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Hi, Let me start by saying that HDTracks in the end did come through. Someone much higher up the food chain contacted me to offer help. At that point I had resolved the issue through trial and error, but just the fact that they reached out is enough, and shows that they are trying. Thanks to those that responded and especially the ones that offered suggestions. In the end I did fix the 'problem' by myself. Someone suggested I try J.River which I do own to convert the files. I first converted the files from AIFF to FLAC with J.River, and then I used dBPoweramp to convert the FLAC to AIFF and the files played flawlessly on my Linn either as a FLAC file or as an AIFF file. I think only a small percentage of you may have the same problem I did, I think it has something to do with the combination of Asset DNLA server and Linn DS as a renderer, but for those of you that do have a similar problem, I would suggest downloading FLAC files, or doing the format conversion. Andrew

I'm glad someone has had a positive experience with HDTracks. Maybe they are overwhelmed with switching to the new website, or maybe I was just unlucky enough to be assigned to a really bad customer support rep. Unfortunately the outcome is the same I'm out some cash, and I cannot listen to my albums!! I will have to contact them again and ask for the case to be escalated. I really don't think it's acceptable for them to keep my money if they are providing software that I cannot play.

Just wanted to give a heads up to anyone buying AIFF files from HDTracks. I purchased several albums from HDTracks in the AIFF format, when I went to play them on my Linn DS network player using Asset UPNP as a server, they failed to play. I tinkered around with the files and was able to play some of them if I transcoded them to FLAC, or even if I transcoded them from AIFF to AIFF using dBPoweramp. This worked for 3 of the 6 albums I purchased, but the other 3 were unusable. I contacted HDTracks, and the nightmares began, now I know why there are so many negative reviews about them. I explained the problem I was having and requested either a FLAC copy of the albums in question, a refund, or some advice on how to transcode the files. I promptly got an email from a gentleman named Stephan, he said forget the refund, forget HDTracks supplying and alternate format, but they will gladly take my money for me to re-buy the albums in FLAC, and that there were plenty of suggestions on their website on what programs to use to transcode files. Over the next 11 emails, I continued to ask him for a program suggestion, and he kept replying that I should check on their website, I told him their website was down and could not access it. Stephan confirmed they were having problems, but still refused to offer any advice on how to transcode the files with a program other than dBPoweramp. Call me crazy, but first I think it's highway robbery that they refuse to refund money on files that are unusable, secondly, I think it's insane that a 'customer support' guy would waste his time writing 11 emails to me suggesting I look on their website, even though it's down, rather than writing ONE email and mentioning one or two programs that may do the trick. In short, my suggestion is to NEVER buy from these crazies unless you cannot get the files elsewhere, and if you are running a DNLA server to play your music, be very careful with AIFF files you buy from the, I would instead buy FLAC or WAV files and then transcode. Andrew Levy

The downloads are 256 bit rate, but they are not even close to CD quality. The downloads are not lossless, so they do not contain all the information a CD or a lossless download would include. Andrew

I use a PS Audio Premier to run my whole system. I would not think of running my system without it after seeing how big an improvement it brings to the table. Andrew

Barrows I too have heard the argument you cite; "There is also the counter point that by importing goods from developing countries we are supporting their economies, and that they will then grow into countries that will then purchase products from us " The problem is that at this rate I don't know what it is we will be able to sell to them. I always make it a big point to try to buy American or European products be it a tool, appliance, kitchenware, toys etc. Over the past 10 years it has become harder and harder to find anything in the USA that is NOT made in china, including my latest PS Audio Power Plant Premier. I have recently also noticed a trend with higher end (kitchen products such as J.A. henkels, Kuhn Rikon etc) products that don't say where they are made. When I contact the manufacturer they then inform me that they are made in 'their own factories in China' My question is then why did you close down the factories in the west to manufacture in China and still charge the same amount of money as if they were made in Germany or Switzerland or the USA. The answer is easy, a lot more profit, but what about jobs in our countries?? If we don't manufacture anything what the heck is the benefit of lifting the economy of China if we don't have anything to sell them?? Never mind the unemployment rate that keeps growing. Andrew

