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Mac Server vs. Wadia/iPod combo

Friends,

Assume a digital system with an Empirical Audio Pacecar USB converter and jitter reducer, and a Berkeley Alpha DAC. If only using 16/44.1 material, does a Mac-based music server have any advantage over a Wadia 170/iPod combination feeding the Pacecar/Alpha? If so, why, and are there only particular Mac configurations that can better the Wadia/iPod combination.

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

Jeff
jeff_arrington
7 responses Add your response
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Buy the server and use Pure Music. Anything using MP3 is crap. If you already have a Mac just try it with Pure Music. You can use it for 15 days at no cost. If the Berkeley has a USB port go straight from the computer to it. Most USB to SP DIF are poor. If the Dac has only SP DIF inputs, use the toslink out of the Mac into it.

Use Memory play and HOG with Pure Music. If you don't know how, I will tell you.
jeff_arrington OP
8 posts
 
Tbg,

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into that.

Additional information: all files on the server or iPod are ripped from CD as uncompressed files. The Berkeley does not have an USB input. It has Toslink, SP/DIF and AES/EBU inputs. The DAC is optimized for the AES/EBU interface.

Jeff
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Toslink will come straight from some Macs, but not this one. No Mac that I have used has SP DIF or AES/EBU.
sufentanil's avatar
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sufentanil
782 posts
 
Tbg, what Mac do you have that doesn't have Toslink? Keep in mind that the jack is hidden in the headphone jack, which doubles as a mini-Toslink jack. (You will need an adapter, or a cable that has a mini-Toslink connector on one end.)

Michael
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Sufentanil, I stand corrected. I have never used Toslink and could not find an output for such. I have a Powerbook Pro 2.26 GHz
sufentanil's avatar
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sufentanil
782 posts
 
Tbg, do you have a Powerbook (they had the Motorola G3 and G4 processors, although I'm not sure if any of them went up to 2.26GHz) or a Macbook Pro?

I'm not sure if the old Powerbooks had Toslink. You can look it up on the specs on Apple's website, though.

At least for the Macbook Pro's, I can say that they have the mini-Toslink / headphone jack combination.

Michael
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Sufentanil, it is a Powerbook Pro. It is only about a year old. I got it specifically to serve as a music servers with an SSD.
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