clew84

...Can I just connect a coax cable w/ adaptor directly from my Mac to a pre/pro and let it's DACs do the decoding? What are the issues with doing it this way (assuming I am not listening to hi res files)?

Thanks for the comments - they have been very helpful so far. The speaker wire, 10 AWG Belden from Blue Jeans Cable, should suffice even for longer runs. I am looking at about 20 ft. Granted, it's not ideal but I don't see much signal quality loss of using thicker, high quality wire over that kind of distance. Unfortunately, given space limitations, it's the best I can do so have to make it work! Kay - Accuphase is unbelievable. I once heard an Accuphase integrated and CD player with Dynaudio C1 speakers and I have been green with envy ever since. Amazing stuff. In terms of the USB bridge, from what I understand, the Bryston does have a direct USB link but it will not play hi-res files via this link. Not a huge concern but if I do want to download and play higher resolution files, the USB to SPDIF converter is an alternative. I think I am considering the Halide Bridge for this. Of course, I may realize that I have no intention after awhile of ever playing anything except lossless CD files, then I could forgo this option and direct link to the DAC from my Mac. Eloise - good info and thoughts regarding a DAC with a preamp function. I think this could work for me. Not sure I need to spend the funds on a separate 2-channel preamp. Is the full Amarra worth it? At $695 it seems a bit pricey for software! Thanks again for the comments - they are truly appreciated as I try to wrap my head around the different options.

Hello everyone, I am looking to set up my first system using a computer and a DAC . Until this point, I have been listening to music mostly through either a universal player or a Squeezebox. I really don't listen to CDs much anymore - I like listening to music but like the flexibility of listening to playlists, change music, etc., that a computer-based system offers with no loss of sound quality. We moved to a new house and given space limitations, I have an amp (Bryston 4B SST) sitting in a box (went from a 7.1 set up to a 5.1 and the 5 channel Rotel amp, the 1095, is driving all the speakers now). The space is better but smaller and I do not have enough width to the room to add the Bryston to the rack as adding a bigger piece of furniture would move the front speakers out too far. Anyway, back to what I am here to ask... I have this great amp and I have an additional rack that I am going to put in a separate area and use long speaker wire to connect to my front speakers - Dynaudio S3.4s. So, I will have a separate 2 channel rig and I want it to consist of an existing Macbook Pro, a transport (in the form of a a Rotel universal player), a great DAC, and a stereo preamp. Here is what I think I need and please comment if you think this a good setup, what else I need, if I've left anything out, and any considerations I should make. It's important to me to get it right as the budget isn't inexhaustible and really good sound is important to me. Oh yeah, I am not very knowledgeable about hardware and software so a lot of this is new to me based on reading the great information here. Here is my plan: - New DAC: Bryston BDA-1 (not yet purchased). I've read a lot of good reviews by users and it seems priced pretty well. Also read some on Bel Canto and Benchmark DACs. - New preamp: Bryston (not sure which one yet and not married to Bryston on this one. Probably the BP6 but would love to keep costs down here a little). - Amp: Bryston 4BSST - New USB connection: the Bel Canto USB Link. I think I need something to connect the Mac to the DAC, correct? This seemed to be a good solution but not sure of the drawbacks or if there are better choices here. - Rotel transport - Macbook Pro (OS X): 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, . Running iTunes with music downloaded as Apple Lossless. I plan on connecting this to an external drive due to limited space on the Mac. Any recommendations for a HD that works well with the Mac and Bel Canto link? Anything I am missing? Thanks in advance for the help! Chris