Opus 21 CD vs Mac Mini... Opus wins

My friend got the MSB mod done to his ipod (his ipod mind you), and ran the digital directly into his MSB DAC and it was probably the best digital audio I've ever heard. Sure, a $14,000 DAC helped but still. It smoked any stand-alone CDP I've ever heard. Who wants to change cds anymore anyway? As soon as my Minerva comes in, I will run my Mac Mini (AIFF) into the Minerva via firewire. Mmmmm.

Bwyoung, over at Computer Audiophile they recommend this inexpensive cable:
http://www.firewiredirect.com/product/89/
There is also this, at the other end of the spectrum:
http://www.thecableco.com/product.php?id=5907
and this:
http://www.thecableco.com/product.php?id=5759
Audioquest also makes firewire cables, but no 6 pin to 6 pin, you would need a 4 pin to 6 pin adapter to use them.
I am currently using the first one, the inexpensive GoldX firewire cable.

Thanks for all the help. I will try upgrading my cables and see where I stand with the sound.
One interesting note... I discovered that the M-audio solo has the option to have it plugged in or unplugged (passive). It seems to be a touch cleaner and musical with it unplugged. Imagine that.

The overall quality of the opus 21 is great, you can switch fast between tracks and i love that.

Just another thing to consider...the Opus21 is an excellent stand alone CD player, particularly with the GSNC reference mods. However, it may be that because of the high performance/value ratio, Jeff Kalt did not put alot of money or thought into the digital input? He may have just added a cheap off-the-shelf receiver for convenience.

A friend of mine, who owns a GNSC ref Opus 21, tried running my Wadia Ipod transport into the Opus and it sounded horrible...thin, brittle, just horrible. The same Ipod transport into my PS Audio DAC3 with Cullen mods was quite good, though just a bit shy of the Opus on its own. My Dell desktop with Lynx PCI card into the PS Audio was another matter, though. Into my Berkely Alpha DAC...pure heaven!! ;-) I am a computer convert now!

Good luck...it's worth the experimentation, but I wouldn't spend much money on cables or converters until you can test your current with a dedicated (even inexpensive) dac.