I also feel your pain! For the past year I have been planning on a music server rather than purchasing a new CD deck. Couldn't decide between a stand alone like a Fireball or building a PC/MAC something, however I did not want it based on iTunes. I'm just not comfortable with it for a server, although I use it to move files to my iPhone. The Sonos also looked interesting.
No matter the system, I got started ripping CD's to files since that's the majority of the work. To date I have about 2650 CD's converted or about 30,000 FLAC files. A fair piece of work if I do say so.
One of this years Christmas gifts for my wife was a Sonos for music in the kitchen. I bought a Sonos bridge and a Sonos S5 speaker system and have it running from the home computer and wireless network. We each have an iPhone so they became instant controllers. She likes it so much, that I added another S5 for the bedroom. Nothing like a quick "Moody Blues" before bed! I also added a 1TB Seagate NAS drive for all the albums... easy and works.
So today the Sonos is working great, but I'm still listening to "Vinyl" on my "big" system and ready to add Sonos to it. I put a lot of time and effort (and $$$) into the Vinyl playback quality, just not sure how far to go adding the Digital. I was thinking about...
1. Cullen modified ZP-90 with a modded PS Audio DAC or one of the soon to be released Wyred4sound (Cullen) Dac's. Maybe even a Benchmark DAC. Probably $2000.00 cost.
2. Or the cheap approach. A standard ZP-90 with a DacMagic for about $750.00. It's 1/3 the cost and probably sounds good. Question is, just how good. Probably better than a majority of CD players, but would I be happy with it? For the money saved, I can buy a lot of new Vinyl albums.
Let me know your thoughts...
Paul
No matter the system, I got started ripping CD's to files since that's the majority of the work. To date I have about 2650 CD's converted or about 30,000 FLAC files. A fair piece of work if I do say so.
One of this years Christmas gifts for my wife was a Sonos for music in the kitchen. I bought a Sonos bridge and a Sonos S5 speaker system and have it running from the home computer and wireless network. We each have an iPhone so they became instant controllers. She likes it so much, that I added another S5 for the bedroom. Nothing like a quick "Moody Blues" before bed! I also added a 1TB Seagate NAS drive for all the albums... easy and works.
So today the Sonos is working great, but I'm still listening to "Vinyl" on my "big" system and ready to add Sonos to it. I put a lot of time and effort (and $$$) into the Vinyl playback quality, just not sure how far to go adding the Digital. I was thinking about...
1. Cullen modified ZP-90 with a modded PS Audio DAC or one of the soon to be released Wyred4sound (Cullen) Dac's. Maybe even a Benchmark DAC. Probably $2000.00 cost.
2. Or the cheap approach. A standard ZP-90 with a DacMagic for about $750.00. It's 1/3 the cost and probably sounds good. Question is, just how good. Probably better than a majority of CD players, but would I be happy with it? For the money saved, I can buy a lot of new Vinyl albums.
Let me know your thoughts...
Paul