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What's my ideal music server? Read and recommend please

Right now I use a MacBook Pro as my server, and it drives my DAC. My MacBook Pro is getting cranky, it's storage is so full I don't have space to do a current Mac update and I am beginning to think better sound quality can be achieved than a MacBook Pro via USB to a DAC. I use JRiver media center, v.27, and right now, my JRiver and MacBook Pro aren't working properly together as I keep loosing the proper MIDI setting and get no audio output.

I'm aware of the Aurender N100H. I know that uses a USB output and I'm starting to wonder if USB is my best bet. Then I see the Aurender N100C which has a digital coax out, but that output is derived from the USB, so what's the point?

My wish list- probably no less than 2 TB storage; got to be easy to use in terms of getting music into it and playing music (downloading music from say HDTracks to JRiver is the bleeding edge of my technical skills); sound quality has to be first rate. I would also be interested in a server that has a BNC output, as a regular coaxial output can never be a true 75 ohm connection but a BNC can be. 

So- what should I have on my short list? Recommend away please, and thanks-
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mgrif104
328 posts
 
@cerrot 

The sound quality of USB is highly system dependent. There are plenty of high quality DACs for which the manufacturer is recommending USB as the preferred connection. Certainly, If I were using a traditional computer as a source, I would agree with you and convert from USB to S/PDIF to the DAC to reduce noise.  However, with a high quality server/streamer such as the N10 you have,  it will really be dependent on your DAC.  In my own applications, I’ve found USB (with a decent cable - it makes a difference) to be better than S/PDIF - even when the latter was an expensive 75 ohm digital cable in the preferred 1.5M length.   Fortunately our the various servers many of us have are able to output in most any flavor so that the user can try for themselves. 
ejr1953
899 posts
 
I have enjoyed using a Roon Nucleus Plus server for a while now, I've used Roon for several years (at first on a Dell laptop/PS Audio DirectStream DAC), and the Roon server sounds significantly better.

For my purchased music I purchased a pair of Western Digital 4 TB USB external hard drives (a primary & a backup), back it up to the Google cloud and Carbonite.  I use iTunes to record as AIFF files, not the best interface (I must go into each recording and correct/add metadata fields and sometimes the album art).

I have a subscription to Qobuz and most of the time stream, especially when a master is available that is newer than the one I've recorded.

I have friends who are very happy with their Aurender servers, another great option!
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cerrot
1,700 posts
 
@mgrif104 That is the problem - USB is system dependent on the computer.  That's the power supply, USB bridge, drivers, operating system and a whole other bunch of stuff. I have been playing with computer audio for 20 years or so.  USB is effected by many things but predominately the power supply and the Operating System (window uses IRQ settings which is what tells the keyboard to work when you use that ad the mouse when you grab that).  All sounds simple but creates havoc on the usb bus.  I had gone so far as to replacing computer power supplies with outboard power supplies with 5,000 microfarad capacitors it was still not up to sounding acceptable to my ears.  I added an ES @ Juliet sound card with spdif out and the sound was excellent - no comparison.  I also used MAC G5 and USB still sounded (to my ears) like crap.  USB was created for peripherials, not to feed multi thousand dollar dacs. You can hook up a mouse and keyboard, printer and even a scanner but please don't hook up a good dac.
mgrif104
328 posts
 
@cerrot 
I guess I’m a bit slow.  I completely agree you shouldn’t use USB coming out of a computer.  But, if you have an N10 to serve your DAC, USB is more than fine depending on the DAC. I was only suggesting that generalizing USB as bad may not be complete advice for some users.
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jmarshak
157 posts
 
@cerrot
I have experienced the same as you describe, even coming out of the N10, my COAX sounds better to me than USB.

However, I do know a couple of serious people who use USB and find it superior. I believe much of preference has to do with which clock is used for the interface (DAC' clock or Streamer's clock).
Best Regards
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