Jon-3

After a couple of false starts (i.e. not being able to make my mind up) I’ve decided the time’s come to build a mac based music server to provide the bits to a Weiss Dac 2. I’ve had the benefit of evaluating a friends new series MBP – i5/4GB/320GB - to compare with the XP/JRMC source I’ve been using, and found the MBP to have a marginally cleaner and ‘airier’ sound, but significantly lower levels of background noise due to the absence of much noisier pc fans. Although I'd be very happy with an MBP I don’t particularly need the portability and in addition I’ perhaps like to go a step further in terms of: Utilising an SLC SSD for OSX and I Tunes assuming this is an optimal solution, SQ wise, preferable to say a 500GB on board hd storing OSX/apps/files (ssd a touch expensive in the context of an Apple Store MBP and I think they may only offer MLC type) Similarly, providing better data redundancy via a RAID configured pair of HD’s The options I’m looking at are therefore as follows: Mac Mini 2.53ghz/4GB Kingston 32 GB 2.5" SSDNow E-Series (SLC) ….for the SSD, is 32GB sufficient capacity for OSX and apps, or would I need 64GB? The local mac specialist who I’d use to install the drive only stock Kingston SSD’s - are this brand and type recommended? Also, is there that much difference between MLC and SLC. Would it be better use of funds to choose an MLC? Glyph G062-E, 2TB raid set to mirror data ….there’s a few positive comments on these drives around regarding reliability, however are they the quietest around? I really want to minimise any fan noise. Are there any better options, perhaps G-tech which are a touch cheaper? As the mini’s firewire port will be used for the connection to the Weiss, I’d welcome any advice on which method to connect the HD to the mini – on the firewire bus via the Weiss’s second firewire port effectively using the Weiss as a hub, or via USB direct to the mac. As it’ll be used for continuation of ripping my collection, I won’t be running the system headless so I’ll get a monitor / keyboard / mouse for control of I Tunes/tagging etc ….or… Option 2: MBP (i5/4GB/500gB)– simple, straightforward, plug and play using an external HD to do periodic back ups Any advice would be appreciated.

With the exception of the amps your system is similar to mine. Are you in the UK? If so, could I ask where you purchased your Gold X firewire cable? I can't seem to find anyone here that stocks these wires. Firewiredirect in the US understandably want $50 to $75 for delivery. Jon

What a great forum this is! That's covered a heck of a lot of the questions and queries I have (had). I can certainly see the logic behind keeping the visual interface (ie screen) away from the rest. From an analogue background as I am, I've spent counless hours researching the methods of minimising RFI and EMI, particularly in respect of cable topologies. I think I'll try a few basic and inexpensive upgrades to the desktop PC first to see how that sounds - upgrade Ram from 1 to 4GB, install a 3 port firewire host controller, then more than likely invest in a Mac Mini and have a good ole head to head between the two. Just picking up on a couple of points above... "The best way to do this is to connect the external drive via Firewire since you also don't want your USB bus trying to receive data and at the same time send it out to your DAC" assuming use of my desktop does the computer use a USB bus to direct/channel data via firewire to the Dac? If so, as I only have one fw port at the moment, I think the I'd try a 3 port firewire PCI card with TI chip, to allow multiple firewire connections - to an external harddrive, and the Dac. Are there any PCI cards you would recommend that have multiple firewire chips to avoid running the data through the same chip, to avoid a bottleneck? "......the more complicated Windows setup to deal with" A few of the group have mentioned complicated windows setup, over a mac. So far, in XP Home, I've switched windows sounds off, installed and am using dbpoweramp for ripping into two formats - including one on an external Seagate HD via USB, ditto J River for playing the files - outputting ASIO or when it works WASAPI, and finally switch off all background apps when playing music with the exception of firewall and antivirus. Is there anything else to do or consider to optimise windows? I've heard something about 'kernals' in windows. What are they and are they detrimental? On a mac mini, how does one go about using files stored on an external HD connected via firewire when there's only one fw 800 port - being already connected to the Dac, a firewire hub? Finally, I'm trying to lay my hands on some of the Gold X firewire cables recommended by other folk in the group - easier said than done in the UK. Oh yes, btw, I just tried the HRx recordings you get with the Weiss @ 24/176. Quite simply, utterly, astonishing!! Easily the best sound I've heard anywhere. Bar none. Once again, thanks for all the replies. Cheers, Jon

