Sunrise

I am no expert, but the CAPS machines are not designed for pure CPU power. Another option is a powerful PC (for HQPlayer) away from the listening room connected by Ethernet network to a light weight NAA

Interesting. I currently use Roon watching my iTunes library of ALAC files. Do you mean Roon integrated with HQPlayer can process ALAC fIles?

ALAC does not seem to be supported by HQPlayer. Is this correct. Any plans to support ALAC?

iTunes (Mac mini 2012) works OK with Audiovana 2 with my own local ALAC music library. I now have a Apple Music streaming service but it will not play with A+. It is a pain to exit A+ depending on if I am playing my local library or streaming. Can anyone help please.

Format: I agree with the conventional wisdom of using AIFF or Apple Lossless with a Mac system. After starting with AIFF , I am now using AL. Using a DAC & Pure Music with iTunes make a huge improvement to sound quality. Conversion of FLAC files to Apple formats is super simple using the free software Max (including metadata & 16/44 to 24/192). You can configure Max to convert and load directly into iTunes. This site has the detailed instructions. DAC: I had an rDAC before upgrading. It was very good but at the moment the DACiT looks compelling (the lowest priced C.A.S.H. listed DAC on this great site). Streaming: Wireless streaming to an Airport Express is OK but use the mini optical connection between the AE & DAC. I prefer having the Mac Mini at the same location as the DAC and TV. You can use the TV as a monitor for the Mini. This is good for watching YouTube music videos on the TV with very good sound. Alternatively use the digital audio coaxial connection from a Bluray or DVD player to the DAC for 2.0 home theatre.

Music Player iTunes is a combination of a database of music files and metadata (artist name, genes etc) and a player that presents the 1s & 0s to the DAC. It does the first part very well - you can have easy access to your collection & have fun rediscovering some long forgotten music. Add ons like PureMusic and Amarra use iTunes database functionality but bypass the iTunes player. I was very happy with the improvements I heard with Pure Music. In the Windows world, J River seems to be the database & player of choice. Don't get hung up on the Pure Music thing as it only costs $130 and you can get a free listen for a trial period. Let your ears be the judge. I recommend buying an asynchronous USB or Firewire DAC that fits your budget, a computer & rip using FLAC, Apple lossless or AIFF. Initially store the music on your computer (and back it up). All the other tweaks can be added after you are started and enjoying our great hobby! Searching out high resolution 24/96 & 24/192 music is good fun and having having a DAC that at least supports 24/96 makes sense to me. If you are starting from scratch, the new style asynchronous USB or Firewire DACs make all the special sound card and cable requirements of old obsolete. DACs sometimes require drivers but this is a good thing - they are very simple to install and enable updates of your DAC investment.

I had a similar issue with PureMusic 1.8 - distorted sound (rather than static). The recommended fix of disabling the DSP option worked perfectly. Thanks for the help.

I use Pure Music and am very happy with it. It sounds better and has the useful feature of automatically resetting a Mac's Audio MIDI sample rate when using 24bit / 96 kHz and 24/192 high resolution files. However, given you are mainly listening to MP3s at 16/44, that would not be applicable to your setup. I recommend you buy a DAC (must have) and then download the free, trial version of Pure Music, listen and buy the software if you discern value.

A reasonable asynchronous USB DAC will provide a huge improvement in sound quality and is very simple to hook up. I had a good experience with rDAC. Upsampling will not provide the same impact.