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The Wavelength USB Dacs are so good I will never go back to CD, but I still play LPs.
Now that hi-rez files without DRM are starting to become available for download from several labels, are you ready for an audiophile music server?
I have been copying my music to my PC in .wav files from the beginning, betting that the cost of storage would come down. I am happy that I was right, my music can be uploaded to my iPod, broadcast to my stereo through my Slim Devices Squeezebox and in all cases I can create great song lists and listen to them with as close to the original fidelity on the cd as possible. Now if only someone would come up with a good, inexpensive way for me to move all of my records to my PC that would be great
Bring 'em on. But don't forget to bring 'em down to a sensible price while you're at it. Oh, and ease of use is a good thing. And one box for music and films in all available formats, please. I'm sooooo done with audiophile chaos in my living room. My den is not, nor will I ever allow it to be, a dimly lit pigsty in the service of music.
Yes, but I don't want the kinds of full Monty solutions that Sooloos and others are building. High end companies should focus on what they do best -- audio quality. Leave user interface and bit storage and the like to others (Apple, Linksys, etc), who do it better, more cheaply, and are more likely to be with us for the long run.
Two Squeezebox receivers (do they count as "audiophile," or are they too realistically priced?). One is connected to my 2-channel system through an external DAC, and the other is connected to my home theater system through a digital coaxial input on my HT receiver. Also, I have a Nokia N800 internet tablet that works as a graphical, touch-screen remote control for both Squeezebox units. My music files are located on an external 500 MB hard drive. Total cost: about $1300 (including the hard drive) for a system that has literally changed the way I listen to music. I'm sure that the more expensive systems probably offer additional features, but the Squeezebox is an excellent way to begin exploring the benefits of music servers.
Yes, have my whole music library on one high end source/component? I would love to have a high end component to store all of my music because I tend to forget what music I have stored on the never ending CD racks. When I finally, broke down and purchased the iPod, I began to listen to a lot of my old music because it was all downloaded into one source which gave me immediate access to my library. I used to travel a lot with my job and I always wished there was a way for me to have tons of music on one source as opposed to the case of cd's and cd player I used to carry around. Then came the brilliant idea of mp3 players and ipods! Krell claims that they have a new mp3/ipod dock called the Krell Kid that will play tunes at cd quality with the high end Krell standards for $1,500.00! Also, Wadia has produced a similar type of component that is supposed to playback your tunes with cd quality at a high end level called the iTransport for $395.00! I would rather have a component with a hard drive built internally that plays back music with cd quality! I love the convenience of a music server, but it must deliver cd quality before I intergrate it into my high end system.
I already have one. It's called a pc - a heavily modified one. I'm in front of it right now. The trouble is, to avoid some 40ft of cables (that my wife doesn't approve) I'm "enjoying" my headphones instead of the main speakers. You can't always get what you want, as you probably have heard before.