Yes, after hearing the PC + Weiss sonics, it would make sense to use the tower for music server duties, however - as you touched on - it's the noise of the thing. A dell dimension 8400, the fan(s) of which have always been very noisy, from new. A quick google confirms i'm not the only one with this problem, in relation to this particular model. A design fault methinks. I've alway's put up with it as it's only been used as a general workhorse, although it's got a good spec. I must admit windows/pc or laptop appeals, not least as I've just spent a complete day getting to grips with dbpoweramp to rip my 600 or so cd's to two formats (btw also thanks to the CA ripping strategy). Plus I know my way round the audio setting menu's.

...to supply the Weiss via a standard firewire 6pin port that came built into a Creative Audio soundcard. Sounds are pretty good. Hoever, before connecting up the PC I was leaning towards a mac as it seems many more prefer this route. A few weeks ago whilst I was evaluating the Weiss I had the benefit of a loan of a Macbook Pro for an evening, but like a true plonker, didn't do an A to B with the PC. I was originally intending going for a mac in any case, then discovered that SQ via the current desktop was excellent, hence looking at a new dell laptop for a dedicated music server as they are so much cheaper. Surprisingly, the one on sale (Studio 15) does have a 4 pin firewire port. Just one question, are the Lynx or similar PCI cards an improvment over firewire? An on a mac, is there a benefit to using a mac mini over a macbook pro, sq wise? many thanks

Hi all, With the post Christmas sales now in full swing, I'm looking to take advantage of the sale prices and finally make my mind up in choosing a 'front end' to feed the Weiss Dac 2. So, there's two choices I'm looking at.... Laptop running windows 7 (c/w db poweramp, eac, J River, Foobar etc etc) Mac running snow leopard (c/w I Tunes) Cost is of course a major consideration. A well spec'd laptop - 2.1Ghz, 4gb Ram, 500gb harddrive - from a reputable manufacturer (e.g. Dell) can be had for as little as £500 whereas the equivalent from mac is likely to be double this, at least. Noted that a mac mini would save some however oncce all the peripherals such as moniotor, keyboard, mouse etc are added the laptop still looks good value. From the following standpoints..... Sound quality useability Interface Cost ...could I ask for some advice. Thanks Jon

Hi Tommy, Pretty new to computer audiophilia myself, but would heartily recommend the Weiss Dac 2 having just bought one myself. Certainly a match for a cdp I own that cost over two times the price of the Dac 2. Good Luck. Jon

Thanks Clay, tbh I thought Itunes didn't output bit-perfect, and Amarra was the medicine to fix this. And that a windows application such as J River outputting ASIO or WASAPI was the optimum, and that windows runs best on a mac. I'm a total novice, I really have no idea at the moment, so have been doing as much reading up as poss before I embark, on what it clearly a fundamental in computer audiophillia, that being ripping all one's musics collection (in my case circa 600 cd's) in a method that... a) sound the best b) is backed up c) is protected (as far a possible) against future format changes ...and uses the best possible interface with one's collection. ....er, I'm veering off. I derived the mac with windows notion from the 6moons review on the Weiss Minerva which pretty much slated Itunes and extolled the windows on a mac scenario with J River as the interface, so that's what lead me to look at this solution. But thanks again for your post. Right now, I feel a bit like a youngster learning to walk as this is all new to me. Jon

