2. pc-audio
  3. 1196013673

Music Server vs. PC vs. Transport vs. ?

I don;t really want to add another rack in my living room. If I do, I may end up sleeping on one of the couches. Ideally, I would like to do the following:

1. Either use a pc or a server to store discs and have them accessable.
2. Have a way for the kids/wife to hook up their ipods
3. Have a way to get digital radio (xm, sirius or even computer streaming, doesn;t matter)
4. Do all of this WITHOUT degrading the sound quality ( i know, the ipod, by definition will do this)

My understanding of most high end DACs is that they do not have USB ports, but that is the ideal port to use to negate jitter. As I was researching this, I got the latest issue of the absolute sound, and they address some of this a bit. My feeling seems to be that one pays a HUGE premium for a server, that both their DACs and PCs DACs suck, and one has to get a USB to AES or other adapter, and still use an external DAC. It also seems that if one is willing to use a lossless system, that the universal opinion is that a hard drive rivals or beats any transports.

So my initial thought would be to get a pc with an ipod dock, run lossless, get an additional adapter say from Wavelength, and use the current dac. That adds at least two pieces, maybe three.

Help?????
Thanks,
Chris

Help??????

Thanks,
Chris
128x128mount_rose_music

Showing 3 responses by bigamp

bigamp
219 posts
 
Chris, IMO a music server provides a segway into PC-based audio for those who don't have the time, knowledge, or just plain don't want to deal with setting up a PC-based system. So, you obviously pay a premium for the convenience, but IMO lose flexibility. You're stuck with their software and sometimes limited to their disk size. But that may be OK. Also, you would need to check to see if the music server changes the bits in any way during rip or playback.

You already have a great DAC. Adding a PC instead of a music server will give you the flexibility to add any kind of new storage, change software, play from RAM if you want, etc.; but if you're not interested in any of that then a music server could work out. It's a judgement call.
bigamp
219 posts
 
Chris, no problem. This is fun stuff.
bigamp
219 posts
 
I agree with (1) from rbstehno. Get a DAC that sounds good to you and make the PC interface work from there. I've tried DACs with built-in USB interfaces (Benchmark and Cosecant) and haven't been impressed. But everyone has different tastes. If you find a DAC that you like that already has a USB or some other type of PC interface built-in, then that's even better.
More to discover