Music Servers - Baetis vs. Music Vault

Hey barrel chief, I've been looking at these as well as the Musica Pristina units (made by the Spectron guys). Unfortunately, haven't heard any of them, and each takes a somewhat different design tack. My only problem with Music Vault is that there is comparatively little technical data on their website, whereas both Baetis and Musica Pristina have tons of info. Baetis may offer a little more bang for the buck, but my problem with Baetis is that they have focused on BNC-spdif connection versus the current darling asynch USB connection, and seem to have payed little attention to the USB other than to include it. Musica Pristina, on the other hand, has focused on USB, if that's important to you. Very interested in following this thread, and hope some owners chime in (I know "dob" has one of the MP versions and loves it, and Baetis just got a very good review in an e-zine, for what it's worth).

Txlef, I see that you use it in your "HT system", not your much more expensive 2 channel rig. I think the $64,000 question is how does it sound as a transport with your best equipment? Have you tried it in your 2 channel system using the emm labs dac? Does it sound as good as your Cd transport? I have an Esoteric K-03, and I'd love to have the convenience of a music server going into my K-03 dac if it sounds just as good (or at least very close). So I'm looking forward to your response. Regards...Jeff

Vicks7, that's very interesting. Couple of questions:
>Is there a difference between the USB and SPDIF outputs in terms of sound quality? Is one better than the other, and by how much?
>Why are you using a separate PC to rip and download into Baetis? Have you tried ripping directly with Baetis, and if so, any difference in sound quality?
>Am I correct in my understanding that the Baetis can operate as a PC/browser (with maybe iPad as head?) and can be used to find/download hi-rez track directly?

Thanks...

Barrelchief, the big question: how does it compare to whatever you used before as a transport (a CDP, BDP, etc?)?

Also looking forward to responses from txlef and vicks7.

Vicks, thanks much for the info. Honestly, I find it very interesting and a bit odd that the Baetis sounds so good via it's USB output when John Mingo readily admits that he didn't really do much with USB other than to include it, preferring to focus on BNC-SPDIF output because he believes it sounds better. So we have a fairly standard USB output (no soTm usb card or the like), with a switch mode PS (as opposed to the heavily favored Linear PS), and an almost fully functioning PC (with the OS and associated browsing/ripping/playback applications running), all of which seems to run counter to what many other server builders contend (including just about everyone at Computer Audiophile, Steve Nugent of Empirical Audio, Antipodes, Lumin, Musica Pristina, Aurender, Mojo, Core, etc.). I just don't see the special sauce here, so it makes me wonder if any server will work well within reason. I am just about to pull trigger on either Musica Pristina or Antipodes, as it seemed they put more effort into their servers and especially their USB output, but all this Baetis-appreciation is making me pause and consider. Look forward to more input. Thanks again...

Barrelchief, that's exactly what I was alluding to in my last post. I suspect that, based on all the positive reviews for virtually every server out there, most servers do a very good to excellent job at "serving", even though they may use different methods to achieve their results. My specific comments about the Baetis lacking "special sauce" refers to the voluminous reviews and comments I've read that focus on Linear power supplies, fanless designs, sotm usb cards, stripped down OS and no bloated applications like Jriver, etc, as some of the keys to better server sound. The Baetis has none of this and yet still seems to offer very good sound. Perhaps, as I said earlier, just about any server can sound very good. I guess the only way we will know is when people actually compare these purpose-built servers to each other, and not to basic or even tricked out Apple products and Windows-based laptops.

Actually, let me not sell the Baetis short, as if they do nothing special. They do indeed, but differently, and claim their different methodology sounds better. They specifically focus on a "perfected" SPDIF-BNC output directly from a special motherboard. That's THEIR special sauce, but it is significantly different than most other server architecture.