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Music Server vs. PC vs. Transport vs. ?

I don;t really want to add another rack in my living room. If I do, I may end up sleeping on one of the couches. Ideally, I would like to do the following:

1. Either use a pc or a server to store discs and have them accessable.
2. Have a way for the kids/wife to hook up their ipods
3. Have a way to get digital radio (xm, sirius or even computer streaming, doesn;t matter)
4. Do all of this WITHOUT degrading the sound quality ( i know, the ipod, by definition will do this)

My understanding of most high end DACs is that they do not have USB ports, but that is the ideal port to use to negate jitter. As I was researching this, I got the latest issue of the absolute sound, and they address some of this a bit. My feeling seems to be that one pays a HUGE premium for a server, that both their DACs and PCs DACs suck, and one has to get a USB to AES or other adapter, and still use an external DAC. It also seems that if one is willing to use a lossless system, that the universal opinion is that a hard drive rivals or beats any transports.

So my initial thought would be to get a pc with an ipod dock, run lossless, get an additional adapter say from Wavelength, and use the current dac. That adds at least two pieces, maybe three.

Help?????
Thanks,
Chris

Help??????

Thanks,
Chris
128x128mount_rose_music

Showing 5 responses by deshapiro

deshapiro
177 posts
 
Hi Chris,
Since we have similar systems, let me share my experiences. I sold my Esoteric X-01 Limited to switch to a Wavelength Audio crimson DAC. I used i-tunes off of a Mac-mini. Everything pretty much set up itself. The results are mixed, actually very similar to one of the above posters. Great separation and imaging, but very bass shy. Not boomy bass, but bass dynamics, such as drums. I switched out preamps to an MBL 6010 from an ARC REF3, as you know, and the dynamics improved. I then auditioned an AMR CD player with a USB DAC, and while imaging and soundstaging were not as good, the bass reappeared. i then auditioned a purpose -built PC with all the nno-essential software stripped and with only one moving part, a very quiet fan. This uses solid state memory running S/PDIF to a mid-level MSB DAC. This was far superior in my system, and the crimson is now sold. The other bonus to this approach, besides the sound, is that since the bass is back, I am going to check out digital room correction to see if that can help.
just my $.02

David Shapiro
deshapiro
177 posts
 
Hi Brontox,
No problem about the Crimson. It has a new home. I'm still firmly committed to the server concept. I'm trying out another USB DAC, but I've also auditioned a purpose -built PC running into an MSB Platinum DAc that was stunning. The second option allows for digital room correction in the digital domain, prior to the DAC. That is a solution that marries different technologies in an interesting way. For thtose that are interested, my dealer will be exhibitng with Rockport at CES. Unfortunately I can't go, but I'd be love to hear from anybody that will be there.

David Shapiro

deshapiro
177 posts
 
Hi All,
I am still very enthusiastic about the concept. As I also posted, in my system the Crimson simply didn´t have enough bass dynamics. I´m talking about the grunt that you feel with a drum thwack, not flabby, boomy bass. I auditioned the AMR CD player, and found that it provided the bass kick, but that it wasn´t as good as the Crimson in other respects, imaging, staging, tonality, etc. I´m currently using a USB DAC called the iroc which seems to be a good compromise between the Crimcson and the AMR. My dealer is Ron Lapporte at Ultimate Audio, and he will be exhibitng with Rockport and Purist. As with all things, YMMV.

David
deshapiro
177 posts
 
Hi Kana813,
He'll be exhbiting a purpose built PC with solid state memory and only one moving part, a queit fan. The Vista OS has been massaged both by Ron and his partner, a computer guru who retired at 38, etc. They chose the midlevel MSB DAC, since they thought that it sounded the best. They use EAC to copy CDs as wav files , and use an HP raid server as storage. I heard their prototype on my system, and it was GOOD.They plan to bring the final iteration to my house after they get back from CES.

David
deshapiro
177 posts
 
Looks like they went down a very similar path.

David
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