Best computer driven DAC

I need to go from a g4 powerbook to my creek 5350se. I could buy a Benchmark DAC1 for $1300 with USB. I am trying to find a cheaper option that would be close in performance. I am looking at the audiofire products and want to know if anyone has experience with them or if there are any other suggestions out there. I want to have the ability to stream 24bit 96mhz live recordings.

Forget about the quality of the music—what percentage of your music collection sounds great?

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Sometimes our favorite music sounds like crap, and sometimes the best-sounding work in our collection is an artistic failure, but we keep the thing anyway. Forget about the quality of the music, what percentage of your music collection sounds great?

Budget integrated amp face-off! Please help this newbie choose!!

Hello all. I am in the midst of choosing a budget integrated amp and wanted some opinions from the experts. The contenders are:

1) NEW Cambridge Audio 340A (Top of the budget range)
2) Preowned Cambridge A300 (Bottom of the budget range)
3) Preowned NAD C350 (Middle of the budget range)
4) NEW Jolida JD1701A (Blowing my budget by a little)

Any and all opinions are greatly appreciated.

Meridian, Ferrari Collaborate on a One-Piece System

Meridian, Ferrari Collaborate on a One-Piece System

<I>Oooohh! Aaaahh! Coochy-coo!</I> are not the usual spontaneous reactions from hard-boiled audio journalists to the unveiling of a hi-fi component. Nor is the Silverstone Circuit, the self-proclaimed Home of British Motor Racing, the usual venue for such a launch. But the news that UK audio manufacturer <A HREF="http://www.meridian.co.uk">Meridian</A&gt; and Ferrari were cuddling up together on a joint project was enough to drag yours truly halfway across the country to deep Northamptonshire on a miserably wet February morning.

Perfect room shape

My new listening room is shaped like a barn with a flat top (or a Tough Shed). Using my RTA I can see it has far fewer problems than any rectangular room I have been in. (The room has 2 skylights on one side and is 19 X 12.5 X 8.5). I use a DSP to correct a hump at 60hz and a litle 3db help below 40hz and I show flat to 30hz. Could this be the best room shape? With there being 2 side walls and one angled in maybe it's hard to build standing waves?

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