Vote

As always, it depends on the cost.

Apple MacBook as server; TOSlink cable to external DAC (Musical Fidelity X-Dac v3). Using Apple's Front Row as the front end software.

I am already using a Squeezebox with an external DAC and I love it.

i have a collection of roughly 10k CDs that are currently very disorganized. It is almost impossible to listen to my music except via my Mac Mini/Apple Lossless/PS Audio Dig Link III USB set up. it is also better sounding than any of the CD players I currently own.

If I wasn't spinning vinyl, it's how I'd listen.

Who cares anymore since analog is gone from the mainstream?

Gotta love lossless on a Sonos!

Ready for one? They already exist in the form of the Squeezebox. Connected to a DAC, I simply don't use my CD collection any more. It would be like having to insert the Microsoft Word CD every time I wanted to type a document!

I not only want the ability to download lossless audio files (as an example like Aix and Naim are offering) to be easily imported into a server database, but also to import via a phono preamp (Pro-Ject's Phono Box II USB appears to be the best example on the market) and easily index some of my many quality LPs into play lists. A 1500 LP collection would be cost prohibitive and impossible to replace. So fare no-one seems to be able to get a grip on the fact that there might be large numbers of audiophiles (for lack of a better term) who want to roll their own, but not just from digital sources. The Phone Box USB is just an inkling of what can be accomplished with the correct components.

The convenience is so high and with the sound quality approaching the best transports, CDs just don't make sense anymore.

Have been using a PC-based system with .wav files played through the Benchmark DAC1 USB for almost a year now. In a word, supurb!

iTunes Lossless, duh.

Centralized asset management has been the norm in virtually every other market around the world, it's about time the audiophile world joined too.

I stream my Apple Lossless encoded albums wirelessly to the bit-perfect optical output of my Apple Airport Express router, which then feeds my DAC.

Open standards & iPod-touch and coverflow as a remote, please.

I would buy today, if I could achieve SACD-level quality through such a download. Plus, my wife would like to see fewer CDs littering our shelves.

Once you go there, it's hard to go back. I use Sonos with a Lucid DA9624 DAC, and I consider it "audiophile" in sound quality and just plain wonderful in joy/ease of use.

It's about time. To be able to press a button in order to listen to albums and individual tracks, rather than put each individual CD or record on to listen.

Convenience at little to no cost&#!51;why not?

As things now stand, I still prefer to rip from my own CDs, but I think that eventually prices will fall and resolution will rise to the point that downloads will become a viable option even for tightwad audiophiles like me. That said, I still like pictures and liner notes and "hard copies." Long live physical media!

Would love a step up from the Roku 1000.

I'd like to see graphical rather than textual user interfaces, as well as a price point below $3000.

VRS Audio Systems Music Server.

There is no reason why high resolution "Master Tape" quality should not be available as downloads to the audiophile consumer.

It's nice to see hi-rez downloads period, with or without DRM. DRM on a 128kbps MP3 is just adding insult to injury.

The industry is so dynamic in this area, I'm not sure what the "solution" will be, but I'm interested.

And not wireless either. I run a old Mac TiBook G4 into a 24/96 Firewire device and run coax to my DAC.

In general, I think its going to be the future of music. However, right now I'm not ready to abandon my CD collection that I've amassed over the past 20+ years. What if the storage device crashes and looses all your music?

Hi-rez content served from hard drives represents a huge opportuntiy for for the audiophile marketplace as new hardware will be required to store and play this content. If the vendors respond to this opportunity and start offering devices that are future-proof and standards-based, I think we can see a significant resurgence the audio market that will have very broad impact. Future-proof can be achieved by offering devices that include data paths of at least 24 bits, support sample rates of at least 192kHz and channel counts of at least 6. Adherance to existing standards for networked devices and other communication protocols used in CE devices is essential especially to audiophiles as we will always want to at least have the option of mixing and matching various components rather than being bound to a particular vendor.

Long overdue!