Esoteric K-01 and Mac music server

Skinzy,
You will need to download the appropriate High Speed USB Driver for the K-03/K01 if it is not included in the box. Esoteric started adding the disc for download in the original packaging sometime after the initial release, but; before that time left a copy of the download on their website. I have the K-03/Mac Mini. Computers being inherently noisy, I acquired an USB Converter and the results were well worth the investment. The acquisition of the K-03 is one of the best I have made in the last 20 years and I have made many.
Good luck!
Mark

The USB Converter I am using is the Bel Canto Reflink. Once you acquire a Mac Mini the connection is as follows:

External HD (If the extra space is needed) > Mac Mini (via firewire) > USB Converter (via USB cable/Input) > Esoteric K-03 (via Coaxial S/PDIF using BNC connector).

A USB Converter essentially optimizes the asynchronous interface to reduce jitter before sending data to DAC.

Mark

No war necessary....just trust your ears. I currently still have a USB cable running from my headless/modified Mac Mini to the USB input of the K-03. When I took the Bel Canto RefLink on a 30 day trial, I purchased a second USB cable for an A/B comparison. Used of course the same quality USB Cable (Audioquest Carbon USB).

So my available connections where:
Mac Mini > Esoteric Async USB input via Audioquest Carbon USB Cable
and
Mac Mini > Bel Canto USB Converter via Audioquest Carbon USB cable > Transparent Ref (75 Ohm) Digital link out of Converter (Using BNC Adapter) to Coaxial input on K-03.

Using the same quality USB Cable for accurate comparison, as Jon2020 stated, the USB Converter provided an improvement in Micro/Macro Dynamics, greater detail recovery and just sounded better/right overall. Though the improvement was not overwhelming, it for me was an improvement worth the cost of $1,500 I paid for the Bel Canto. Some might define what I heard as reducing further the digital artifacts that are normally associated with digital playback.

Mark