Indiesound

I have the Diverter 24/96 (not the new 192 version) with a Wireworld Starlight USB cable and used to own an Empirical Off Ramp 3. To me the better deal is the older Diverter. My total outlay was 1K (used) for the Diverter and $100 for the USB cable. Just $1100 for great sound. The Off Ramp is $1200 PLUS a need for some type of improved supply. The Off Ramp 3 sounded awful without a power supply upgrade, plus Dave Clark of Positive Feedback preferred the Diverter to the Off Ramp with a battery supply and the Ultraclock!! I was not satisfied with the stock Off Ramp. Steve of Empirical always makes you spend more money, whereas Josh states that there is a one box solution. The new Diverter is not that bad a deal when you consider the savings on a nice cable since it's async. It's a one box solution. A little pricey, but i figure i'd pay $500 down the road for the improvement over the Off Ramp.

I'm thinking about buying an LIO-8, but would need to buy a Mac first. Any recommendations? Looking for bang for the buck. I know that it would be best to use a solid state drive and to increase the RAM. Would it be better to buy a used $330 Mac Mini and use the leftover money for extra RAM and an SS drive. The only issue is that some older Mac Minis may be limited in RAM expansion. Is there any other issues i should be aware of? Is the right type of firewire available on older Mac Minis or Macbooks? And the current new Mac mini? Is the DSP the mixing software? is there any disadvantage to not having this? Can i add tube sound without this? Thanks!! I'm also surprised that adding a linear supply provides no benefits. It helped my current DAC tremendously. It's a 12V supply too. It didn't even cost that much at about $170. Finally, can i use a sub with it? ( I have no preamp) And can i use my RCA Interconnects which i paid quite a bit for with an adapter with little degradation in sound. I also plan to use use optical and spdif inputs. Will also be using direct to my amp.

Just curious, is it a significant step above the Berkeley or is the difference more subtle and "in the realms of personal preferences"? Was thinking that the 2.5K difference in price between the LIO-8 and the DAC 202 would be a good part of a 6K speaker upgrade-- going from 3K to 9K.

I currently own a Vista laptop and would like to purchase a Mac system likely for 90% music use. I would like to purchase Pure Music, some kind of upsampler and likely dbpoweramp for ripping cds. Right now i own very few CDs and mostly listen to Rhapsody or Pandora. (System price for hardware only) There are two big decisions, used or new, and model (Mini, MacBook, G5), etc. I assume as in audio, that used is the better value. Plus i believe i will need to buy a solid-state hard drive? And more RAM. Will it be better to buy a cheaper used Mac and spend more on RAM vs a new Mac mini? I am mostly looking at local Craigslist ads in my area- Baltimore/Washington DC. Sometime there are pretty good bargains. Would prefer a used system-- more bang for the buck. Also would prefer to spend less-- would prefer to save money for a nice DAC With one big caveat: Will spend money as necessary to get the best audio quality. I assume older computers lack the processing power, thus may not sound as good. Finally, Macbook on battery, does it sound much better than a Mac mini? Or perhaps a linear power supply for a Mini? Which system would you recommend and where would you spend your money to get the most bang for the buck at this price range. I suppose i can raise the upper limit (to around $1100 to accomodate really great improvements in sound, however. Thanks for your help!!