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Help me set up new stereo system

Just bought Revel Studio2 speakers and a Hegel h300 integrated amp (has DAC).

I have a pretty big iTunes library and have no CD's at all. Not sure of the format of the music files when I put my CD's into iTunes. I'd really like to get great sound out of my system and would like NOT to re-buy hundreds of CD's.

I'm OK with buying a Mac Mini but not sure how to hook up everything. I'll transfer over my library to the Mac Mini but then I'm a bit lost. Best to hook the Mini up to the Hegel via USB? And then use something like jRiver to manage the music? What about wanting to buy new music that may not be available on a high resolution site, do I buy the CD and just import it to the iTunes library?

Thanks for the help..
seanile
richardfinegold
196 posts
 
Your plan sounds excellent. Does your DAC hanle DSD? If not you can still get great sound without the DSD
I actually use I tunes with a Mac Air which has a thunderbolt output. I have a FireWire DAC, and use a thunderbolt to FW adapter. Redbook CD
Sounds great and downloads (24/192) as well. My Oppo 105 is used for my SACDs, DVD-A and Blu Ray and the grand total of my 2 DSD downloads. I tunes works for me but I don't use it for High res downloads, which I keep on a separe USB drive and use Decibel for playback . It all works, sounds great, and I still play vinyl and CDs.
andyzspot
6 posts
 
Congratulations on the new system! I had a very similar setup a few months back (Hegel H300, 2012 Mac Mini). The best results I experienced with that setup was running USB to the Mac Mini and a Firewire drive. Amarra was/ still is my preferred playback software. Audirvana is nice as well. There are a ton of tweaks available depending how crazy you want to get (i.e. booting from SD card, better USB, etc.). The USB DAC's downside is that it only does 24/96. It still sounded great with whatever was thrown at it. Taking the time to rip the CDs will yield a worthwhile improvement in my experience. In terms of DSD you will have to have the playback software convert to PCM at the DAC's sample rate. Feel free to PM me for specifics if you would like. Good luck!
seanile OP
16 posts
 
I decided to try and make this simple for myself so I bought a Gen II Salk StreamPlayer, will connect via USB and will use my Oppo bdp83 for the few DVD and SACD's I own. I'll download mPod and mPad apps to control the Salk unit.
lewinskih01
909 posts
 
You got some good input above.

Regarding computer audio in general I recommend you get acquainted with computeraudiophile.com. Lot's of good info there. Look into their "university" or whatever it's called, papers that a good how-to guides. For ripping, their Guide to Ripping CDs is excellent. It's based on dBpoweramp software. I follow it to a t and recommend it a lot. The first time you do it you will spend time setting it up according to the Guide. From there onwards it will all by automatically dine by the software. Great solution.

BTW, there was a recent thread on this PC Audio forum by another guy who was also new to computer audio, used Apple, and had a Hegel amp...you might want to check it out. I believe it was called Help a real newbie, or something like that. He later had some follow-up threads too.
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