Music Server for feeding Theta Gen VIII DAC


I've been away from audio for a number of years after putting together a system* that I was mostly satisfied with.  I took the system apart for a couple years for a living room remodel, then shortly after I set it up, my SOny ES CD player I was using as a transport died.  I now realize that I no longer know how to play music.  I would like to use some sort of computer server rather than a disc spinner for the convenience, but am overwhelmed by the choices available.  I want something simple with excellent sound quality.  Right now, I mainly want to rip my CDs to a hard drive.  I recognize that at some point in the future, I may want to use some sort of streaming, but right now, I'm not interested.  Having been to a few shops, candidates include the Cambridge CXN V2, Aurender N100C, and Naim Uniti Core.  The Aurender seems hobbled by a new change that sacrifices sound quality of non-MQA files, the Naim seems like it can't accept files downloaded from the internet.  The Cambridge seems to not have any identified problems, but I wonder if it's possible for a machine that is so affordable to provide sound quality on par with the others (although if it can, that would be great).  I have no idea what to do.
*Theta Gen VIII s3 DAC/Pre, AtmaSphere MA1 amps, Ascendo ZF3 speakers, Kubala-Sosna EMotion interconnects, Entec LF-20 subwoofers.
honest1

Showing 2 responses by audiotroy

Honest we can understand your pain and confusion.

We sell all the servers you have enquired about and each has its weakness.

We are very big on computer audio and we sell five different server lines:

1:Innous
2:Baetis
3:Naim
4:Aurender
5:NAD

The product we are selling the most of is the Innuous Zen and Zenith.

Why?

1: These devices are designed to Roon Roon as a Roon core, (Roon’s music management software is fantastic and it integrates Tidal and Internet radio into one easy to use compreshensive interface, therefore the box will output MQA as well.

2: Built for music reproduction, Innous builds their onw motherboard, and propreitary USB soundcard. add in an ethernet filter shock mounted hard drives and custom designed operating system you have a box designed specifically to derive a clean data stream to your dac.

3: Excellent reliablity and customer support

4: Burns CD

5: Reasonable pricing from $1,250-$4,200.00 for their most popular models.

Cons:

1: Requires an ethernet connection which can be overcome with a $69 wireless bridge

2: Higher end models only USB again overcome by a usb to spdif adapter if required.

The Naim doesn’t do Tidal or add any other streaming services
The NAD 50.2 is very good as a hard drive server with Raid but sound quality is not as good as the Innous.
Baetis is very good but expensive.
Aurender doesn’t do Roon and does not have a CD ripper.

Computer audio is are speciality along with a great selection of Dacs, Lumin, Mytek, Naim, Nad, Nuprime, LH Labs, Aqua Hifi, and a few others, we are a shop that although we love vinyl we really roll with high end digital.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
Grayhound 

A regular PC makes a poor server. 

Bad usb out, noisy internal clocks, cheap smps. If you want sound quality and ease of use you buy a server.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