Is there a magic formula for spending on components in a system

+ 1 mikelavigne

Naim all in one, very interesting. They sure have heritage based upon quality.

If you follow chorus’s system design, do also budget for Windows Server 2012 R2 (I got mine very cheaply off Ebay), Audio Optimizer 3.0 this will turn off over 300 background programs in Windows, Fidelizer Pro (this will stop multi threading and will assign programs specific cores in the CPU. Windows Server 2012 can run on core mode = no GUI and therefore less jitter.
Budget around $2-300 for all the software, which will help lower the jitter, noise from your music server. I would also suggest a good SSD for your music files or a network server to bring the music files into music server computer.

cleeds Randi’s offer was just a promotional stunt.
Do you want to know how Randi really works? Details here. 

I think Randi later admitted the cable company backed out. As to how the experiment would be carried out, that's a different subject. I think if you had 100 people listen and at least 70 of them didn't say the expensive cables were better, that might be enough to say there is no difference. It seems that anything less than 70% would not be definitive. Also, the article doesn't say whether or not the offer still holds, so I think millercarbon should at least investigate. I would (and might) for a million bucks.

Actually the NAIM Uniti line is quite good, for a whisker over ten you could have Uniti Atom and Vandersteen’s TREO CT

see my Casa Pacifica system for that and other flavors....