Hi Chris >>> Fantastic website >>> kudos!
I have last month ventured into high-fidelity audio and have in place CA 650A, Mordaunt Short Aviano 8 which at present i am feeding with Dell XPS M1210 (win xp) laptop throuhg 3.5 mm jack. Also have a seagate 500Gg external hard disk that connects via USB 2.0. I know that source is not even discussion worthy. But i wanted to wait and understand how to build a music server before I invested in it. As for, CA 650A >>> it delivers neutral sonic and that is what i was aiming to get. I auditioned at length Monitor BX/ RX 5 and Mezzo 6 and had almost settled for Mezzo 6 but then i heard Aviano 8 >>> the versatality of Aviano 8 is something to only hear and understand >>> it may not match the high notes of Mezzo 6 but the bass in Mezzo 6 kept falling apart >>> aviano 8 were on tab always throughout >>> Happy with amp and speakers for now >>> will upgrade in a couple of years to higher stuff once i develop a keen ear for them
Now, to my imperatives for the next addition to my high-fidelity setup >>> this is an addiction totally
a. No compromise on sound quality -- want 24/192 feed capability
b. Want a source that caters to future -- so cd player is not good enough, as it is tough to organize music on it -- hence SDD/ HDD dependent source is a must
c. dont want to burn a huge hole in the pocket but will still not compromise on parameters set above
What i have researched so far:
1. J River MC as software is better than itunes because of ASIO/ WASAPI, etc. J River MC has better interface than Foobar. J River MC enables streaming which matches up to itunes.
2. EAC as CD ripper is good so that settles the CD ripper issue.
3. DAC -- DAC magic is available in India easily and seems to be a good enough starting point -- although i keep reading stuff about weiss, berkeley, etc. but cant easily get them set up -- will dac magic do for now?
4. A difficult area to tide over is the connection between laptop to DAC -- read that jriver with airfoil (which now seems to be not being renewed) and airport express will work -- galaxy tab may serve as a remote for the system -- this will be very low on cost for me -- but i dont like the limitation of 16/44khz
compare AE with squeezebox touch, which has been reviewed seems brings us to 24/96 but some doubt the squeezebox for audio purity ... plus i am not convinced about squeezecenter software and will have to run jriver somehow -- plus for this more expense needs to be done -- but if extra has to be spent that i dont want to be limited to 24/96 and want to have the ability to go upto 24/192.
also, my laptop dell xps m1210 with win xp has a spdif and a dell converter which converts spdif into spdif, composite video (yellow), digital audio (black). i have not tested this, but what will be the bitrate and experience if i connect this straight into a dac. i can put a router (may be AE) to set up galaxy tab as a remote for the set-up.
i have been raking my brains and reading stuff now for last one week and i am not convinced which way to proceed -- so i call for help and suggestions !!!
thanks,
nirvana