I have said it before and I'll say it again, you run the best forum on the internet, and it's great to be able to be part of this forum run and frequented by people who are courteous and act like adults.<br /> <br /> <br /> Andrew

Taking into account the price of the unit. I'm sorry to state something that seems to go against what everyone else is saying, but I hear what I hear, and I think it's important for others to know. I like most of you am a stereo nut, I guess audiophile is the right term. I have been around this hobby long enough to have learned a few things, one of them being that expensive things are sometimes much better than the inexpensive counterparts, but not always. 20 years ago I hoped that expensive things didn't sound better than cheap things, but a few choice auditions later and having my mind blown showed me that in order to get great sound, sometimes you have to spend some money. And I did!!! I also learned that as my purchasing power went up and I was able to audition ever more expensive gear, I found that sometimes you pay a whole lot more and you don't get anything other than a flashy case and a lot of promises from the manufacturer. This brings me to the dCS gear. It has been greatly reviewed, so they must be doing something right, however I think it is safe to say that it is VERY expensive costing many times more than the competition. Having said that, we are all free to spend our money as we wish, and people who have a lot of money have no qualms about spending 20, 30 or 40 thousand Dollars for a CD player. It's great because they like it and they are happy, so it's money well spent. Coming to this particular setup, I must say I heard it and I was not at all impressed regardless of how much or how little it costs. My concern is that most people auditioning it get caught up in the beauty of the product, the meticulous finish, and the good reviews, and when they hear it they convince themselves it HAS to sound good. I for one think you can get much better sound for much less, it's not bad but there are better things and at lower prices. If you are shopping for something in this price range do yourself a favor and audition a few other components in the $2,000 to $10,000 range and you may find you can save a lot of dough. For those of you who have heard it, make sure you compare it to something worthwhile. I'm sure it sounds better than a $299 add on DAC, or even a $999 DAC, but that ain't saying much is it?<br /> <br /> Andrew

Eloise, Linn does release software updates periodically and they are much as you say like the iphone updates. The updates are very easy to install using the 'konfig' program. It gets done from any computer in the network and it takes no more than 2 minutes. All the updates are easily reversible if you happen to like the prior release for any version. Regards, Andrew

I have to thank CharlyD for turning me on to Konductor, I did not know about it. I wanted to thank all the rest of you for being part of such a pleasant and friendly site and for your pleasant follow ups to my post. Many of the other forums I am interested in have been taken over by sigle minded people itching to fight, so it discourages people from posting. Regards, Andrew

After almost two years of research and experimentation I finally took a dive and settled on a DAC to replace my CD player. When I first saw a Mac Mini hooked up to a plasma and a stereo system I immediately fell in love with the convenience. I started to experiment with a few DACs in my two channel system, but my Rega Saturn always managed to beat the sub $2,000 DACs I tried. I decided I was going to have to spend some more money and narrowed down my search to the Weiss DAC 2, Ayre DAC, or one of the Wavelengths. I then obviously went crazy trying to determine if Firewire or USB was better. This took up almost a year and I was going mad, Firewire, USZ, Synchroneous, Asynchroneous etc. the the problem of having to use the MIDI in OSX to switch between 16/44, or 24/88 or 24/96. Then I realized playing 24/192 was almost impossible unless I used toslink (another can of worms was just opened) or back to FireWire. You all are familiar with the dilemmas. Then my local dealer said why don't you try one of the Linn DS streamers?? I replied that I had read the reviews and they were all glowing, but that apparently the setup was complicated and that the interface was archaic. I then did some more research and started to see that it might actually be a very elegant solution. For starters the setup is not really that difficult, you just need to feed it with an ethernet cable. So you need a computer or a NAS drive, big deal I already had those things plus the router. I then realized that the biggest plus could be that you don't have to have a PC chained to the stereo or even in the same room. Another huge plus is that you play whatever song you want in whatever format you want, and it automatically adjusts between 16/44, 24/96, 24/192 etc. As for the interface, sure it's not as easy as itunes, but it's easier than getting up and feeding discs to the CD player, and it's really not that awkward. The more I read the more I found to like. I read a few more glowing reviews out of Germany so I decided to give it a try. My local dealer, Oswaldo Martinez of Let There Be Sound arranged an audition and I was literally blown away. Finally I heard a computer audio setup that not only equaled but far exceeded the sound I was getting out of my beloved Rega Saturn on 14/44. Of course the sound of higher resolution formats is to die for. I got the Akurate, set it up and have been in digital heaven ever since, and that is saying a lot since I love my vinyl. Soncially this is the best digital I have ever heard, and that includes some mighty nice SACD players. To those of you who might have been put off by the reviews (Stereophile Klimax review comes to mind) saying that the setup and use was next to impossible, don't believe it!!! To those who don't want to have a PC in the listening room, or that can't decide between Firewire, or the vaious USB options, I would suggest you do a little research and consider Linn's approach. Please don't get me wrong and don't start flaming me. I am not suggesting Linn is the only way, or the best way. I just think it's a shame that many of you may have written off their approach as I had due to negative reviews. That is a shame because sonically these units are superb, and on this point all the reviewers agree. Finally I wanted to thank all of you at computer audiophile, I have been reading all your posts on a weekly basis for over a year and you are all doing a great job. This way of listening to music is a new frontier and without this site and forum it would have been very difficult to make sense of it. Andrew Levy

