

Asdcreation said:


> Ok just checked the specs of m11 so does not say optical my bad, I thought its same as fiio x7 mk2,fiio x7 mk 2 have 2 different ports for high(spdif) & low level(3.5mm port),both worked with mini toslink to toslink optical cable. Not sure it will work with m11,might give it a try if you are buying from amazon as you can return it & get refund if it does not work


Their website is a little cumbersome to get information off of.

I really don't understand why the X7 mk II would have an optical out and the M11 doesn't. Maybe it was to cut costs??

I keep flipping between the X7 mkII with the optical out and the M11 with the LO (line out).

How old is the X7 mk II platform? Is it user friendly?


----------



## cmusic (Nov 16, 2006)

The X7 MKII has an independent 3.5mm digital output that both optical toslink and coax adapter cords can be plugged in to. The X7's headphone jack (that uses the internal DAC and amp) is separate from the shared coax/toslink digital output. 

The M11's single 3.5mm output has both unbalanced headphone (that uses the internal DAC and amp) and coax digital outputs. 

The X7's digital 3.5mm output has a LED transmitter that coverts the digital electrical signal into light. The M11 does not have this LED transmitter since it uses the same 3.5mm output for both analog headphones and digital coax.

I think the reasons for not adding the LED transmitter to the M11 was cost, space, and that for Hi-res music signals toslink can only transmit up to 96 KHz whereas coax can go to 192 KHz. If you look at high-end Hi-res home audio equipment, more and more of them are dropping the toslink digital inputs due to the limited bandwidth of toslink. In fact it is probably better to use the USB output for digital since it can go beyond 192 KHz.

As I stated before, the M11 and M11 Pro is the newest top generation of Fiio DAPs. The X7 MKII is about 2-3 years old and is the top of the last generation of Fiio DAPs. The X7 is an excellent DAP, but the M11 is faster, has more external storage capability, has a better screen, a much faster boot up and shut down procedure, and is generally better all around, except for the toslink output.


----------



## OldFatBald (Sep 25, 2019)

cmusic said:


> The X7 MKII has an independent 3.5mm digital output that both optical toslink and coax adapter cords can be plugged in to. The X7's headphone jack (that uses the internal DAC and amp) is separate from the shared coax/toslink digital output.
> 
> The M11's single 3.5mm output has both unbalanced headphone (that uses the internal DAC and amp) and coax digital outputs.
> 
> ...


Cmusic,

Thank you for the explanation and clarifications.

Looks like it is an M11 for me using a 3.5mm to Stereo RCA adapter cable, the 3.5 mm output jack set to LO (Analog Line Out) into a spare pair of analog inputs into one of my JL VXi amps.

Thanks again for the help!


----------



## terryna (Mar 15, 2018)

Jcmamma said:


> I just recently switched from my iphoneX with Dragonfly Red to a fiio m11 as my source. I use Qobus and Tidal as streaming/down loading of music. The audio difference is CrAzY better with the M11. But as mentioned earlier, the quality of your files make a huge difference. With that being said, even my Itunes music stages and over all sounds better.
> The M11 is an amazing dap imo.


Agree


----------



## OldFatBald (Sep 25, 2019)

Other than the Lexar Micro SD 512 gig cards not working well in slot 1 of the M11, are any of the large capacity Mircro SD cards more compatible with the M11?

Are the read/write speeds even an issue with the M11 player?


----------



## cmusic (Nov 16, 2006)

I'm two Scan Disk Ultra 400 GB card and it works just fine. I think when I first installed the card into the M11, the M11 had to install/format it under the settings app. Then I removed it and pluged it into my computer and transfered my music files directly onto the card. I inserted it back in the M11 and opened the Fiio music app. In the app I have to do a scan to find the music files, which only takes between 10-15 seconds (for one album) to 3-5 minutes (for hundreds of albums) depending on how many music files I load onto the card at one time. 

When I get new music, I remove the SD card and plug it back into my computer and transfer the new music files over to the card. Then I re-insert it back in the Fiio, turn it on and go to the music app, and do another scan. You can choose to scan the entire card again (takes a few minutes) or choose the folder or folders where you placed the new music (takes a few seconds).

