Can't get my computer playing high res to sound better than my CD transport

[MarcelNL]

I beg to differ, and would not start adding stuff rightaway. Taming the abundance of activity in the Mac probably works too and should be for free, although even Red Book files will sound better than a CD player there is some work to do before you get there.

 

Shielding and cabling is only a minor part, settings and software is where you start until you get a taste of things and start building/buying a high end dedicated audio server. As self confessing Mac abstainer I have no links to audio settings and tweaks, I'm sure there are others well versed in that OS around here.

 

Good luck and have fun, save settings in a backup file if you can even change anything 'under the hood' in a Mac without jailbreaking. 

[MarcelNL]

nobody, I dare say that even a red book file can sound better from a computer than out of a CD player. It totally depends HOW the high res file was made and processed if it can sound better than a red book CD. 

[MarcelNL]

8 minutes ago, davide256 said:

Figuring out the audio interference bugaboo's for a 1 box USB out media server is a PITA, I've given up on it.

Good results are much more predictable with streaming to a low power USB out endpoint such as a microRendu or Atom CPU endpoint with a good LPS

I beg to differ, the results from using  NUC on an LPS were decent and surely better than using a laptop or similar...the results with my server project are at a completely different level.

The beauty is, there is plenty of info in this very subforum to get you on the right track real fast.

 

[MarcelNL]

26 minutes ago, davide256 said:

Sorry, BTDT.  When good results require gambling more than $2k on computer components for uncertain results, I start thinking off the shelf solution

that can be auditioned.

Totally understandable! And the total investment exceeds 2K considerably.....think 8-10K for a high end audio server, but that gets you a solution that can compete with 20K off the shelf solutions.

Audio has interesting markups, manufacturer, importer and/or distributor they all need to heat their place and eat....just figure what value the kit in such a 2K solution is worth, likely around where I live off that 2K just the VAT is 400, dealer margin used to be around 40% leaving 1100 or so to buy whatever is in that product, software and putting it together and warranty.