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State of the Source: Server, computer....or what?

There has been a lot of discussion here about the impact of having the best possible DAC for digital playback, from a long-runnning thread on Lampizator to the current thread where member Mattnshilp has been trying out a variety of DAC's in order to select what sounds best to him, but what constitutes the best sounding digital source?

So the questions for this thread are, what digital source sounds best to you and why? What features do you like in the manufactured music servers? And, can the sound quality from a well sorted-out Mac mini or CAPS style computer/server, with linear power supply, SSD, and the associated ability to use a variety of music players, upsampling options, memory play, and EQ, compare favorably with the manufactured server options that use preloaded programs or, are the differences primarily related to the manufactured options being easier to use than a computer, which requires the user to load and maintain the programs used?
mitch2
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drubin
3,240 posts
 
I have heard the Baetis only at the recent California Audio Show and did not pay attention to the fan. Windows, as Kal stated.
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pkoegz
64 posts
 
If you say something enough times, does that make it true? "Crappy USB", "crappy USB"', "crappy USB"............................ No still not true! Well designed music servers have the USB coming right from the mother board, they use silent power supplies and they don't use fans, except for back up. Silent fans are like clean coal, it don't exist.
igator
10 posts
 
Aurender W20 does not use a battery for CPU purposes, so it can not influence the sound anyway. I think the battery only needed to protect HDDs from a power outage and also to separate HDDs (distortion that they create) from CPU.

I am sure that the main reason why S10 and W20 sound better than X100 (and I am sure they do!) is better clock - OCXO (Oven-Controlled Crystal Oscillator) which X100 lacks.

But if you try to connect X100 to an external clock in this case the difference between X100 and W20 (S10) will be much less noticeable.

Here is a good example: http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/65934-which-audio-streamer-to-buy/?p=1126945
People connected X100 and W20 to Puccini U-Clock and they sounded almost equally, as W20 already has a high-quality internal clock the external clock does a little work in it's case.
schubert
4,867 posts
 
I just heard a $600 Nordost USB cable with a Mac as source,
there ARE differences in USB cables, as in night and day.
mitch2 OP
1,911 posts
 
One reason why I haven't received more responses to my recent music server threads may be that not too many here use purpose built music servers.

Out of over 5,000 virtual systems listed on this site, I found 136 systems (less than 3 percent) using a Mac mini as a music source/server, and only about 60 systems (just over 1 percent) using one of the more common purpose built music servers, from the manufacturers listed below;

- Musica Pristina
- Baetis
- Aurender
- SOtM
- Antipodes
- C.A.P.S. (Small Green Computer)
- Mojo Audio
- Core Audio
- Olive
- Bladelius
- Naim
- Lumin

FWIW, about half of the 60 servers were from Olive.

I obviously did not search for all brands of purpose built music servers, and I am sure many here are using either a variety of streamer choices, a VortexBox, Mac books, or PC computer sources to play music but, based on the brands I did search, the purpose built server just doesn't seem to be that popular yet, at least based on the posted systems.
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