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That Sonore thing you mentioned looks interesting but USB out means I'm buying another box (or two actually) and 3 cables (six), so I'll probably keep looking for one-box solution. But thanks for the suggestion!

System 1 has a DAC, the Esoteric SA-50 which can handle up to DSD. The files I will feed it are mostly ALAC ripped from disc right now, eventually those will be AIFF. There are also MP3s from the web, and some hi-rez files from various on-line stores, but since I don't have an easy way to get them to either system I haven't listened to them enough to know if I want to continue buying them or stick to discs... System 2 is a Marantz AV-7005 which also has digital imputs (no USB) and ethernet. It can decode pretty much everything, except maybe 2x and 4xDSD or things newer than 2014 or so. Thanks so much for your help, I really appreciate it.

I'll check those out, thanks for the recommendations. The SA-50 does have a USB-in but as you point out it only accepts 44/16 so it's not ideal. No USB-in on the Marantz AV-7005 at all.

I'm looking for the following dream situation, and am having trouble finding the answer since I don't even know how to phrase the question, let alone phrase it in google-speak. I'd like to store all my digital music (ripped discs and downloaded files) in a way that allows me to feed it to two separate systems, different songs/albums at the same time. I have ethernet throughout the house for delivery. System 1 is a high-end 2-channel set up with a DAC that can handle almost everything as long as it's delivered by optical or coaxial digital. System 2 is a mid-fi 7.1 channel set up that can handle anything delivered digitally, probably ethernet too. So I guess I'm looking for a NAS box, and an app for iPad or iPhone that can control it on two separate systems? I suppose I need to translate from ethernet to optical or coaxial as well. I've looked at music servers but they all have DACs which I feel like I don't need to pay for since I already have two. But if there is one that can do what I'd like it to I guess I'd consider it. What am I missing here? Is there a better way to do it? Educate me! And please be gentle...

Thanks so much for your reply JR. It hadn't occurred to me but upon hearing it, I'm not surprised at your experience with the mini-optical connection. Even the standard version doesn't feel (or look) particularly confidence inspiring. Although I have used them with no problems I'm aware of between the computer and the surround receiver for using the TV as a monitor (decidedly not h-fi but just web surfing). Thanks, I really like the SA-50 although I only got to enjoy it for a month before starting the renovation so I suppose it's not even broken-in yet. I was hoping to take advantage of the unit's 24/192 capabilities; sadly Esoteric has decided NOT to provide an upgrade to the on-board USB to allow this, I'm a little shocked honestly. I suppose it might be more than a software issue though. In any event, thanks so much for the Firewire suggestion. It looks like standard cable runs max out at 15' but much longer runs over twisted-pair ethernet cable are supported. I also found Wavelength makes a USB to S/PDIF converter which has the benefit of avoiding the optical out and also being "audiophile quality". So the quest continues... David

Hello all. I'm still trying to connect my Mac Pro tower to my DAC which is about 30' away as the cable runs. The computer has optical S/PDIF out and my DAC has coax SPDIF in. I found several products that convert between the two forms of S/PDIF which would allow me to go: Mac>optical cable>converter>coax cable>DAC As the conversion does not involve any D/A or A/D shenanigans, I'm hoping the converter quality won't matter too much. Or will it...? David

That's exactly the product I was looking at, thanks for the link. It's good to know Ayre thinks it's an acceptable solution. David

Hello all, I am in the process of wiring my under-construction listening room. I ran 1-1/2" smurf tube between the stereo cabinet, the TV, the subwoofer, and the three front speakers to allow cable rolling but couldn't fit conduit in the ceiling between the stereo cabinet and the computer desk. About 25' of wire would be required to connect the two. I don't want to bury any cables that have factory terminated ends ( USB, fiber optic, etc.) I do have a run of cat6 between them and have been eyeing adapters that allow USB 2.0 over the cat6 wire. Has anyone here used this system for digital audio? Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance, David

Thanks for sharing your back-up solutions everybody. I think I'm going to go this route: New larger boot drive with all iTunes files on it. Back-up all of iTunes to a pair of drives in RAID 1 array. Regular Time Machine back-ups to another drive. Periodic off-site back-up. I haven't chosen back-up software yet, I also came across a program that allows scheduling of Time Machine. Eventually I'll go the SSD route but they're still so expensive and I haven't heard any sonic difference with the few I've heard. Diminishing returns and all that.

Thanks for your reply. It's that kind of incremental back-up I'm interested in, so any data loss would be minimized or non-existant. I'll check out SuperDuper right now. Thanks for the tip about iTunes data being split if the Library isn't on the start-up disc. David

Surprisingly I AM using FW800, the issue may be with the budget external HD I bought, a Prodrive from BestBuy. I'll see if there are settings I can tweak or something. I think the 350 GB is just the music itself, art and &tc probably adds some GBs but still. The 6 hours is what the little progress window says. It starts out at 8 and works its way down to 6 after the first minute or so, it may actually be less but I don't sit in front of the computer to time it. So your iTunes Library is not on your start-up disc and Time Machine still backs it up? Very interesting. David

Hello all, I'm new to the forums here so please be gentle, and please excuse me if I missed this topic in a previous thread, a search didn't turn up what I was looking for. I've been re-ripping my CDs into Apple Lossless files. It's such a huge undertaking I dread doing it again and realised backing up iTunes using Time Machine is all well and good but I'd like to have at least one other back-up. Dragging the iTunes library to another external HD is fine but at this point takes 6 hours to complete. As I understand it, the incremental back-up (or any back-up) function built into iTunes only works to copy to CDs or DVDs which long ago became useless for me given the size of my library (350 GB). Does anyone know of a way to trick iTunes by making virtual DVDs for the first back-up and subsequent incremental back-ups? The incremental part being key as 6 hours is a long time to be writing to an HD every time I'd like to back up. Thanks in advance for any and all help. David