I just don't get PC Audio

In my mind the advantages of PC audio are:

1) long custom playlists for your particular mood, great for parties etc.

2) the sound quality can exceed that of a transport for about the same price - there are various reasons for this

3) tailoring the music using upsampling, either on-the-fly or using various tools to rewrite the tracks

4) CD's will not last forever - they do degrade with time

5) convenience factor - easy to find tracks. Whole house audio is easier to set-up and quality does not suffer from distribution

6) shipping a PC audio system is usually safer than shipping a CD player. They get damaged easily IME.

7) you can play music 24/7 without worrying about wearing out the bearings in a CD player

I dont buy the album argument. Most CD's have 2-3 good tracks on them. It's marketing.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Opinions are kindof like....well, you know...but here is mine anyway.

I have gone the computer as transport route and it is indeed a pain to load them on the computer the 1st time. Once done however, it is totally cool to have all of your "music software" at the touch of a button. 2nd, I use an Apple iMac, my home is networked wirelessly so the computer can serve multiple roles as both a computer AND a music server. The backup of the data was no big deal and keeping the backup updated is also simple to perform. I take a digital signal out from the iMac, into my D/A converter and its done. Now, if any of this sounds like a real hassle, you are probably right; computer based audio may not be for you.

Now then, lets talk about the future. My ipod touch is wireless, my iPhone is both internet ready as well as a part of my wireless network. So I can control all of my music, from my iPhone while I am in the backyard, cooking out, having cocktails. Want tunes in another room? How good do you want it? One of these new Peachtree Decco amp/d-a , some nice speakers coupled with a Sonos ZP 80 and you have complete access simultaneously from the remote room, your main system, your backyard, and so on and so on.

If you are the only music listener in your home and you only listen in 1 room, then the 1-box cd path you have chosen is correct. However, if you have other rooms where you would enjoy the music, well......

Last but not least, your rationalization of the 1-box solution, no offense intended, sounds an awful lot like those who advocate integrated amps. I however like the idea that I can drop a new d/a converter in as technology or features are introduced and everything else remains the same. As new disk drive technology is introduced, I have a simple and easy upgrade path there as well.

Last, you mentioned the pain of a backup plan and I agree, it can be a pain. I have a friend however who had a minor fire at his home which, of all things, damaged a closet where he kept his cd collection neatly catalogued. Care to talk to him about a backup plan? His house is valued around $1,800,000 and he has a 1% deductible ($18,000!)......

Best wishes

I see PC audio as the future of digital audio but we are not there yet. It will take a few years for the technology to mature to the point that I want to participate.

To all the early adopters and PC types I say have at it! Without you the technology will not develop to the point where I become interested. I can happily listen to cds and sattelite radio until then.

The justification for a stand alone player (for the moment) is to own a combo unit like a Blu-Ray player, doing double duty as rental movie playback and CD player.

If I were a digital guy, I would absolutely own a computer and burn everything to hard drive. I've said it before, there are computer touch screens available for consumers for as little as a few hundred dollars (about the same as a regular screen), making selecting your favorite music easier than finding the CD case containing the artists work.

The longer we wait the more obvious it becomes that computers will rule this format. Chesky and others are already offering downloads at higher resolution than available on CD, how long will it be before super high res downloads are offered to counter Apple Computers grip on the download market?

Me, I think it's great. Who knows, maybe they will finally get the resolution high enough to challenge LP playback and I can finally join the digital revolution and have convenience and great sound.

Your perspective Arbuckle, seems to be coming from someone who does not use a computer on a regular basis in the home. It's cool that you are considering the PC option.
I would hazard a guess that most folks who use a PC as their "transport/front end/server" already had a computer in their home and expanded its use to include music playback. Obviously the cost would be $0 to start. An external DAC can be added depending on preference, but many do that with a stand alone CD player as well. Starting from scratch, a Mac mini is an option at $500 new or about $350 used. They are very quiet. Yes, a display is needed for setup and burning. Some automation can happen without screen and keyboard, by using a remote (ipod or other).

What are you missing? It's a different approach to collecting and listening to music. Sure it has it own set of challenges. To me, it is sort of like comparing a typewriter to a computer for writing letters. They both output the same page of text. but what you can do with the content, and pages is quite different from a macro perspective.

If one listens to 2 albums per day maybe a computer is not for them. A stand alone media player would make more sense.

Control and flexiblity.
The main benefits of PC audio are control over the music playback order.

If you like to listen to public radio from Boston (while you are in Colorado), create an infinite number of playback list of songs your choosing, archive music (thousands of CDs) in one location, PC audio will do that - plus some.

I don't include downloaded music (online music stores) as a variable in the comparison since there is no equivalent compatible for all standalone players. It could be looked at as an inexpensive trial of music from an artist/album, prior to purchasing the vinyl or disc media.

I went head first last year into digitizing 500 CDs and setting up my Mac based music server. It's been fun and provides great convenience and wonderful sound. I started with my existing home computer and added a DAC. Though, I have the advantage of having the computer in an adjacent room to the living room, and use a remote to control playback. All my CDs are in a back closet.