dklein7

Hi, I have been in your same shoes recently and have also been soliciting advice from these forums. My ambitions are similarly modest: I want to play my music from a PC using itunes, I like to download because I can't bother ripping, and I wanted to spend under $1000 for the total system. But I have a fairly sensitive ear and HATE that harshy digital sound, particularly on acoustic albums, that you get with computer music and will do anything to get rid of it. So I ended up with: iTunes --> wireless to AppleTV 2nd gen ($100) --> optical into Audiogene DAC ($170) --> analog into Onkyo receiver with a "audio direct" option ($300) --> Polk bookshelves ($200) + Polk subwoofer ($250) I first put in place the system without the DAC and still had the harshy sound, so brought in the DAC afterwards and it made HUGE HUGE difference. It is probably not the best DAC around, but none of the HRTs at my Hifi shop had optical in's (only USB) and this one was in the same price range with the optical input I wanted. So for me, the DAC was by far the biggest source of sound improvement with everything else being equal (e.g. basic 256k AAC files, modest receiver and speakers). I am not sure that "for the money" these are the best components you can buy, but they were the ones that were available at the time. And they are all reusable on a home theater system in another room if I decide to upgrade the core components. I have heard that Denon amps generally have better sound, and I am not sure what Polk's reputation are compared to other comparables, but for the money you are not risking much whatever you use. My next goal is to bet a MacMini, put all the audio files on that, upgrade itunes with one of those players that will run on a Mac, and then manage playback remotely. --Don

Hi guys, Thanks for the feedback, and I certainly heard the comments about upgrading my speakers (apparently my little Polks didn't impress anyone :-) ... but after getting tired of the harshy digital sound at the upper registers on some of my favorite albums, I got it in my head that it was time for a dedicated DAC (rather than relying on the DAC in the Onkyo receiver). So I went out and bought a AudioEngine D1 (which takes an optical in) ... and BANG ... HUGE improvement in sound! And it wasn't expensive. About $170 bucks. All the the sudden, lots of details I hadn't been hearing are emerging in the music, and when a female vocalist breaks into a big chorus, I no longer crawl under my desk in fear. I might dig into the vault and crank up the Death Metal albums .... The AudioEngine setup guide for the unit claims that there is actually a "break-in period" of about 40 hours ... which suggests that there are some heuristic properties at play ... which I find hard to believe for something which is essentially programmed silicon. For now, I will take them at their word. So for my original objective ... make 44.1kHz/256kbps tracks downloaded from iTunes sound as good "as can be expected" on a lower mid-range home stereo ... the DAC proved to be worth every penny ... even in the less-than-optimal scenario of streaming via HomeShare to a 2nd Gen AppleTV. Next goal: figure out a better way to store the files local to the DAC, but still manage playback from my PC. Probably leaning toward a MacMini, though people in these forums don't seem to love them. --Don

Hi, As someone who has been reading through these forums with interest, I would like to solicit some feedback from all of you on a slightly LESS ambitious objective than is usually posted here ... namely: How can I get the "best possible sound" from an existing library of mostly AAC 256kbps tracks stored on my PC in an iTunes library connected wirelessly to a mid-range home stereo? I have a fairly sensitive ear, and want to avoid that harshy digital sound you can get from playing downloaded tracks from a computer, but at the same time I have a lot of "normal guy" music management limitations: -- I buy 90% of my music via iTunes (philosophically I want to source music from systems than ensure royalties back to artists, and I can't be bothered with ripping CDs) -- I have mid-range home stereo ... 2011 Onkyo receiver with some Polk bookshelves and a sub woofer -- I manage my music files in iTunes ... I am a bit obsessive about playlists, ratings, play counts etc. ... not to mention replicating to my phone -- I need to federate my music around the house wirelessly ... as an old house, I can't run CAT5 or something else through the walls Originally, someone gave me a Sonos wireless receiver, and I used that to stream my music from my PC to my Onkyo receiver (via optical out from Sonos box) and I LOVED the convenience ... but wasn't thrilled with the sound quality. So I bought a 2nd generation AppleTV last week and definitely noticed a big uptick in sound quality (particularly at the low end) ... and with HomeShare, you get all the convenience of using iTunes direct from your PC. But now I want to keep going ... how can I get even BETTER sound? What would an experienced audiophile recommend (without trying to rebuild my library into lossless formats and converting everything to a JRiver player, etc.)? In my own mind, I have been thinking through a couple of options: 1) Stick with a wireless HomeShare streaming architecture (with music files stored on a PC wirelessly connected to the receiver) ... but use a dedicated DAC between the AppleTV and the receiver ... or ... 2) Invest in a networked system with the files linked direct to the stereo ... e.g. use a dedicated SSD MacMini as a media server hooked optical to the receiver ... but still try to manage the files remotely via an iTunes instance .exe on my PC. So what would you do if you were in my shoes? --Don