Moving from CD Player to MAC Book Pro Music Server


Based on my research, I will be selling my Ayre CX-7e CD player (Magnum Dynalab MD-102T FM Tuner already sold) and getting a computer based music server. I ordered the MAC Book Pro computer, 2.66GHz processor, 4GB RAM and a 128 GB solid state drive (SSD). The cost for an additional 4GB of RAM is $800+ so I decided to wait for the cost go down. All my music will be stored on an external hard drive using the AIFF format. It will sound better if it is on a different controller than the DAC so I will use a FireWire hard drive. The Seagate portable 2.5” external drive will be much quieter and will run off the power provided by the bus. The Seagate model info is below. I ordered the Ayre USB DAC and it will run balanced into my Ayre AX-7e integrated amp. I would like to thank the many people (on this site and other sites) including Music Lovers Audio and Steve Silberman (Ayre) that helped me with the computer configuration. Ayre also recommends the Furman AC-215 as a power filter for the MAC to prevent it from interfering with the sound quality. I ordered the MAC on Thursday (9/3/2009) from an independent Apple reseller (delivery in about 7+ days). Music Lovers Audio will install my Ethernet line from my living room to my router in my home office on September 16th. Based on estimated delivery times, it will take 6+ weeks for everything to be completed. The web site for the external drive is:

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?name=ST905003FJA205-RK-fa-gopro-mac-500gb-hd&vgnextoid=13530c1001c11210VgnVCM1000001a48090aRCRD&locale=en-US
hgeifman

Showing 2 responses by shadorne

It's not the cheapest solution, but I have a Drobo for back up and it let's me sleep at night. After having many a back-up external drive fail, I settled on the Drobo, and it blows away the RAID array it replaced as far as ease of use.

I looked at this. It does look impressive but I worry that the Drobo itself becomes the weak link in the chain. Currently, I am considering a NAS LaCie 2big with two 1 TB dives that run mirrored on RAID 1. I figure even if the LaCie dies I'll still easily have access to the data either of the two mirrored drives.

Is my logic correct ? I am not sure. I was certainly tempted by the Drobo and all the hype it is getting in magazines.
Even if the enclosure itself failed, the SATA drives would survive with all the data.

Agreed...but you would need to repair the Drobo...I figured my approach be very inefficient but by having a RAID 1 with two mirrored drives then means I have a back up ready to go in minutes no matter what happens (just flip the drive into one of the spare bays on any of my other machines).'

Perhaps I am too cautious!!