2. digital
  3. 1323966858

Can best optical player rival best computer source

I know there are better and worse computer based music servers as well as universal players and transports feeding dacs. There are now many players with digital inputs. My question is best versus best. Optical readers have to read and move on. Ripping to a hard drive can use software that repeatedly tries to get a good read.

Can the best player rival the best computer source?
tbg

Showing 3 responses by tbg

tbg OP
5,263 posts
 
Anonymoustao, thanks for the compliment. It is a result of about 45 years.

Normally, I would entirely agree with you, but the fact that the act of ripping allows repeated efforts to perfect read, while an optical device has to move along and use error correction if it must, makes me suspect a computer source is better.

The issue is largely one of thinking about an Exemplar/Oppo bdp-95 which would allow me to listen to my many sacds. There is now a way to get sacds onto the harddrive using a Sony Playstation 3 and some software. Most of my sacds are hybrids and are already on the hard drive. I am told the pcm versions of the sacds are clearly superior to the cd versions.
tbg OP
5,263 posts
 
Anonymoustao, it is not easy to find the right Play Station 3 with the right software. Most PS3 owners are not very knowledgeable about their units and know nothing about sacds or what version of the software they have.

David12, I have yet to hear the Naim 555 but would be unwilling to pay anything like that price, especially as the Exemplar/Oppo has a much improved power supply and cost a fraction of the Naim's price. I really don't know anything to do but to try it versus my Empirical Audio server.

I am also about to experiment with putting my LPs onto my server using Pure Vinyl. This entails which devices I will use to digitize the analog feed. The benefit is, of course, to do the RIAA corrections in digital. I have many 45 rpm records of old jazz that are lovely but a pain.
tbg OP
5,263 posts
 
David12, I am on my third computer server. The first was a Window unit with Exact Copy and Foobar. It was a pain and so so relative to my Exemplar/Oppo BDP-83 not SE. Second I bought a Weiss Dac202 and an Apple PowerBook Pro with a SSD drive and played Amarra and then Pure Music. This was much better. Finally I got the modified Apple Mini tied with eSATA to a TuneBank raid hard drive and special software for ripping. It also has a TEAC optical drive for ripping. It is designed to work with the Weiss Dac202. This was much better and clearly better than any optical player I have heard. But I have yet to hear the Exemplar/Oppo BDP-95.
More to discover