Is this a reasonable Audiophile Mac-based Server?

Restock,
I called Benchmark's technical support and spoke to them at length about your assertion that USB is superior to Toslink coming out of the Airport Express. They assured me repeatedly that Toslink would be "identical" to USB.

That allows me to save several hundred dollars by skipping the USB.

Incidentally the Benchmark staff is great on the phone (as well as online).

Sammie,

good grief that's a lot of TB's! Do you have the fmaily movie collection on that thing?

No, I'm a visual artist. All my art is stored on there. Here is a
link to my galleries.

the weak link in your system is the AE. Even with DAC, it is not going to sound nearly as good as a computer hardwired to the DAC...at least based on my trials.

Are you 100% sure? You have done careful blind A:B comparisons?

My suggestion would be to put your laptop on your rack hardwired to the Benchmark... The laptop can be controlled using Frontrow

I may try some tests with it set up that way. I like the idea of simplicity, and what I have drawn is complex, but if it is all digital, and the data is transferred correctly, where will the loss occur?

Also, as it seems money is not a significant limiter, ditch the Benchmark and step up to a better DAC.

Do you know of any DAC that has better specs?

Ckorody,

... but if I were after the ultimate I would take both the wireless and the Toslink out of the design, wireless first.

I could run an ethernet cable from the Apple Xserve RAID directly to a Mac in my listening room. From the Mac I could use Toslink to connect to the Benchmark DAC1. But it would be a lot less convenient.
And are you SURE I would get better sound?
If so, why?

Wireless is prone to interference

What would that sound like?
My system has the Apple's newest version of an Airport Base Station, the "AirPort Extreme Base Station with Gigabit Ethernet" . Does that help?

This leaves you with a Squeezebox, Transporter or their new device the Duet at the end of the Ethernet cable

I don't understand what part of my system the Squeezbox replaces. Why is it better?

The cleanest set-up would be to hang a NAS on the Ethernet network thus taking the computer completely out of the equation except for ripping.

Forgive my ignorance, I'm not sure what you mean when you say "hang a NAS on the Ethernet network". Please explain.

Thanks!

Synthfreak,

I'm still a little confused why everyone insists on going wireless instead of getting a Mac Mini, a dac & a huge hard drive

That is certainly a simpler solution than the complexity that I have cooked up. But I was basing mine on existing equipment. And it does work, well.

However, I like what you are saying. Instead of using your plan and attaching a "huge hard drive" what if connected the Mac Mini via ethernet to my 5.6 TB RAID in the basement?

Synthfreak (and others),
There seems to be many of you who feel that a wireless network just won't give the same level of performance that you can get from real wire.

To explore this option, I've assembled a "Plan B" and put it up on the website. You can view it by clicking here

I remain unconvinced that it will outperform the wireless system in plan A, but I am going to try some A:B comparisons once I get my other components (B&W speakers and Classe Monoblock amps) in a 6 or 7 weeks.

One problem with a wired system is : How can I control it from my listening chair?