Eric5676

If you go on Youtube and punch in "Mac Mini 2010" and call up a bunch of different videos about it...I must say, I'm impressed as hell with the design and what I'm seeing.

I haven't ruled out Sooloos, Sonos, or Olive for myself yet FWIW. I'm looking at every possible avenue. Never heard of Fit-PC but those look neat! I'll have to remember these! "Apple or PC? Or it doesn't matter?" Doesn't matter. My Wyred 4 Sound DAC 2's USB drivers need one or the other. "Do I want a "silent" computer or just a quiet one?" Quiet at least. Silent would be amazing but not realistic probably. "What kind of user interface will I be happy with? Browser based, Remote/iPhone/iPod Touch based? Laptop based? Touch screen?" Not terribly picky here. If I could set up almost a universal remote like a Harmony or any of those devices that's fine. "Budget. You can do something with excellent SQ, including server and seperate DAC for between $500 - $1000 (new). Of course,from there the sky is the limit." DAC is already taken care of so this would strictly be for the machine/server/whatever. Budget? South of a grand. "The UI is a deal breaker in the end result, b/c that's what you live with on a daily basis when interacting with your music library. Everyone has different wants/needs in terms of what UI makes them happy." Something convenient or close to being like popping a disc in and pressing play. Not terribly picky how I get there. I've also looked at Vortexboxes sold at Small Green Computer and their high end counterparts at Sonore. A Vortexbox might be ideal for me in some respects except ideally I need Windows or Mac for my DAC's USB drivers and we're back to an interface issue if I want to keep the big bad gaming machine turned off.

Cambridge 840c and Apogee Mini-DAC were my prior dac/sources. Everything's connected to the w4s just as it was to those prior pieces: PC, a transport/player, PS3, Oppo 83. I have XLRs outs to a headphone amp and RCA analog outs to a Yamaha 2700 5.1 receiver. This thing is just loaded with settings and features, inputs, outputs ,and just raw performance. You know when you pull this brick out of the box that's it all business right off the bat. No bling. No pretty touchscreens, you pay straight up for what really counts and get it in spades. I can't recommend it or the company as a whole enough. Customer service was excellent. If you call during business hours, most often you're to get someone with a pulse picking the phone up. The nice lady even called ME a few days after placing the order to tell me that a buyer had dropped out and they were going to send me a unit a good week earlier than they originally thought. To save myself a lot of typing, if it's not bad form: http://www.head-case.org/forums/home-source-components/7493-wyred-4-sound-ess-sabre-dac-6.html#post390118 Start at post 111. That's me. You'll see a post where I even put up a bunch of pictures. http://www.head-case.org/forums/home-source-components/7493-wyred-4-sound-ess-sabre-dac-6.html#post390134 Yes, those aren't the best pictures in the world but I think you'll get enough of an idea.

I wouldn't mind a setup to get to my computer music and use it conveniently without having my power hogging and somewhat noisy gaming PC running to have to do it. All of my equipment is in one room so I really don't even need wireless. I just would like a convenient and easy setup to use through my home theater and stero equipment. I look at this Olive product line, I like the concept, but then I start looking at price tags for what you get and start scratching my head. What's the cleanest way to do what I'm talking about?

I've had my W4s DAC-2 since the weekend and basically have been in bliss with it. I think it's a steal at its asking price and I'll easily concur with the 6 moons review and then some.

So basically folks are happy with this as a "Dedicated music" computer? If all that works well, the only thing I'm wondering about here is: What if you want a bigger hard drive or more space? I'd be connecting to an external DAC probably via asynchronous USB. I have the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2. It's awesome. I like Apple but I'm also curious: Are there any "non Apple" equivalents to this Mini Mac concept? What should a person be thinking about in terms of something like this vs. a NAS or some other server setup? This sure seems like it fits what I'm looking for in a lot of ways. I don't even need wireless. I just want something that's very quiet, very low power consumption, that can handle all kinds of music. My current PC is excellent but it's a gaming machine that makes noise and uses up a lot of power. I can use it just fine for music but if I can do this cleaner and quieter it might be worth me exploring further.

Lots of great choices in this thread. I ended up getting a Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2 which I took delivery of today and simply could not be more impressed if I tried. I think it's easily a bargain at its asking price.

I've done some reading up and that Red Wine Audio company looks like a gem. I've read up on what a NOS DAC is and what it would mean and I'm intrigued by that Isabellina unit.

What more do I want? Not much. On paper and the early buzz for the DAC-2 have all been superb. I've seen some people even say they liked it better than the PS Audio Perfectwave DAC. No question that's a phenomenal value and I'm probably not too far from pulling the trigger on it although we fence sitters like to ask a million questions and make absolutely sure before we do something. 6 Moons isn't the only place I almost feel like I'm getting a touch of that "giant killer" vibe when it comes to that DAC-2.

I did sell the Cambridge 840c this morning because really, the offer was simply too good to turn down. I would have been a fool not to take it. So I am back in the market and I will be very careful. I'm a king of fence sitters and devil's advocating. Heck, I can feel buyer's guilt BEFORE actually buying something. LOL If all else fails, I'll simply buy a new Cambridge 840c and get a nice unit with a brand new two year warranty out of the box (a little silly but not completely out of the question.) I sold my old one that was outside of warranty for $1000. I'd paid $1400 for it new two years ago. I don't think I could have said no to that in the end. This buyer was a really cool guy but he was on fire to do this thing. I really all but sabotaged my own sale trying to convince him to just go buy a new one and he still wanted to do this thing. What can I say? And everyone is right: It ain't valid if it's not in my system.

The Zodiac is clearly loaded. In my case personally, I'm a little concerned that if I made a move on it I'd be paying for a few features that I probably wouldn't use (not the end of the world) and I just don't have a clear enough idea yet how much, or if, it really is "appreciably" better sound quality vs. my current Cambridge 840c which I just got a good buyer's offer on that I'm considering, the PWD, or the W4S DAC-2. I try to look for value when I make moves, too, although I'm willing to spend a little extra if it really puts me over the top. How do you all think my already 2 year old Cambridge 840c holds against any of this stuff? Should I take the buyer's pretty darned good offer or just hold still?

Thanks Ted! For me it's coming down to one of these vs the W4s DAC-2 vs Perfectwave DAC most likely. Starting to almost see giant killer like buzz about the DAC-2 but we shall see.

Tigz: Have you or anyone else received their unit yet?

For whoever might be interested, I contacted Marcel James via email, the US Antelope Audio rep, and he says they're still shooting to have the Golds out by December.

Not sure about something: Do the Zodiac units use external power supplies? A number of folks have made mention of how it "only" weights 4.4 lbs. and such.