Read/write speeds are not an issue with the M11. Once the Fiio music app has scanned the card for all music files, it takes less than one second to start playing music once the album and track are selected.


----------



## ARCuhTEK (Dec 22, 2008)

Considering the Fiio M11 vs M11 Pro. A couple of things...

Why on earth would the M11 Pro have only one SD slot vs the M11 having two?

I have a huge collection of CDs that I would like to convert to FLAC. To be honest, I have so many, I imagine such an effort would take weeks and weeks of personal time to do so and even though that would a cool accomplishment, I fear I will run out of mojo and personal inspiration before completing the task.

So.... am I better off just to ante up to Tidal? I already have Spotify (and love it). I can always just pull the rare CDs from my collection that seem to be unable to be found on Tidal and just convert those disks to FLAC.

Finally...what software are you all using to convert your CDs to lossless? dbPowerAmp?


----------



## bbfoto (Aug 28, 2005)

ARCuhTEK said:


> Considering the Fiio M11 vs M11 Pro. A couple of things...
> 
> Why on earth would the M11 Pro have only one SD slot vs the M11 having two?
> 
> ...


Regarding why the M11 PRO just has 1 microSD card slot, I think that FiiO wanted to keep the form factor and overall size the same as the original. But they needed more room internally for the upgraded components:

- FiiO has employed the THX-AAA amplifier chipset, which is an improvement from the original M11’s OPA926*2.
- The M11 Pro now gives you 4370mAh of battery versus the 3800mAh offered by the original M11. 
- FiiO has also boosted its _internal_ storage capacity from 32GB to 64GB.
- The M11 Pro uses TWO carefully implemented AK4497EQ DAC chips compared to the AK4493EQ in the M11. This requires additional circuitry.

In addition, more and more people are Streaming their music, so local storage is less important. (Not to me, though).


As far as Streaming goes, I would give the Tidal HiFi service a trial run to see if you like it. Their catalog is somewhat limited, but you have Spotify to fill in the gaps. With Tidal HIFi you have the option to download the music. This is great if it's music you love but know you'll be in areas where you don't have WiFi or a cellular data connection for streaming.

Actually, I would look into *Qobuz* as an option. It's unlimited streaming and their entire catalog is available to purchase and download if you have particular albums or tracks that you want permanently.

IMO they have a better, more varied music catalog compared to Tidal. It wasn't available in the states for many years, but I was able to sign up and use their service using my Internet VPN way back when it first became available. They've now expanded their service to the states.

https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/discover

*dBpoweramp* will work great to rip & convert your CDs, as will many other programs. It mostly comes down to what software and GUI you prefer, with an emphasis on thorough & easy IDv3 Tag management. There are separate programs such as MP3TAG just for this purpose, but I prefer to have this within the main ripping/converting software.

I would approach it this way...

Use the Streaming service of your choice for daily listening, but...

Set aside some time each day, or once a week, to Rip & Convert a few of your Existing CDs to a dedicated portable HDD or SSD. And keep a regular Back Up of this drive. Hard Drives are cheap, and the last thing you want to do is to go through this entire process again! By the end of a year, you should have most of your CD collection converted to files and safely archived, and can add them as you go to your music library.

When ripping and converting your CDs, make sure that all of the Tag information is complete and CORRECT before you start! It's a major PITA and very time consuming to fix all of the Tags later. This will ensure that you can search and find all of your music quickly and easily no matter what device or computer you store and play them on.

Note that the WAV file format has limited and inconsistent Tagging & Metadata capabilities from device to device. Apple's AIFF format is comparable to WAV, but with much better Tagging or metadata properties. Unfortunately is not compatible with all playback devices or software.

FLAC is open source and has great Tagging/Metadata features and is Lossless. But it is a more complex file format that is compressed within a "container" such as a .zip or .rar file archive. Therefore FLAC files take more processing power to play as they must be "decompressed" or "unfolded" on-the-fly by the playback device.

