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In the Forum: Didital Things
In the Thread: High Quality Music Server / CD player
Post Subject: High Quality Music Server / CD playerPosted by scooter on: 9/14/2008
Hi Romy and Company:
My CD player has seen better days so I did some research and though you might be interested in my experience with the "Music server" concept. Punchline: fun, sounds great and is very convenient!
You can create your own audiophile music server by combining your computer, iTunes software, a Toslink optical cable and a (good) D/A converter. I had a Sunfire TG2 around (it has a pretty good 2 channel preamp section and D/A converter) so just needed the optical cable.
With this music server, you can instantly access your entire music collection, which is stored on your computer's Hard Drive, and listen to audiophile quality music reproduction. You can also access internet radio; although this is at lower quality, sound quality can be surprisingly good.
Advanced users utilize a wireless home network to avoid cables and clutter in the listening room, and some use the iPhone or iPod Touch connected to their home network as a fun visual remote to iTunes. I my go that way in the future.
My music server set up follows:
*Macbook Pro
*iTunes music software (using high quality AIFF format to store music)
*12' Toslink fiber optic cable (3.5mm - Toslink ends, see below)
*Sunfire TGII (D/A converter)
Newer MacBooks are especially easy to implement as music servers because:
*Bit perfect transmission of information to D/A converter is a no-brainer (automatic)
*MacBooks include an optical Mini-Toslink port (3.5mm) to transmit digital data to your home theater processor (the headphone jack doubles as an optical port and turns on automatically)
*Some argue that a properly set up Windows machine with a Coax cable could provide even better quality sound, although that may take some effort
In summary, for a paltry $10 cable (ten!), you could get an audiophile quality CD player, a great music jukebox with all your music in one place and access to internet radio on your home theater system. More details:
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/
FYI - High quality fiber optic Toslink-to-Toslink Mini/3.5mm cable does not exist. I found only low end Monster Cable and Audio Research cables, which due to lack of disclosure appear to utilize low-end optics. I used a toslink cable with a 3.5mm adapter ($10) and that worked fine for now. Given the massive bandwith of fiber optic cable, I will not lose any sleep with respect to cables for now.Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site