Will computer to DAC replace transports and cdp's?

so tvad, what do you think needs to be overcome before a computer hard drive to a dac will surpass state of the art transports and cdps? i'm thinking it might already be time to switch. I was thinking of buying an Emm Labs setup but the more i think about it, the less sense it makes. currently i'm researching a stand-alone silent computer with separate high speed hard drives (two, stripped) and a high end usb or firewire tube dac. I'd like to burn all my cds in wav format and use a palm pilot as my remote control. if i could find a tube dac with a good volume pot. then i'd think about doing without a preamp and havin a different setup for my vinyl.

I've setup my dad with an Escient music server (only has a 120 gig hard drive) but the access to the music is incredible. I'm listening to music i haven't heard in years because it's easier than searching through my nearly 1000 cdsl. I don't have cds all over the place anymore, either. I keep all the cds after i burn them but in boxes stored away for an emergency that no doubt will someday come.

Does anyone know about the faster Glyph drives used for music mastering? They're much more expensive than a typical commercial computer-user hard drive but they are more quiet, more reliable and have other advantages.

What external dacs are you guys using? Do any have a volume pot?

Drubin: Regarding remote control for a hard drive system. Check out this link:

http://www.wavelengthaudio.com/compsys.pdf

- This is found on the wavelengthaudio.com site and briefly describes how to use a blue tooth equipped palm pilot as a remote control for your computer based system.

Anyone interested in this thread in general should visit the wavelength audio site - TONS of how to's with links, reviews, dacs, best gear, etc.

WWW.WAVELENGTHAUDIO.COM

hey rx8man,
if you ever try this, please let us know what you think.

i agree with you guys: I was on the verge of splurging for a wadia or the emm labs unit but there's no chance, no how, no way i'm going that direction now...

Even if i DID have the money! (which i don't, damnit)

still, there is something much more sexy about a wadia than a computer...call me a traditionalist.

Just FYI - There is a book called 'ipod and itunes' for dummies. that alone might be a reason to use itunes instead of foobar.

i had been reading steve nugent's comments at empirical audio about sound quality burning with EAC v. itunes and also playing back music using foobar v. itunes (steve believes burning using EAC (exact audio copy - a free program) combined with foobar playback is the best. Frankly i hope that's not true because it seems there's more support for using itunes (like the dummies book)

Does anybody believe one is preferable to the other as far as sound quality?

I can't read all the responses but the fact that there have been over 12,000 views!!! on this thread should go some way towards answering the question posed in the subject.