OK, I get the appeal of computer audio now :


I've been on the fence about computer audio, but that just changed. I purchased and downloaded "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" on DSD, put it on a flash drive, and plugged it in to my Oppo 105. As the first words of "Blowin' in the Wind" came through the speakers, I fought back tears. My girlfriend dropped what she was doing and came running to the listening room, and even the dog looked up from his nap (no small feat, trust me). In my 30 years of listening to music I have never had such a profound reaction to a piece of music - the subtle inflections of a young Dylan's already world-weary voice and the lyrics that still echo decades after they were written.

This is one of those rare moments that we all hope for in this audiophile hobby. I'm off the fence on this computer audio stuff :)

All the best,
Scott
smrex13
that's all very nice, but one song isn't a convincing argument for the equipment and the money and time spent acquiring "files" to listen to. non-the-less, IF you keep having the same experiences over time without getting "used" to the improvement all too soon, then i would say "write a mini-review" about what you did and how you did it. Maybe you just like Dylan a whole lot? well, not many would disagree with your musical taste...
I have a re-mastered version of Freewheelin' and happy it is part of my collection. can it compare with the polished sound from a Union Station disc
or other more recent folk-genre recordings? i haven't yet made the comparisons.
However, I'm happy that you're happy....
That's what it's all about!

I completely transitioned over to computer audio about 2 years ago from a Modwright tube Oppo 83 (which sounds really good) and have never looked back. I still have the Oppo and just use it for DVD/Bluray movies. My system is a combined 2.1 channel for music and HT.

I see that we are practically neighbors- I'm in Ashland. If you ever have any interest in getting together let me know. I'm always interested in meeting more local audiophiles. They are pretty rare in this valley.

Cheers,
Ernie
Good for you! Have been interested in the new Oppo for a while.
Would love to hear it sometime. My dog doesn't respond to my system anymore. He went deaf a couple of months ago. He sleeps through some really loud passages!
Scott in Ashland, too,
.
Grab an older hp laptop with fire wire out. Clean everything off the hd and turn off everything. Get (eac) and wavelab. There are a lot of good plug ins that you might find handy. Buy a 3TB HD and you have a great computer based player. Total cost is under $1000, That assumes you have a dac that accepts USB or firewire. If not, buy a spdif USB converter...Under $100. This will make wonderful music.
Hey Smrex!

Glad to see you went down the road and tried it for yourself! And even more glad to see it worked out that well for you.

Enjoy what you have. There will always be a lot more to "improve", but there is no real need to go elsewhere.

Cheers!!