MacBook Pro's and Large Music Collections

Currently I use a Lenovo T430S for my personal and professional computing needs. I've got about 1100 GB of storage on the laptop so my current system works something like this:

Buy music -> Store on ThinkPad -> SyncToy to my server/NAS which my sonos hits

However I'm currently thinking about purchasing a MacBook Pro and moving my personal needs to that. I've got about 200 GB of music library, and large discs in MacBooks get quite expensive. I also own an iPhone with I tend to sync music to when I travel for work.

How do you guys manage your large digital music collections? I've always liked having all my music with me, but I'm open to perusing other options. I'm not willing to pay the $500 premium for the 1TB drive in the MBP.

TDIMike said:

I'm not willing to pay the $500 premium for the 1TB drive in the MBP.

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Just keep the Thinkpad then? Or get another brand which doesn't charge you an arm and a leg for a halfway decent amount of storage.

For the record though, I use a wireless disk for all my music. Easy and convenient while travelling.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1330

amey01 said:

Just keep the Thinkpad then? Or get another brand which doesn't charge you an arm and a leg for a halfway decent amount of storage.

For the record though, I use a wireless disk for all my music. Easy and convenient while travelling.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1330

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I'm definitely keeping the ThinkPad to use at work, the reasoning behind the Mac is the OS. I wasn't 100% sold on Windows 10, and OSX is basically linux.

Thanks for the recommendation, I didn't know such a thing existed.

TDIMike said:

I wasn't 100% sold on Windows 10,

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Nor am I

and OSX is basically linux.

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So bung Linux on another Thinkpad (or dual-boot). You don't need a Mac to run Linux

Thanks for the recommendation, I didn't know such a thing existed.

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No probs

Just as an aside, the one I've got runs MiniDLNA as well, so you can access your entire music collection directly from your phone - no syncing necessary.

I don't keep any music on my Mac or PC anymore.. It's all on my Synology NAS and is served from there to everything; hi-fi system, computers, even my phone, wherever I am. Movies too. Drives in the NAS are RAID'ed (I also keep an off-site backup) and I don't have to sync or keep copies of them on my devices. I have just over 1 TB of music. For me, this was the way to go.

TomDac said:

I don't keep any music on my Mac or PC anymore.. It's all on my Synology NAS and is served from there to everything; hi-fi system, computers, even my phone, wherever I am. Movies too. Drives in the NAS are RAID'ed (I also keep an off-site backup) and I don't have to sync or keep copies of them on my devices. I have just over 1 TB of music. For me, this was the way to go.

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Interesting. This seems to be the way to go. How do you get music on your phone in instances in which you won't have a data connection? I think thats my only real issue.

Yeah..you have to have a wi-fi or data connection on your phone/laptop to get the music to you from your NAS. So far, I've never had an issue, but it's possible. You could always keep some music on your phone.. at least you wouldn't be completely without tunes if that ever happened... just a thought...

TomDac said:

Yeah..you have to have a wi-fi or data connection on your phone/laptop to get the music to you from your NAS. So far, I've never had an issue, but it's possible. You could always keep some music on your phone.. at least you wouldn't be completely without tunes if that ever happened... just a thought...

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Yeah, thats what I'm thinking. We're actually leaning towards getting an Apple Music subscription and i'm told you can create playlists and download those tunes to your phone in the event that you need to.

not sure about Apple Music.. I'm not a fan of monthly fees and not sure how good the sound quality is. For computers/iphone, it prolly doesn't matter too much, but for listening at home on the hi-fi, i want lossless or hi-res.... Plus, it's fun adding stuff to your music collection and doing the tags just how you want them, etc. so you lose that when you do the streaming thing. If you do the Apple music, report back and let us know how you like it.

TomDac said:

not sure about Apple Music.. I'm not a fan of monthly fees and not sure how good the sound quality is. For computers/iphone, it prolly doesn't matter too much, but for listening at home on the hi-fi, i want lossless or hi-res.... Plus, it's fun adding stuff to your music collection and doing the tags just how you want them, etc. so you lose that when you do the streaming thing. If you do the Apple music, report back and let us know how you like it.

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Yeah, I completely agree. For the home, my lossless collection is the only way to go. Glad to see I'm not the only one who actually enjoys the art of cataloging!

TomDac said:

Yeah..you have to have a wi-fi or data connection on your phone/laptop to get the music to you from your NAS. So far, I've never had an issue, but it's possible. You could always keep some music on your phone.. at least you wouldn't be completely without tunes if that ever happened... just a thought...

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Never happened?? A flight would be the most obvious and common example. One where you would really like a good selection of music to your avail too.

ha. that shows you how much I travel. LOL hardly ever.

We have recently gotten a family subscription to Apple Music. More for my wife and daughter than me, but I obviously have access to it as well. Haven't really scratched the surface of it yet, though, so can't really say much about it. I am (finally!) about to embark on ripping my cd collection to digital. I just ordered a Synology NAS and some WD Red drives. I am planning on getting the PS Audio Bridge II to stream to my DSD DAC over the LAN. Curious what streaming programs people are using. I was thinking about going with Roon. I figure I'll rip everything to flac to stream to the hifi system, and transcode to a lower res to import to iTunes for my portable devices.