For years I set up my stereo in the living room of whatever home I was living in, and the results were satisfactory otherwise I would have given up on the hobby years ago. However when I built a dedicated room in my garage with optimum dimensions for sound, things changed. Putting my same system in the dedicated room transformed it in a way no other equipment change or upgrade had ever achieved. With the system in the family room I would often go to good stereo stores and find systems set up in custom rooms sounded better and more involving than my own. After I built the room, my system now sounded as good or better than the high end stores. That is huge, and since I got the room I have changed few components in my system.I don't think I will ever be without a dedicated room, and I now consider the room a vital part of the equation. I have also had the opportunity to hear many 'high end' systems in many different rooms. I can say I have heard systems composed of top notch components costing many tens of thousands of Dollars placed in inadequate rooms and the sound has been average or poor. These systems lack balanced bass, they either boom or have no impact, the tonal balance has been skewed and imaging and soundstaging have been inacurate or non-existing. On the flip side, a good friend of mine owns a high end stereo store, and in his dedicated room he has made some very cheap components sound quite stellar. I think this shows that you cannot overcome poor acoustics regardless of how much money you throw at it. I have also been fortunate enough to try a lyngdorf room correction device and I must say the results were very impressive. At the store it cleaned up the sound and allowed the system to sound balanced and engaging. When I brought it home it also improved the sound in my dedicated room, but to a much lesser degree. My reservation with the device was that it digitized all sources including vinyl, and that seems counterintuitive since I love my vinyl. If a dedicated room was not possible I think a room correction device along with some sound treatments are a must to get the most from whatever system you own. Hope this helps, Andrew Levy

Thanks for the quick responses and for sharing your experiences. I guess this is the little push I needed to get off my ass and get me a good DAC. I do understand that my question was a bit like asking if the Pope is Catholic, but I had to ask, thank you all for being so accommodating. This is a great fourm, keep up the good work! Regards, Andrew

Hi everyone, I am a long time audiophile and I have been bitten by the computer audio bug. I have a mac mini running into a Cary cinema 11 in my home theater system, the sound with uncompressed tracks ripped with EAC is excellent, and the convenience is to die for. I am now tempted to buy a top notch DAC and install it in my main system with another Mac Mini, but convenience aside, I want the best possible sound from 16/44. For a while I was thinking that a computer feeding a DAC had the potential to be better than a CD player, and I understand why, however recently I read a post by Charles Hansen that made me doubt that. I have great respect for Ayre and Mr. Hansen, I bought the first Ayre product available, the V-3 in 1994 and loved it and my dealings with Ayre and Mr. Hansen. I don't remember the specifics but the post implied that a good CD will always better a computer. What's an audiophile to do? Before I go the the expense and trouble of getting an Ayre or Weiss DAC and another computer, I figured I would ask those of you who have tried it. Have any of you compared a computer based system against a top notch contemporary CD player in your system side by side. If so, did the computer based system equal or better the CD player?? I would love to hear your experiences. If any of you are afraid of being flamed, please feel free to e-mail me privately at [email protected]. Thanks in advance, Andrew Levy