Aaah, so that's what's known at 'associated' metadata that's described in the CA ripping methodology. That pretty much makes wav a non starter for me. Half the point of using a computer as a source seems to me, is the improved interface with one's music collection. So, I now understand the formats, thanks to your post bob, and re-reading the CA ripping strategy. When I mentioned going for a mac, I was actually considering running windows on it to make use of all the additional options such as bit-perfect ASIO and WASAPI. Noted that - for using Itunes - Ammara offers the same, but costs exponentially more than J River: I guess that's a whole other debate though. Assuming a a windows based ripping and playback system for now, and using eac to rip (I'm keen on this as it the rips really do sound better than J River secure mode rips), I would... Rip a working copy in Flac Rip a backup copy in Flac (to an external usb hard drive) Rip a copy to AIFF (to another usb external hard drive) - for covering 'all the bases' Would you say this is a robust and sensisible methodology? If so, is it possible to simultaneously rip multiple copies to different file formats in different folder locations in eac? and is there a AIFF codec that can be imported into EAC to acheive this? And lastly, could I have thoughts on Flac playback bit rates in terms of SQ i.e. all the bit's are present, but playback bitrates are lower than uncompressed. Many thanks, once again.

Hi all, Another newbee here looking for a spot of advice. Ok, I’ve officially been a computer audiophile for a little over two weeks. I’d decided to upgrade my source and up until this point had been looking at Cdp’s, however upon coming across various threads on other forums, I noted that lot’s of folks were now using their computer’s to send streams to Dac’s. During an e-conversation regarding a possible amp upgrade with a fellow enthusiast, I learnt that said chap favoured the computer/dac approach and could loan me a Dac so I could carry out my own evaluation. Anyway, to cut the story short, I was quite impressed and subsequently bought the Dac – a Weiss Dac2. Many thanks to Keith at Purite (top-bloke), and Daniel Weiss for answering my many queries. So now I have a Dac, and at the moment looking at the best way to rip, manage, back up and stream the data to the dac…. I will be using my pc, rather than a mac, for sending of 1’s and 0 duties. A mac will probably come sometime next year when availability of funds will be improved. I’ve downloaded EAC and J River Media. At the moment, with my extremely limited experience these both look like good solutions if I can get them to do what I think I want them to do, so rather look at others, I’ll concentrate on these. So, here’s what I’ve learnt in the last fortnight: Ripping:- Computer Audiophile’s ripping strategy is a very useful resource. And I would very much like to set up for success…. EAC is complicated to understand for a rookie. Some of the sub menu’s might as well be written, as far as I’m concerned, in ancient Swahili. Notwithstanding last comment, discs ripped in EAC (wav) sound much better than discs ripped in secure mode in J River (wav). (no idea why, something to do with EAC optimising the CD-Rom device / EAC interface maybe) EAC uses something called ‘Accurate Rip’ to compare rips with an on-line database. This seems a very good idea. Ripping to wav, EAC finds track names/album/artist/date etc, but places them in the file name, so in J River I get loads of tracks in a long list under an album entitled ‘unassigned’. Ripping to Wav in J River, the tracks are neatly stored in the album names with all the fields (tags?) filled automatically, so in the main audio playing screen I can choose a particular album, rather than ‘unassigned’ and then have to go searching through a great long list - which has very quickly reached hundreds of tracks – which is a pain in the proverbial. Filling the fields in J River, of wav files ripped in EAC is less than successful. J River doesn’t find info on all the tracks in a particular album. So I end up with some fields filled and others not. …based on rips simply sounding better, I’d like to use EAC to rip in wav, but is there a way to configure this so the fields are filled automatically with embedded metadata (learnt that one from the CA ripping strategy) just like J River does with Wav. EAC can rip into FLAC. SQ wise, is this really the same as uncompressed wav?. Can’t make my mind up from listening. The playback bit rate is shown in J River is shown in the view pane. On wav it’s 1411 kbps, on flac it varies, but is somewhere around 900kbps. I know flac is lossless and all the bits are present, but surely a lower playback bitrate means lower sound quality, right? In summary, based on the various reading up I’ve done, I would like to… 1. Use EAC to rip into WAV with all field fields filled with embedded metadata. 2. Create a backup, using Flac, ripped in EAC 3. Make sure I’ve got the ability to change to a mac based playback system in the future (noted that wav won’t work, hence flac backup for converting to AIFF) 4. Playback in J River (btw I thought wasapi sounds the best) This is getting rather long so I think I’ll pester you all for advice on optimising playback, and backing up etc in another thread. If you’ve got this far, many thanks for reading my ramblings. Any advice would be gratefully accepted. Cheers