As good as CD playback

Zmanastronomy,

I think, once your setup is completed and you start using it, you'll wish you would have setup a computer audio system earlier. I know that was exactly my thought.

There are a few other good sites besides A'gon, www.computeraudio.com and www.audiostream.com, that are very good sources of info on computer audio. Computer Audio is probably better for info on how to get started but both are very good for general info, new and upcoming products and finding sources of good hi-rez music files.

I did about a month of research on-line before I worked out a plan on how to proceed. These sites have formulas to determine how large your storage drive should be, based on file types used times the number of files you expect to store. I initially determined a 1TB hard drive would be about right but I bought a 2TB NAS and backup drive just to prevent running out of storage space. The earlier suggestion for a 3TB drive is probably a good one if you want to play it safe.

It sounds like you have a laptop and DAC already. It also seems you plan to have all your hardware either in, or near, your equipment rack since your DAC does not accept a wireless signal. I would recommend looking into a wireless system so your laptop can be located at your listening position. This would require buying a wireless USB receiver (I know Crutchfields amongst others sell them) that would be placed near your DAC. This small receiver would be getting music file data from your wireless NAS and then passing them along, via a USB cable to your DAC input.

JRiver Media Center software is also a good choice. It is probably the most highly recommended program currently available for digital audio and video management. However, it's the only one I've ever used so I'm probably biased. I'm not an expert on computer audio/video, by any means, but I have very few complaints after using it for 6 months. It only costs about $50 to download (with a choice of either Apple or Windows versions) and access to their 'Getting Started' tutorial and user's forum is included. You get a lot of functionality (that I continue to discover) and information for a small investment in a product that continues to evolve. I initially purchased version 17 and currently using their latest version 20. In fact, I would suggest you buy and download version 20 for Apples now so you can get a headstart on your learning curve and take advantage of the wealth of resouces that comes with it.

A last word of warning concerns backup strategies and equipment; use a good dose of common sense when reading about these. You'll read of the importance of 'redundancy' in your backups. Basically, redundancy involves having multiple (redundant) backup drives just in case one of your hard drives goes bad. These strategies can get a bit extreme since they were developed for critical business data and irreplaceable personal files (like family photos, Phd dissertations and personal documents). Most people would not consider music and video files irreplaceable. If you store the physical copies of any ripped CDs, then these files are replaceable. Yes, it would be a pain to rip them again but at lest you're up a creek with a paddle. You can also copy all your downloaded hi-rez files to a separate portable drive, if you're especially paranoid about it. Ultimately, it's an individual determination on how much value is placed on audio and video files and how much time, effort and money to devote to their backups. Risk tolerance varies by individual. I just use a single 2TB Seagate backup drive, store all my CDs and have no extra backup for my handful of hi-rez files but have spent less than $200 for backup hardware. If you're concerned about losing files, you may want to invest more and be safer. I've read that hard drive crashes occur more than you'd think.

Good luck on your journey to 21st century audio. You're welcome to contact me via pms anytime along the way if you have questions or need assistance.
Later,
Tim

You experience with USB will depend entirely on the design of the USB interface, either in the DAC or the USB converter. Most USB implementations are poor, so a good transport ($1K+) will usually beat it.

There are exceptions though that beat the vast majority of transports. The experience of the designer is key. If they have done multiple custom USB designs, this is usually an indicator.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Audioengr,

Good points, I don't know if I just got lucky and my wifi environment is very good or the wireless receiver and the internal USB interface on my Oppo 105 is very good, but I'm getting excellent results. I've never used a separate wireless USB receiver so I refrained from recommending a specific brand/model. I only know they exist and that he may not want to go to his rack every time he wanted to change the file played.

Convenience seems to be a driving force in audio these days, especially with younger generations. Computer audio, if nothing else, is extremely convenient. Having your entire music collection displayed on your laptop with the files stored on a wireless NAS, located in a separate room if desired, without cumbersome wires required and with playback as easy as pointing and clicking, is the equivalent of a modern day jukebox. Storing and playing back at a minimum of CD quality and up to the hi-rez format quality of your choice, is an excellent solution for a music system that has zero degradation of sound quality no matter how many times it's been played back.

I think this type of music storage and playback system goes beyond being just a modern, high quality and elegant audio system solution. I believe most good audio engineers would classify this level of audio quality combined with its extraordinary convenience, technically, as delicious.

Tim

In theory they should have the same sound. In digital, it doesn't matter that the route is longer as long as the sound is not processed in any way by any of the components in the chain (the best example would be an equalizer). My opinion is that it will sound the same. Some purist might tell you otherwise.

Petere27,

Yes, I agree. I've read that it's best to keep things in the digital domain for as long as possible and only convert from digital to analog as a final, or very close to final, step. The idea is to avoid as many conversions, both digital to analog and vice-versa, as possible to ensure data integrity.