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Music Server vs. PC vs. Transport vs. ?

I don;t really want to add another rack in my living room. If I do, I may end up sleeping on one of the couches. Ideally, I would like to do the following:

1. Either use a pc or a server to store discs and have them accessable.
2. Have a way for the kids/wife to hook up their ipods
3. Have a way to get digital radio (xm, sirius or even computer streaming, doesn;t matter)
4. Do all of this WITHOUT degrading the sound quality ( i know, the ipod, by definition will do this)

My understanding of most high end DACs is that they do not have USB ports, but that is the ideal port to use to negate jitter. As I was researching this, I got the latest issue of the absolute sound, and they address some of this a bit. My feeling seems to be that one pays a HUGE premium for a server, that both their DACs and PCs DACs suck, and one has to get a USB to AES or other adapter, and still use an external DAC. It also seems that if one is willing to use a lossless system, that the universal opinion is that a hard drive rivals or beats any transports.

So my initial thought would be to get a pc with an ipod dock, run lossless, get an additional adapter say from Wavelength, and use the current dac. That adds at least two pieces, maybe three.

Help?????
Thanks,
Chris

Help??????

Thanks,
Chris
128x128mount_rose_music
cytocycle
1,043 posts
 
Brontotx: I didn't mention that I was going to be recording HDTV across my gigabit network to the NAS so speed was extermly important plus the extra 750gig of space the extra drive provided. I would not recommend the Thecus NAS's for the weak at heart..
rbstehno
1,406 posts
 
i mentioned in another thread that macbooks or laptops would not be good for a music server. the reason is they get hot and heat will promote an early death for the computer. after using your macbook for a while, feel the bottom. mine gets very hot and so do my friends. now take a mac mini or macpro and do the same thing. very cool, i have my mini on top of a 500gb drive that fits under the mini and it runs cool.
a nas is the way to go but you still need a good backup in case the nas fails. i have 2 friends both in the IT trade and they both lost thousands of $$$$ when their nas failed and they lost all the data on the nas. 1 friend had over $3000 of purchased apple music that was lost and the other friend had over 1000 cd's ripped to his nas and the he gave away all his cd's and the unit failed.
my setup in my den contains: totem speakers, definitive technology supercube sub, sony 9000es dvd/cd/sacd, nikko fm tuner, dk design vs-1, adcom gda-700 dac, audio alchemy dti, mac mini, and airport express. i have both the dvp9000es and the airport express hooked up to the dti to cleanup the jitter, and from the dti to the dac.
i have other rooms with airport express unit hooked up to receivers in those rooms. i have my macbook control the mac mini running itunes from the other parts of the house. i'm purchasing an ipod touch that will also allow me to control the mac mini running itunes from anywhere in the house.
splaskin
170 posts
 
Rbstehno,

Back up drives are cheap for your music library. As for hard drives failing, the one thing that you can be certain of is that they all fail and this can happen at any time.

As for the iPod Touch, I love mine using RemoteBuddy.
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sydsrig
18 posts
 
Deshapiro, I will be at CES and would love to hear the purpose built PC demo that your dealer will be doing with Rockport. What is your dealer's name and do you know what hotel/room they will be in?
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sydsrig
18 posts
 
Deshapiro, I also wanted to follow-up with you on why your enthusiasm waned on the wavelength audio Crimson USB DAC solution that you put into your system. If memory serves me correct, you went the distance with Alex at Aplhifi explaining how good this setup sounded in the "Game Over" thread? If I am confusing your with someone else, please disregard this question.
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