Digitalmeisters - Thoughts on Olive.....

Nonpoint -

Pkubica said it far better than I could have. Other than his reasons, wireless isn't perfect - there's dropouts, lag, noise from it, etc.

The best I've heard is thumb drives connected to DACs that can play them directly, or through a player than accepts them. Naim's DAC sounded far better tis way than any other way, yet the inputs were all bit perfect. One or two others were the same way, but I can't recall what they were.

I have not heard the Bryston BDP-1, so I can't say this is the case with it. I'd be very surprised if it were not though.

I just cannot get over how much it costs to get a high level of performance (converting computer data to digital music). However, I assume the R&D and manufacturing can not be cheap when you are dealing with smaller audio firms.

Thanks.

Do you need any special kind of software to do this? Perhaps my questions are so basic that I am going to have research the rudiments here.

There are plenty of free programs out there to do this. EAC is a very popular one that tries to correct for read errors and make sure you get a good rip. However, I just purchased a copy of dbPoweramp ($38). It has multiple methods for ensuring a good rip but the thing that sold me was the fact that it gets metadata from up to 5 different databases and compares the information attempting to make sure it's accurate. There's a lot of crap in the metadata databases and making sure you have accurate and correctly spelled song titles/artist/album name is a HUGE investment in time.

For this to really go mainstream, it does seem it really has to be more idiot proof, more standardized, and the availability of a large library of fast and easy hi-rez downloads. I see the appeal, and perhaps the inevitability of this, but the more I see where we are at this point, the less I feel ready for this kind of change. It really has to be almost as easy as buying a CD, putting it a CD player, and hitting play. The ideal would seem to be a universal music library stored externally (the cloud) and accessible for a monthly fee via a wireless 8G connection to a device in the home that receives and streams hi-rez digital data into a DAC (or built into the DAC box) - a variation on Netflix I suppose.

Pubul57,
You're right. This will need to become more standardized and easier for this to take off ... and I believe it will. As an example, compare how easy it is to purchase and install an app on your smartphone these days with integrated app stores. Something like this used to be a royal pain.

I've given up trying to predict where the computer industry will go next and/or how fast it will get there. I just sit back and am amazed at the pace of progress. This area will be that way too. My interim solution was to buy the inexpensive but VERY good and versatile Logitech Touch. This allows me to experiment with how the music is delivered, different formats and, eventually, different DACs while I'm waiting for things to settle down.

The Touch has been a lot of fun. I particularly like Pandora through my main system. Even though it's not what we would consider hirez, it sounds pretty darn good and I've heard a lot of good music I wouldn't have heard otherwise.

It's a brave new world!