nunobaptista

hi clay it's exactly because i know how tempting it is to do it, that i want to avoid crossing ''that'' door !...LOL... what am i talking about ? i'm upgrading my amp to a Roksan Kandy K2 amp in a couple of weeks ! but only because my Onkyo Integra is old, tired & begging for mercy so... but i try to look back to my past as an art student, listening to a boombox - o.k. it was a ''decent'' one but still... & being perfectly happy with it , you know, that ''life's great'' vibe going & all ? :-) cheers Nuno

hi Eloise i was just going through some threads, looking for answers to my ''plight'' as i received your post. now that you mention it , i recall being told about the 5m limit for USB... i also think iTunes sounds good enough but i've read so many going on & on about this, that & the other that....maybe if my system was way more sophisticated but, for the time being, i'll go for the DacMagic & take it from there - my point is DEFINITELY to carelessly listen to my music - mostly while i work away in my atelier right next to my living room.. - & not to start a ''Holy Graal hair splitting'' quest so to speak thanks for the info Nuno

hello everyone my name is Nuno, i'm a 49 year old artist from Portugal, registered today & before posting, went around to make sure a similar post hadn't been written - didn't find any so here goes for a while i flirted with/read about & recently decided to step into the world of computer audio. my system's basic : 2 X 1TB W.Digital My Book drives ( plus a 2TB unit coming ..) through a Logitech Premium powered USB hub --> 20'' Intel iMac --> Behringer UCA202 USB sound card --> Onkyo Integra A-8067 amp --> B&W 603 S2 bi-wired/Supra 4mm cables. the iMac, W.D. & Behringer are connected to an APC UPS, cables kept to their min. possible lengths, power cords along one side , signal & USB ones on the other - i don't know if it makes a difference but...anything to avoid crossing the Audio Gods !...LOL... all my music's in AIFF, WAV formats except for a few 320MP3 downloads. on playback, audio & video are handled with no quirks/stops & between hiting play & sound/video starting it takes a few seconds. unplugged back up drives are ''stashed'' away just in case... it sound's surprisingly good to my ears - way better than when i first used the iMac's headphone out... - & good enough for me to get rid of a Pioneer PD-8800 CD player, a Pioneer PDR-609 CD recorder, a Toshiba DVD player + my Thorens TD 316 MKIII & Sony 3 head K7 player plus a ton - LITERALLY... - of CD's, LP's, K7's & the cabinet i kept them in, a 1000 remotes....you see, my house was built small on purpose & i find it most pleasant to have gained my living room back ! :-) basically i'm happy ! but.... 1st - the Behringer ( 16 bit/48.000Hz max..) was bought to ''test the waters'' without spending a lot & as pleased as i am, i'm thinking about buying a Dac ( Cambridge Audio DacMagic ? other within that $$ range?..) connect it to my iMac's mini-Toslink ? USB ? which would be better, any cable suggestions ? from it i would then run RCA audio cables to my amp - very soon to be upgraded by a Roksan Kandy K2.. 2nd - what gets best results : a short optical or USB cable to the Dac & longish RCA audio cables to amp (- + or - 7 mts ) or exactly the opposite ? 3rd - i use iTunes & by now i sort of know it inside out ( have looked at Songbird but..) reading so much about it's limitations , can anyone suggest any ''tweaks'' that might improve it's performance ? some plug-in perhaps ? 4th - after reading so much about Amarras, i went to their site & asked for a free demo - can't wait..- is their software THAT good ? because if that's THE way to go , i'll start saving, robbing little old ladies, banks...whatever ! ;-) one thing that pleases me is how silent my drives & my iMac are - i NEVER heard it's fans, don't know what they sound like - maybe they're broken & imminent meltdown is at hand !!...LOL... any help would be greatly appreciated, sorry for the length of my post - just trying to get you lot in my shoes so to speak best wishes from southern Portugal Nuno