FLAC is still an excellent file format, and most playback devices have adequate processing power to play them back without issues. But I have had a few playback issues such as stuttering or dropouts with some Hi-Res files on particular devices.

The most important thing, is to come up with a coherent and consistent File Management Scheme and Folder Hierarchy BEFORE you start so that your music database remains organized and easy to search.

I prefer keeping ALL of my music within a single ''MUSIC" folder.

Inside that "MUSIC" folder will then be each ARTIST's or BAND's folder. Then within each of the ARTIST/BAND folders I will have an ALBUM folder to contain just the tracks from each particular Album.

A consistent FILE NAMING scheme for all of your tracks is critical for consistency and organization as well.

For example, I prefer all of my files to have the following syntax (unless it is a compilation album that contains Various Artists, in which case I will put the ALBUM NAME first).:

*Artist (or Band) Name - Album Title - Track # Song Title*.flac

(I used ".flac'' in this example, but it can obviously be any file format you prefer).

i.e.

Talking Heads - Little Creatures - 01 And She Was
Talking Heads - Little Creatures - 02 Give Me Back My Name
Talking Heads - Little Creatures - 03 Creatures of Love

...and so on for that artist's other albums...

Talking Heads - Remain In Light - 01 Born Under Punches
Talking Heads - Remain In Light - 02 Crosseyed and Painless
Talking Heads - Remain In Light - 03 The Great Curve

..and so on for the other artists and albums in your collection. 

With this File Naming syntax, All of the Artists and then their Albums remain in Alphabetical Order. In addition, when searching for "Talking Heads" or the album "Little Creatures", ALL of the tracks show up and are listed in order, first by that ARTIST, then by each of their ALBUMs, and then with all of the TRACKS from that particular Album in their proper Numerical Order.

I will also identify Live Concert tracks in the ALBUM Folder Name, and/or in the Track Title of the File Name, and will put this in the ID3 Tags as well...

i.e. Talking Heads - Little Creatures - 01 And She Was [LIVE]

This way, if I search just for "LIVE", ALL of my Live Concert tracks show up.

For multi-disc or single disc COMPILATION albums that contain multiple or "Various Artists", I will use the following file naming syntax:

*Album Name - Disc#-Track# - Artist - Song Title*

i.e. Chimes Of Freedom - 02-07 Elvis Costello - License to Kill.flac

This keeps all of the tracks from this Compilation or album title in order, first by the Disc # (if there are multiple CDs), and then by Track # on that particular Disc.


In general, my organized music folder database on my Hard Drive or Memory Cards would look like this...

MUSIC Folder
--ARTIST Folder
----ALBUM NAME Folder
------- TRACKS (from that particular Album listed in proper numerical order via correct file naming & tags)
...
--COMPILATIONS (Various Artists on one CD)
----ALBUM NAME
------- TRACKS (in numerical order by Disc#, then track #).

*ONE MAJOR CAVEAT*: Some digital playback devices will not be able to scan, index, and play back the FILES if they are buried too deep within multiple folder levels. Nearly all will play back all files if they are just one or two folders deep within the storage medium's root directory, i.e.

>C:/MUSIC/FLAC/Talking Heads - Little Creatures - 01 And She Was.flac

Do a test with all of your specific playback devices before you decide on your final file organization/folder hierarchy scheme.


Regarding file organization & file naming, if you don't start off with a consistent scheme in the beginning, finding and organizing all of your thousands of music files will be a frustrating mess, especially if scattered across multiple devices.

You obviously don't have to use my preferred method or syntax. But really think it through and try to come up with a Consistent Folder Hierarchy AND File Naming Scheme that works for you.

If you don't want to do it manually, I can highly recommend *MusicBrainz Picard* to automatically Tag & Organize your music library. This Quick Start Guide goes over the process... *MusicBrainz Picard Quick Start*

For some reason, it seems like it's much more work these days just to listen to & enjoy your music collection. But I still think it's much better than having to store, organize, and swap out thousands of physical CD discs.


----------

