2. digital
  3. 1407848558

State of the Source: Server, computer....or what?

There has been a lot of discussion here about the impact of having the best possible DAC for digital playback, from a long-runnning thread on Lampizator to the current thread where member Mattnshilp has been trying out a variety of DAC's in order to select what sounds best to him, but what constitutes the best sounding digital source?

So the questions for this thread are, what digital source sounds best to you and why? What features do you like in the manufactured music servers? And, can the sound quality from a well sorted-out Mac mini or CAPS style computer/server, with linear power supply, SSD, and the associated ability to use a variety of music players, upsampling options, memory play, and EQ, compare favorably with the manufactured server options that use preloaded programs or, are the differences primarily related to the manufactured options being easier to use than a computer, which requires the user to load and maintain the programs used?
mitch2

Showing 2 responses by igator

igator
10 posts
 
Aurender X100 is amazing. Heard it together with MSB Analog DAC. This kit is very smooth and musical. Beautiful vocals, sweet heights, deep and powerful bass.
Aurender control app is great too.

If you are using high-quality power conditioner (or power regenerator) there is absolutely no need in any other power supply for Aurender.
By the way, their top model has SMPS as well (although it costs $16.800).

If you are an owner of Aurender X100 the only one important question is the quality of your DAC's USB input.

P.S. One MacMini owner purchased outboard liniar PS for his Mac. But after he tried to connect it to power conditioner he came to conclusion that the difference between stock PS and outboard PS is subtle.
igator
10 posts
 
Aurender W20 does not use a battery for CPU purposes, so it can not influence the sound anyway. I think the battery only needed to protect HDDs from a power outage and also to separate HDDs (distortion that they create) from CPU.

I am sure that the main reason why S10 and W20 sound better than X100 (and I am sure they do!) is better clock - OCXO (Oven-Controlled Crystal Oscillator) which X100 lacks.

But if you try to connect X100 to an external clock in this case the difference between X100 and W20 (S10) will be much less noticeable.

Here is a good example: http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/65934-which-audio-streamer-to-buy/?p=1126945
People connected X100 and W20 to Puccini U-Clock and they sounded almost equally, as W20 already has a high-quality internal clock the external clock does a little work in it's case.
More to discover