Rich said:

We have recently gotten a family subscription to Apple Music. More for my wife and daughter than me, but I obviously have access to it as well. Haven't really scratched the surface of it yet, though, so can't really say much about it. I am (finally!) about to embark on ripping my cd collection to digital. I just ordered a Synology NAS and some WD Red drives. I am planning on getting the PS Audio Bridge II to stream to my DSD DAC over the LAN. Curious what streaming programs people are using. I was thinking about going with Roon. I figure I'll rip everything to flac to stream to the hifi system, and transcode to a lower res to import to iTunes for my portable devices.

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I bave a Sonos Connect that I love, but I think thats a bit below what you're wanting to do. I use J River for playback on my ThinkPad which is awesome.

The Apple Music thing I think I would use more for discovery if new bands and travel than anything. My Sonos into my Parasound P5 is the go to in the main system. I've considered one of the better streamers but I'm nit sure I'd get much benefit.

TDIMike said:

I bave a Sonos Connect that I love, but I think thats a bit below what you're wanting to do. I use J River for playback on my ThinkPad which is awesome.

The Apple Music thing I think I would use more for discovery if new bands and travel than anything. My Sonos into my Parasound P5 is the go to in the main system. I've considered one of the better streamers but I'm nit sure I'd get much benefit.

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Sonos is fantastic, but the deal-breaker for most audiophiles is the fact that it doesn't do high-res.

amey01 said:

Sonos is fantastic, but the deal-breaker for most audiophiles is the fact that it doesn't do high-res.

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Yeah, I have a Sonos on my whole-house audio system, and it is really nice and very convenient for that purpose. But the sound quality isn't up to snuff for my main system.

Rich said:

Yeah, I have a Sonos on my whole-house audio system, and it is really nice and very convenient for that purpose. But the sound quality isn't up to snuff for my main system.

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You know thats funny, I've heard quite a bit of that. I suppose if you were trying to avoid running an external DAC I totally get it. Otherwise the Connect is bit-perfect, so the quality of its sound is completely dependent on the DAC. I know what you mean though, I'm using the DAC in my Parasound P5, and am mostly happy with it for now, but I'd by lying if I said I wasn't browsing at other streamers.

What are you currently use to transport digital music to your MLs?

TDIMike said:

What are you currently use to transport digital music to your MLs?

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Actually, I am just now starting the process of setting all that up. I haven't seriously fiddled with music streaming until now, other than a little dabbling with an old Lansonic music server (loaded up with MP3 files), iTunes, and recently the Sonos, which is connected to my whole-house audio system. For my main system, though, I have relied on spinning CD's and SACD's. But that is about to change, and here is my plan.

I ordered a Synology NAS, to which I will rip all my CD's in FLAC format. I will purchase a PS Audio Bridge II to go inside my DirectStream DAC, which will allow me to stream the FLAC files to the DAC over Ethernet. I will then get a subscription to Roon to control it all, and I will run Roon from a SonicTransporter (Link). The beauty of this device is that it runs not only Roon, but several other streaming network protocols, so it is compatible with DLNA, Sonos, etc. The upcoming update to the DirectStream firmware from PSAudio is expected to include native Roon support for the Bridge II, so it should all work together seamlessly. Once I have it all set up, I should be able to browse my entire music library on my iPad using the Roon iPad app and stream the music to my DSD DAC, my Sonos, my Apple TV, etc. Seems like a perfect solution to me.

Edit: I forgot to respond to your comment on the Sonos sound quality using an outboard DAC. Ultimately, you are correct. Sending a bitperfect stream from the Sonos to the DAC should result in perfectly fine sound quality. I shouldn't have dissed it so quickly as I haven't experimented with this setup.

The truth is I never really considered it as an option for my main system for several other reasons. I don't have my CD's ripped yet, so I don't have a library of digital files. Therefore, I currently use the Sonos to mostly stream low-res radio streams. Until recently I didn't even own an outboard DAC. And I still need to buy a network card for it so I can stream over Ethernet. So I wasn't really set up for it. Also, Sonos' lack of ability to stream hi-res files made it a non-starter for my main system. I plan on getting my feet wet in the arena of hi-res audio downloads, and want this capability in my streamer. But probably the biggest limitation of Sonos, for me, is the user interface. It is adequate, but nothing special. That's one of the main reasons I'm going with Roon. The interface is excellent. It's designed by the same team that designed the Sooloos music server.

Having the ability to browse my entire music library on my iPad, using the Roon interface, and stream CD quality (or better) music to my main system, my Apple TV, and my Sonos / whole house system is exactly the type of setup I have been waiting for. That's why I am finally taking the plunge into digital streaming and ripping my 2000 or so CD's to FLAC. I only want to deal with all of this once and then I just want it to work to my satisfaction. I think I've got a pretty good plan in place to make that happen.

Rich said:

I only want to deal with all of this once and then I just want it to work to my satisfaction. I think I've got a pretty good plan in place to make that happen.

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Make certain you make a backup copy of it to an external drive or the cloud, so hard drive problems don't render the collection inaccessable (been there, done that....NO fun doing it the second time).

Peter Hogan said:

Make certain you make a backup copy of it to an external drive or the cloud, so hard drive problems don't render the collection inaccessable (been there, done that....NO fun doing it the second time).

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Absolutely. I'll have the NAS set up with two mirrored 4GB RED drives and back that up regularly to an external drive. Wouldn't want to go through all this hassle a second time just because I was lazy about backups.