Fix transport or get computer?

[bball3748]

Hello all,

 

My father's Teac/Esoteric P-10 transport is starting to die and he is deciding between getting it fixed for a few hundred dollars or setting up a computer system. He hardly knows how to "work" a computer (thus me posting this for him) so any setup would have to be something that doesn't need tinkering. I could set it up for him but it would have to require little work after the initial setup. He has been using the transport with his Timbre TT-1 single ended Dac which he doesn't want to replace. He's aware of a mod that would allow that dac to read 24 bit matterial so the solution would preferably be able to get Hi-Rez at some point. The rest of the system includes an Audio Reseach SP9 and a Krell 100 watter. He has a computer that's old. I believe it is a dell and has a single core processor about 3ghz and half gb of ram (could be upgrade to 2gb). The dac has a coax input that he prefers to toslink. The other issue is that his speakers are irreplacable so if there's a risk of a tweeter blowing up he doesn't want it. From what I've seen probably the best thing would be a Mac with some type of converter to a coax but maybe there is something that I'm unaware of. So any suggestions are welcome. His preference would to spend as little as he can right now to match the sound of the Esoteric but he doesn't want to lose quality. Is there something out there right now that he should get for a few hundred bucks or should he fix the transport to buy a few years to let the computer audio scene settle itself. Do you see the something like the Halide or the new Music Fidelity be something to go after now or is something better/cheaper on the horizon that he should wait for?

Anyone heard the Esoteric that can give a reference point to help make the decision easier?

 

Thanks for any help!

 

[sq225917]

Work out if it's going to make money on the resale price to get it fixed, or not, Then decide.

 

There's much greater flexibility to be had from having a pc based front end and maybe better sound quality in the long run, but you have to balance that against the hassle of setting up, ripping all your discs and the cost of the pc.

 

I'm sure no one here with a pc front end would go back.

 

[sr1329]

In the situation you describe I wouldn't recommend any interface other than iTunes and remote from iPad/iPod. Given that iTunes runs better on Mac hardware and that you could switch a Mac to Windows with bootcamp you would likely be better served by Firewire which is already present on most of them. Then to round out the package a Weiss INT 202.

 

I doubt that loss of quality would be a concern.

 

 

 

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[blueixus]

I think if you are going to use a computer to the Timbre TT-1 then things are pretty well settled.

 

It is a computer and a USB/SPIDF converter.

 

As stated below a mac is probably the easiest option, I settled for a used (but not abused) MacBook and an M2TecH Hiface USB/SPIDF converter.

 

Run itunes with the Ipod Itouch remote, rip to AIFF and use outboard Firewire storage (e.g Hitachi G Drive Mini).

 

I have had a few Teac transports and a Wadia (which used the Teac VRDS stuff) and the mac combo stands up well.

 

There are upgrades on this:

 

Pure Music and Amarra both improve upon native itunes at various price points.

 

The M2Tech Hiface is a great starting point (way ahead of the much hyped MF V-Link IMHO) but the M2Tech EVO is better and I think the new Stello U3 which is XMOS based will be better still and maybe better than more expensive converters.

 

You might also look at the Sonore Music Servers which, form wise, may be a more familiar type of product to a traditional CD spinner.