My head hurts....

I said to a friend once, "My head is hurting!"

he said, "With a head like that, it's no wonder!"

Digital still hasn't reached it's maturity. it's far better today than in the past however.

it moves quite fast as well. PCs even faster in terms of changes - updates - speed - and performance. With PC audio or even just plain old PC/MAC you just have to jump in. If you are waiting for the best, it'll be no better than this now to come along... you'll never get in, as changes continue. The changes now are lessened and come in more subtle ways... more incrementally.

Similarly, the digital audio front is ongoing, yet not done. Also newest isn't always best here.

I wanted a PC back in 95 or so. got one too. a 486 laptop. it sucked. I didn't know what to do with it and it was rather quirky. I sold it and made myself $300. ...and waited. in 2000 I got on board 100%. Got a new PC... and shortly thereafter a brand new CD player.

That was 4 pcs and 3 cd players ago... and eight years.

Don't wait.... or you won't ever do it...not with that I'll wait till they figure it out first, notion.

You don't think that way with cars, refridgerators, TVs, or fishing rods, right? Well, all of those things are being improved upon too. Routinely.

The "I'll wait tilll..." is just a cop out for the fear factor. Never allow fear to paralyze... Fear comes with all new experiences. The only truly wrong move is to not make one.

Good luck which ever way you choose.

MAC or PC?

Well, what's on hand right now? Really? then try that first.

As has been posted there are many levels, and flavors along the way in ANY realm of audio.

Begin with what you have now. it might suprise you what can be done with it. It sure did me. Just picking out a different media player made the sound better! I'd never have believed that to be the case. But then, I'm eternally skeptical.

This ain't rocket science. We just think we're NASA engineers... no offense to those who really are of course. Much of what can or should be done with pc audio or digital audio is at this stage, simple plug and play. usually. now and then there's the needed download too.

I keep seeing rhetoric about noisey personal confusers so one should use an outboard sound card, or DAC. that aforementioned noise can be amelierated with little trouble. Just open up the case, for staters! A nice PCI card might be the way to go right off.

Just try something and see if that floats your boat. If not, then try something else. For under $150.00, you can get a M Audio Audiophile 24/192 PCI card that has several inputs and outputs for recording OR playing back music. For free you can get J River Jukebox. J River, BTW is well regarded as a favored media player by several of the top USB DAC makers.

Just getting in where ya fit in is always a good place to begin. Then.... think about what or where to go from there, and most importantly, how you want to utilize this new playback system. Whole house? Wireless? Remotely? USB?

Good luck... don't let it overwhelm you. it's not that much trouble... and remember, "best or better" is up to you to decide anyways.

BTW even though your time frame has elapsed, CDPs do fail. Lasers and alignment mostly.

the major nod here is the typical one.... with the same dollar figure, one can step well up in performance buying used over buying new.

Another consideration is that changes for the better in the digital world are occurring rapidly. Keeping eyes wide open here however, their build quality isn't, generally speaking.