I chanced upon this forum, here to stay, could use some help, my first post

[keithhr]

a few months ago I purchased a 2.6mhz mac mini with a 7200 rpm hard drive with a 1066 fsb and 4gb ram. I was all set to purchase a high end transport and berkeley alpha dac, until I discovered that a stored , non error corrected data stream through something like a bolder upgraded squeeabox duet , (linear power supply, digital section) would give me results and playback access I never dreamed of. Question I have is getting the cd's into an external hard drive. I saw the recent post regarding, discontinued robot ripping equipment, geed squad, or I was thinking I might be able to use some type of exterior cd spinning device to input to the mac mini and to something like a 1 TB storage. It would be nice to be able to rip a cd every couple of minutes at 48x or whatever. Fact is , i've never made a cd period.

Is there a simple way to start? In addition, I've got a benchmark now, but the berkeley dac just hast balanced or aes/ebu bnc inputs none of which the Duet has, just coaxial spdif. This is all so confusing and I don't have nearly enough info to feel comfortable. I wish there was a cash list of members who do work on the side, how nice that would be. I don't know how good the services are that do pay per rip services, I want quality files because, (strangely enough) have just patented an audio cable technology that is beyond amazing, so my system will be capable of insane resolution. It will be displayed in a prominent room in Vegas CES. I'm just mentioning this because I'm serious. I have a custom made 20 watt, solid state amp, dual mono passive volume control, custom speakers with 4 50mm Bandor,almost full range, and 150mm woofer drivers , bottom is bi amplified.

So, now i'm ready to step up to original non corrected cd files from a digital storage device that everyone has raved about. I've read about it all for the last week and become a believer because I will be able to access everything wirelessly. You all got me really excited about this, but first things first, got to get the music onto a new external drive.

It would be really nice to know if there was something better than a bolder upgrade duet? I've got everything going except the source. Of course, if the Bruston, Weiss, or something other than the Berkeley would give me good results, I'm all ears. Even my Benchmark would probably sound greatly improved since I'm using a Oppo Dvd player as a transport,

any help would be appreciated, any help from someone in the San Francisco area that is in need of a little side work (paid) in this are would be appreciated