Excitement in General

[borderdog]

Great Site! I have been thinking about the music server thing for a while. Finding this site has really got me excited (I've been lurking around here for about a week and learning so much). I didn't realize that this whole concept has become so sophisticated so rapidly. The one thing that was a pleasant surprise, was how the quality of the music does not need to be compromised by playing through a computer and quality DAC. With the high resolution downloads available and higher sampling rates allowed through the computer, can we actually improve on the quality versus a high-end Redbook CD playback system?

I already have a Mac Mini at home, so other than a hard disk array and a DAC, I should

be ready to jump in. I have been using Naim CDPs for years (not a CD555 but still pretty darn good), so once I get the music server part assembled, doing A/B comparisons should be really fun.

Again, great site, well administered, and intelligent. Onward into the future.

 

Thanks,

Aaron H.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Aaron - Welcome to Computer Audiophile and thanks for the kind words. To answer your first question about actually improving the sound quality v. a Redbook CD playback system I can say with 100% certainty YES. Using a computer as the transport is in most cases better than the other options. When you move in to the dCS $70,000 digital system that is another story, but I don't think any of us is trying to replace a dCS or Naim CD555.

 

Since you already have a Mac Mini you're well on your way. I suggest picking up a DAC first and playing back music off the internal hard drive to get you going sooner. The disk array can always come later, but of course is a big part of the complete system.

 

I look forward to discussing your entry into the next phase of high end audio. Feel free to post any question you can think of. If you don't know the answer there's a good chance a few thousand other readers don't know either.