I should have added, the current thought process is to have the system configured as follows: Mac Mini 2.8Ghz with intel core i5 with 16GB of RAM & a SSD drive for the OS & related software etc. Synology DS415Play with 4, 4TB Hitachi drives in RAID For Ripping in AIFF, XDL & itunes. itunes also for music management For Playback Amarra CD drives TBD I have about 2.5k cd's that need to ripped. Unfortunately a good portion of these will need all meta data input manually. |
I cannot get the above Audioquest link to work. I added the special URL codes from the Audiogon markup page but they do not work for me. Please paste these links into your browser: http://www.audioquest.com/pdfs/CA-Setup-Guide.pdf https://www.ayre.com/usb-dac.htm The Ayre page includes general computer information and separate tabs for Windows and MAC Computers. |
Please see this Audioquest computer setup page link below: http://http://www.audioquest.com/pdfs/CA-Setup-Guide.pdf If the above link does not work, please go to www.audioquest.com and look for computer setup. Another great site is on the Ayre Acoustics web page. Please go to the Ayre QB-9 DSD DAC tab and look for computer setup. Both of the above are excellent sites. |
Hhh, before you do anything you have to know what you want to do. If you decide to stream S/Pdif directly from computer to DAC then you have to optimize computer and playback program for best results. If you use wireless or Ethernet then computer (speed, amount of memory, HD, playback program etc.) make no difference (other than ambient noise) because timing is broken by networking (you send data and not the music) and recreated on the other side. I use Airport Express as a receiver and jitter suppressing DAC to reduce imperfections of the AE clock. The third option is asynchronous USB with good USB cable (perhaps without power wires!) since it should be also immune to computer quality (or playback program), having timing stripped and recreated on the other side. It all depends not only on the DAC, that you already might have, but also on the distance. As for the backup - I keep two, one being outside of the house (fire theft etc). Using Time Machine is a good suggestion (I use it for the system backup) and it doesn't take long since it is incremental backup in the background. It is better to know what you want ahead of time, unless you know and trust the person that would make all decision and setup for you (and have him available in the future). Learning how to do it is not a chore - it is fun, at least for me. |
you should do it yourself and have learning new things. It's not that difficult and starting small (# of rips), you really can't mess anything up that can't be redone. Get the best Mac Mini you can afford (CPU and memory wise), extra HDD or NAS type of devices to store your music on and to perform regular backups (time machine is included on OSX), cd ripping software (for example: XLD, MAX), playback software (for example: audirvana, pure music, amarra, and others), the best USB cable to the best DAC you can afford. If you go with Audirvana, it performs system optimization for better playback (disable spotlight, time machine, others). There are scripts out there that will trigger time machine to start a backup in the middle of the night instead of the frequent backups it does during the day. I use the Seagate Central NAS disk (5TB) t store my music on, This disk is connected to a router and can be shared between all Macs, iphones, ipads, etc.. within the home and even remote. You still need to back it up. So my Mac mini does not have any disks connected to it in my audio rack, all the disks are network attached and backed up by another computer. This way, you have no disk noise. Have Fun! |
