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IanG-UK

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  1. It certainly feels logically valid to expect a dedicated digital music source to be at least equal to the best route (but not necessarily the single best route) for digital data retrieval, provided that the ripping process is equally robust, given that very many listeners still rely on CDs as a key source. Neither the W20 nor the Baetis in standard form include disc players/rippers and it seems to me that for around £13,000 they do very little other than store music digitally and pour out that digital stream on request. Something which a laptop will do along with lots of other things for under £2,000. There is a distinct possibility that buyers of this expensive kit will see it cease production or be supplanted in the next couple of years, and then many will feel that they then own sub-optimal redundant kit. Just look at high-end hifi history as evidence to suggest that this is likely. For the enthusiast, the small computers are probably worth a try since if such a venture proves to be a mistake it is not an expensive one, but IMO the default options remain something like a MacBook Pro and/or a reliable CD transport. Whether one sounds significantly better than the other is for users to judge complete with any inbuilt prejudices. Neither manufacturers nor reviewers will get anywhere close to testing this under DBL conditions because the "wrong" outcome would be commercially damaging.
  2. Yes Devialetchat is very helpful and luckily has few, if any, disruptive posters. At the single (or singlish) box level at least one guy who posts there uses a CuBox (cheap, small) and others have tried the Aurender W20 which you mentioned, very expensive but favourably reviewed here and in HiFi+ and in HiFi Critic, but slated by another prominent online review source. You could ask Devialet for recommendations?
  3. Devialet themselves continue to use a MacBook Pro which does everything you need in a single box. If there is a better way I am sure that Devialet would use it or will be developing such a unit themselves.
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