Hi there I am getting into this thread a bit late in the game so forgive me . My choice is unequivocable I chose the computer and my reasons are as follows . How would you store your musical collections if you give up your chance by not having a computer with an optical drive in it. Also forget the c**p that any ol computer will do IT WILL NOT . I have built my own computer for music only and nothing else so cutting off precious windows apps does not bother me. Also an off the shelf PC does not give best performance for music , you have to build your own or get it built for you. It will not be cheap either ( remember this PC is for the best sound ). My machine cost quite a lot of money but I was a musician for a long number of years so I know the kind of sound I am looking for. Besides first class components making up the PC you also need first class components front and back of the PC. I use J Cat Femto Network and USB cards to get the digital signal to my DAC. As an aside I used to have a Gryphon Mikado Signature CD Player for a while untill I built my PC and l put the two side by side. The Gryphon now resides in South Korea . If you would like more details about the contents of my machine and getting far supreior sound quallity private message me and I'd be delighted to let you know more.
Computer, CD transport or Network Player?
I currently have most of my music downloaded on my computer as FLAC files and listen to it through JRiver or Signalyst HQ (audio players for Windows) on my Dell desktop. The sound is amazing but I have a question and it is this:
Which do you find to have the highest sound quality;
1. Redbook CD's directly played in a high quality CD transport?
2. Ripped FLAC or Apple lossless files played through a high quality PC or MAC computer based audio player (such as JRiver or Signalyst for Windows or Vox or Clementine for MAC)?
3. or music (from one's own private CD collection) loaded on a network player?
Using a DAC of course.
Which do you find to have the highest sound quality;
1. Redbook CD's directly played in a high quality CD transport?
2. Ripped FLAC or Apple lossless files played through a high quality PC or MAC computer based audio player (such as JRiver or Signalyst for Windows or Vox or Clementine for MAC)?
3. or music (from one's own private CD collection) loaded on a network player?
Using a DAC of course.