hi there!
I really have to drop a line, cubist, as I'm looking for a dac too and my rig is surprisingly similar to yours:
amphion helium2 bookshelf speakers
primare a10 integrated
a couple hundreds cds I will rip to ALAC
a macbook pro
an iPod touch
and an airport express
I'm not interested in hi-res by now, but I think I will definitely test the Airdisk option before going for the macMini as a server
and for phase 3 and 4 I would consider this:
http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0317/music-distrubution-two-way-100.jpg
(driven by the iPod touch)
and the AppleTV plugged straight into something like this: http://www.audioengineusa.com/a5_buynow.php#A5W%20Bookshelf%20Speakers
for the other room.
Having said that, what DAC for the main stage?
ciaociao
jacopi|!