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MBA project - audiophile computer transport

Folks,

I am taking a class in new venture creation next semester and I am an audiophile.

With the increased popularity of computer based audio I surmised that there might be a market for an audiophile grade computer designed to work with a USB DAC. In other words is everyone perfectly satisfied with a Mac Mini? Or would you be interested in any of the following:

- IEC connector and built in power supply
- front panel display with artist, track or cover flow
- solid state drive
- upgraded power supply
- noise suppresion
- 19 x 2 with face plate form factor
- PCI cards for adding TV tuners
- dedicated video card superior to that of a Mac Mini
- front panel controls to play, pause, skip, access playlist menu.
- blue ray player
- upgraded USB output(not sure what could be done here)

It would probably have to run Windows unless I could convince Apple to let me OEM OS X. I am a huge Mac person but I would not be optimistic.

Could I make money building such a box or is the Mac Mini all anyone needs?

Amit
defender1844

Showing 1 response by viggen

viggen
838 posts
 
I guess the question for me is do I really want a dedicated computer purely for audio.

My answer would be "yes" if the computer, without a doubt, gives me a better audio experience in terms of sound and ergonomics.

Without hearing how the computer sounds with the rest of my system, I would evaluate your computer based on how you augment the software and hardware in order for it to deliver a better signal than the computer I already have.

And, as I use a laptop as my source at the moment, my only ergonomic issue is having wires connected between my dac and my laptop. If you can come up with a wireless solution, this would be good. Perhaps a wireless touchscreen LCD panel of some sort.
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