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MBA project - audiophile computer transport

Folks,

I am taking a class in new venture creation next semester and I am an audiophile.

With the increased popularity of computer based audio I surmised that there might be a market for an audiophile grade computer designed to work with a USB DAC. In other words is everyone perfectly satisfied with a Mac Mini? Or would you be interested in any of the following:

- IEC connector and built in power supply
- front panel display with artist, track or cover flow
- solid state drive
- upgraded power supply
- noise suppresion
- 19 x 2 with face plate form factor
- PCI cards for adding TV tuners
- dedicated video card superior to that of a Mac Mini
- front panel controls to play, pause, skip, access playlist menu.
- blue ray player
- upgraded USB output(not sure what could be done here)

It would probably have to run Windows unless I could convince Apple to let me OEM OS X. I am a huge Mac person but I would not be optimistic.

Could I make money building such a box or is the Mac Mini all anyone needs?

Amit
defender1844
shazam
205 posts
 
From my perspective, the fundamental problem with PC audio is getting the source file to the DAC with minimal introduction of jitter. Toslinnk, SPDIFF, USB - they all have inherent structural problems. The best use of any of these has been the asynchronous USB approach used by Wavelength and a few others.

What I think is the best path is I2S. Some of the best mods and reclockers involve the use I2S for the transfer of the digital stream (Steve N can vouch for this). PS Audio's new Ultra DAC will use an HDMI connection to pass data in "native" I2S format without a mod. Granted, only their CD player will use the connection immediately, but it's the easy play for the future I think. Sources that can make an I2S connection using an HDMI port will bypass a lot of problems in my opinion.

Now, what I really want is a Sonos box that uses an I2S connection. That would make me happy.
shazam
205 posts
 
The best use of any of these has been the asynchronous USB approach used by Wavelength and a few others.

Add, this is my opinion. But one I think many would agree with.
viggen
838 posts
 
I guess the question for me is do I really want a dedicated computer purely for audio.

My answer would be "yes" if the computer, without a doubt, gives me a better audio experience in terms of sound and ergonomics.

Without hearing how the computer sounds with the rest of my system, I would evaluate your computer based on how you augment the software and hardware in order for it to deliver a better signal than the computer I already have.

And, as I use a laptop as my source at the moment, my only ergonomic issue is having wires connected between my dac and my laptop. If you can come up with a wireless solution, this would be good. Perhaps a wireless touchscreen LCD panel of some sort.
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