I am a Windows software developer .Net/WPF/WCF/C#....etc. and I use Macs at home for anything other than making money!
They are FAR FAR FAR MORE stable, more intuitive and handles multitasking infinitely better. As a digital source it is better than my former Wadia 7 which was one of my favorite transports of all time.
I use Amarra with iTunes and I have not yet heard the rival. Now speaking of the costs, consider how many time cheap hardware on pc's has to be replaced. I have had the Mac 2.1 (mid 2007 version) running in my bedroom system (Meitner Bidat with Plus mod connected with a glass Tos-Link cable feeding a solid state amp of my own design) and let me tell you...not a problem in over 2 years. I control it all from my iPhone with the free 'Remote' app and I also use 'Airmouse Pro' so I don't even have to use a seperate keyboard or mouse. It is connected to my plasma with a $9.00 DVI to HDMI converter-dongle.
This is why I laugh at all these audio manufacturers trying to sell you a $4k or in some cases a $20k device that can't do a fraction of my $900.00 mac mini (I added 3 gig of mem for a total of 4 gig (although the 2007 mini can only recognize 3.01 gig of mem, using same sized mem chips results in faster page-ins and outs)).
Buy a mac mini and a iPhone or iTouch and you will never look back. I have archived my entire CD collection and yes iTunes can and does do bit-perfect transfers. I listen using AIFF as I find it sounds a bit better than AAC although I can only really tell on my home systems, not on my iPhone (with earplugs).
Plus is looks Fantastic...
Hope this helps.
They are FAR FAR FAR MORE stable, more intuitive and handles multitasking infinitely better. As a digital source it is better than my former Wadia 7 which was one of my favorite transports of all time.
I use Amarra with iTunes and I have not yet heard the rival. Now speaking of the costs, consider how many time cheap hardware on pc's has to be replaced. I have had the Mac 2.1 (mid 2007 version) running in my bedroom system (Meitner Bidat with Plus mod connected with a glass Tos-Link cable feeding a solid state amp of my own design) and let me tell you...not a problem in over 2 years. I control it all from my iPhone with the free 'Remote' app and I also use 'Airmouse Pro' so I don't even have to use a seperate keyboard or mouse. It is connected to my plasma with a $9.00 DVI to HDMI converter-dongle.
This is why I laugh at all these audio manufacturers trying to sell you a $4k or in some cases a $20k device that can't do a fraction of my $900.00 mac mini (I added 3 gig of mem for a total of 4 gig (although the 2007 mini can only recognize 3.01 gig of mem, using same sized mem chips results in faster page-ins and outs)).
Buy a mac mini and a iPhone or iTouch and you will never look back. I have archived my entire CD collection and yes iTunes can and does do bit-perfect transfers. I listen using AIFF as I find it sounds a bit better than AAC although I can only really tell on my home systems, not on my iPhone (with earplugs).
Plus is looks Fantastic...
Hope this helps.