tanoshi
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Music Delivery Indecision Sony HAP Z1ES vs Rotel RDD 1580
bierfeldt
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tanoshi,

Glad to hear that you are happy with that Phase Linear gear.

I am a fan of that Sony Unit but it is limited since it lacks digital inputs. Very shortsighted on Sony's part.

I am in the market for something similar and given that you are using an iOS device I would encourage you to look at the Cambridge Audio 851n. It is $1799 at Crutchfield. The 851d and 851n have the same DAC and you can read the review of it here at Stereophile where it gets an A rating. The beautiful part about the Cambridge is that it is Airplay enabled so you no longer need to be tethered to the DAC. You can stream audio directly from your iOS device or off of a computer on your wireless network that is running iTunes. You can run an optical cable from your PS3 into it and it has built in Spotify. The other cool thing is that it allows you to choose which digital filter you want to run based on your personal preference. It does have a built in preamp which is unnecessary given your phase linear gear but it can be turned off and it would give you longer term flexibility.

I am assuming that Phase Linear gear doesn't have balanced inputs so another other option would be a Marantz NA8005 which you should be able to find for $799 or $899 either via Music Direct or Crutchfield though it lists for $1199. It is a way better DAC than you would think for the money. I have the NA7004 which uses the same DAC chip and was its predecessor. Although it hasn't been reviewed here, WhatHiFi gave the NA7004 a 5 star rating and the NA8005 has some improvements to the chip implementation. It is also AirPlay enabled and has built in Pandora and Spotify.

If it was fully balanced I would be getting the Marantz instead of the Cambridge. I have a fully balanced preamp and power amp and can take full advantage of the Cambridge's fully balanced circuitry. Marantz's fully balanced unit is $3500 and I want to at least try the Cambridge at half to price first. Both of these will give you more flexibility with truly stellar sound.

rrstesiak
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The Rotel is a very good DAC...has dual wolfson DACS, offers RCA or balanced, and has a plethora of inputs.

The Reviewer of TAS said it was better than his similarly priced vinyl rig!

I actually agree with my own DAC I just upgraded.

So, unless you have $3,000 to spend on an Aurelic or Bryston or similar, you're not going to notice any difference whatsoever. So just keep the Rotel...it's also a newer unit.
Unless, of course, you have the budget to take that always present next step up in quality. But again. As the Rotel is already a very good unit, you will need to spend all least $3,000 to notice a difference.

If you are not happy with the Rotel currently, maybe take a look at your analogue cables going out from the unit. An upgrade in cabling; especially analogue, can make a noticeable difference and the same cable can be re-used if you decide to eventually upgrade anyway.

My serious advice,

Ron

Allen Fant
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Welcome! tanoshi-

good to read about your system being back on-line. What brand(s) of cables/power cords are you using?

tanoshi
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I do love the Rotel DAC and it really does punch way above its weight class.

I definitely do not want to let it go unless I know I will get something better. Up to now, no one seems too confident saying that the Sony has a better or even decent DACs compared to the Rotel at my local HiFi shops. The Marantz option is tempting because of the price point, despite the fact that I will probably by-pass its DAC for my Rotel. Other than the Auralic Aries, which for $1,500 is a very curious proposition, it just kind of surprises me that no one wants to sell a stripped down music server that just carries music from a NAS to a DAC and thus does not need onboard storage or its own DAC.

Btw the cords I am using now are 30pin to usb from the iPad to the DAC. Monster RCA from Rotel to Phase Linear Pre-Amp and Monster RCA from that to the Phase Linear power Amp. As for power, every one of those devices mention is using the original power cords they came with.

I have a 2007 mac mini that I don't use anymore and make it a dedicated music streamer. However I'm not sure I'd be saving much money for all of my work getting it up and running. The more I read about turning it into a music streamer the more complicated and expensive an option it seems to be. There is a lot of money being thrown on power supplies and power cords to "reduce its noise". Apparently, and I have no expertise when it comes to this, the power supply can "step" on the digital information going out of a computer to a DAC and compromise its sound.

If it were just a matter of buying an SSD drive to run the OS and music app, Amarra software, VNC to access the mini via iPad, and maybe some additional RAM then you've got it done at around $350.00. Power supply replacement and power cords etc..... may as well buy the Marantz.

Please no wise cracks about going to vinyl, the price of California real estate per square foot makes storing all that physical media a real money pit. Maybe step one of getting into HiFi is to first live in a lower cost of living place, lol!

Allen Fant
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It is all a sound (no pun) investment- tanoshi.

rrstesiak
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So you were debating not only if you should upgrade the Rotel, but also how best to serve up your new digital
Music collection without using a regular consumer computer.. I.e. A more elegant audiophile like approach.

It is this second question I too am currently dealing with. Having a strong background in programming and IT in general, my immediate solution is to build an inexpensive Linux server with modestly spec'd hardware in a rack enclosure.

That alone runs mpd... A Linux dedicated music server process which in turn is controlled via iPhone/iPad/android from a free app that is called mpod - which also displays Album art. In addition, I have also enabled an apple AirPlay server as well as fm radio server. I know Spotify is also able to run in this configuration but I do not use Spotify.

In addition to this basic setup, that most people with a moderate understanding of computers should be able to setup in a weekend, I am adding an LCD display that will show the current Artist and Song playing. Adding the LCD is not a trivial project and does require more advanced experience but it is not necessary. Just an extra bonus.

My next steps after this basic server is built and running smoothly is to upgrade the USB to sotm usb.. It's an internal card that adds an audiophile grade USB port. After that, an external linear power supply. This way, things can be done in stages and much more budget friendly. I also find it rewarding to hear each incremental improvement.

Many of the high end manufactures like Bryston actually use a very similar approach.. Linux and mpd.

If Linux is just too far out of reach, some serious modifications can definitely be made to the Mac mini as you already alluded.

If you look around in the computer and digital foruns, you'll see my titled $250 music server threads.

Best Regards,

Ron

Ps. I think moving to a modular approach... Separate DAC and music server/streamer is not only more budget friendly in your case as you already have a very good DAC, I think it is sonically superior to all-in-one units. Unless; of course, many thousands are spent.

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