Vicdamone

Qobuz seemed to be the de facto choice at Audio shows. Thank you. Regarding the Dead. My Wife rarely spins a Dead LP its all about concert recordings and bootlegs. She's attended most of the SF Bay Area concerts and spin off shows. She was somewhat satisfied with the Squeezebox or her iPhone providing GD Radio and now Dead And Company. With the recent hand-me-down of my Son's Audio Engine B1 she's getting more content form SirisXM and I'm stoked to be getting Christian McBride's 'The Low Down' in the house. Unfortunately the B1's fidelity is what it is. I'm lucky though. Because of her career in radio she understands and enjoys sound quality. Clearly, almost two decades of putting off a digital source upgrade has run its course. Thanks Vic

I'm into Bebop / Straight ahead jazz and my Wife's a Dead Head. Is there a particular music service that offers more Jazz and Dead content? Thanks M

davide256 I just caught up a bit further on this upgrade. Your Denafrips Iris DDC suggestion was eye opening and currently at the top of my list as well as considering the Ares II DAC. -I'm still trying to determine the advantage of having a long ethernet run from the xFi modem/router to the equipment rack. -Replacing the Mac Mini with something like the Innuos Zen Mini which seems to be compatible with our Squeezebox Touch for internet radio. Thanks Vic

All right, thanks.

I was thinking of using my 2011 Mac Mini currently doing duty as my desktop. To be clear it would be from the Mini's USB output to the Iris USB input an the Iris COAX output to the Metrum NOS Mini's COAX input? would this be controlled by my iPad loaded with some music player software installed or somehow using the the Squeezebox?

I'm an analog fud who finds himself listening to an aged out horrible sounding digital front end more often than not. My Pure Audio 2 has expired and my 2008 Mac Mini is not compatible with Pure Music 3 which increased my motivation for change. I ripped my CD library using a Samsung Blu-ray drive onto a 2008 Mac Mini using Pure Audio 2. The Mini's USB output is connected to a Music Fidelity V-Link using its SPDIF output to a Metrum Acoustics NOS DAC ( Which does not have a USB input) and RCA L/R interconnects onto the preamplifier. A Logitech Squeezebox Touch is also connected to the Metrum Acoustics DAC via Toslink optical cable. The thing is I use the Squeezebox 99% of the time out of variety and convenience. With a budget in the neighborhood of $3K what would you do? Thanks for your time. Vic