My experience after lost of 20k$


I am not happy because I have paid more than 20k$ for PC Audio.
if you like sound of Audionote/kondo/living voice horn/old tannoy/carbon cable then I 100% recommend you to forget PC Audio and just go for CEC TL-X 3.0 transport.

do not go for PC Audio.
if you should go for PC audio just do this:
macbook pro 15" MJLQ2LL/A or MJLT2LL/A model 2015
Wavelength USB DAC Crimson or Cosecant
Purist Audio 30 Anniversary USB Cable 1m

remember I have tested all pc , caps , reclockers all cables all thing in this market , do not pay for them.
amir57bs
For any who think that CD playback is a dead ender take a look at other threads here and some online review sites where CDT & DAC combos are the equal of and sometimes bettering some much touted PC setups. 

Also, there's this:http://highfidelity.pl/@main-856&lang=en, where they assembled a panel to actually listen to the stuff and then formed an opinion. 

All the best,Nonoise
I also agree with tonykay,              
I just spent $7000 on a new CD spinner/DAC/SACD player this Summer.  For years my dealer salesmen ask me (every time) what I am doing with streaming, etc. And every time I say zero. Now I do like the ease of using a five disc CD changer.. I could maybe see the fun of setting a list and it plays all day.....           
But I also know the annoyance of computer stuff. Solving problems easy to some nerd, impossible unless you already know how... and I have little interest in starting all that now. (I finally actually got a mobile phone three years ago. What twenty years late??? and that ONLY because of the robo calls killing me on the land line, and the price of a land line and internet was more than a cell with data.)Anyway, who cares whether I am not interested? Maybe in five years I might go for it?
I listened to Jeff Joseph's Pulsar speakers back in 2012....hooked me on computer audio (Jeff had album rips at 352khz at 32bits).  Some of the best sound at Axpona 2012. He was using a Mac.  I saw another system using a Windows setup with JRiver - I was out done. 

Since then I've gone digital - if I have analog recordings, I take them to digital (I have iZotope and other programs for this). I've even used Jriver to Convert redbox to DSD256 while preserving the original Redbox file. Personally I like the DSD256 file - for some reason it appears to be more "open". 

I've had my share of analog devices - however I'm nowhere near $20k in equipment (my Turntable of choice is the classic Technics 1200MKII used to be a DJ back in the day....had a nice Rotel turntable too - that was on the music listening system). 

I'll say this - I love the convenience of PC audio too. No need to look throiugh thousands of Redbox CD's or albums. As far as DAC's go the ES9038 chip is very nice, it replaced my old AK4495SEQ kit that I had prior. 

To the OP....THAT'S SOME NICE GEAR!!!!! I'm not there yet, but currently - I have no desire to go further.  I  have the biggest soundstage that I've heard (with the exception of the Scanea loudspeakers). My room sounds very similar to the Tidal room of that same year (circa 2012 Jacksonville).  My favorite rooms were Tidal (the speaker company), the Pulsars, the Whispers,  and the Scaneas.  I'm well satisfied with my PC audio. 
"PC Audio" gives streaming a bad name. I've not owned a PC for 15 years and not played a CD since about 2010, when I bought a Linn Akurate streaming DAC. I replaced it with a PS Audio DAC, a Naim and then Auralic Aries streamer and now all gone thanks to Devialet Expert Pro. A prerequisite of all of them is a good power supply. No computer knowledge is required (I haven't any). Played vinyl, ripped CDs, downloads and streamed Qobuz for the last 5 years. 
CDs are an old-fashioned way of storing about 800mb of digital data, abandoned by the commercial world for some years now and you'll be hard pressed to find any computer made today with an optical drive. Why CDs persist in audio I have no idea. As RIAA data shows, they are now only 5% of music sales revenues.
"PC Audio" gives streaming a bad name.
@ssfasNow that is definitely a brazen statement, I hope from PC Audio you mean a computer you can buy off the shelf and not a bespoke thing you can build yourself or get biult for you. I have a PC I have built with some of the most expensive components availlable that will literally blow away any laptop or desktop you can currently buy. I also have my friend's jitter busting software, namely Mark Porzilli of the Memory Player fame in it and doing a very nice job thank you. Now the quality I get from it is so good that two months ago I sold my Gryphon Mikado and now all I do is stream from Qobuz , play stored .dsf files and listen to CD's put through db Poweramp and then played on Roon or Sequoiadigital player and workstation used also by the BBC.I know quite a few audiophiles who have £50 thousand Vinyl rigs and very expensive digital front ends as well and I don't envy one of them as I can hear more things going on in an orchestra than they can.