Music Servers - Baetis vs. Music Vault

Barrelchief

Any update on your search ?
I'm actually looking for same type of server - ease of use, ripping capabilities, stream and storage capabilities (no dac needed). And I might add also that I prefer a display as well.

Can you share your thoughts so far?

So, I have had the Baetis XR2 for about a month now, and I'm very happy with both sound quality and functionality. I'll answer any specific questions anybody may have, to the best of my ability. The one thing worth mentioning, however, is the outstanding personalized technical support provided by John Mingo and his associates, which has made owning and operating this component a real pleasure.

Txlef, I see that you use it in your "HT system", not your much more expensive 2 channel rig. I think the $64,000 question is how does it sound as a transport with your best equipment? Have you tried it in your 2 channel system using the emm labs dac? Does it sound as good as your Cd transport? I have an Esoteric K-03, and I'd love to have the convenience of a music server going into my K-03 dac if it sounds just as good (or at least very close). So I'm looking forward to your response. Regards...Jeff

I would second the support provided by John Mingo - a lovely guy and a class act. I purchased the Baetis Revolution II several months ago for my two channel system but due to work have only recently got around to using it. I have been ripping uncompressed FLAC files of all of my CDs using DB Poweramp on a separate PC and steadily have transferred them across to the Baetis. I am very impressed so far - having played files on JRiver through my APL HiFi DAC through both USB and SPDIF connection. The sound is excellent and whilst I have to give the edge to my APL Esoteric transport it is a mighty close thing on some CDs plus it is so much more convenient being able to access all of your CDs in the one library. I resisted the server approach for a long time - not sure why - maybe locked into the purist approach of listening to CDs individually but this has been a great experience. I am now considering HD Tracks for downloads.

Vicks7, that's very interesting. Couple of questions:
>Is there a difference between the USB and SPDIF outputs in terms of sound quality? Is one better than the other, and by how much?
>Why are you using a separate PC to rip and download into Baetis? Have you tried ripping directly with Baetis, and if so, any difference in sound quality?
>Am I correct in my understanding that the Baetis can operate as a PC/browser (with maybe iPad as head?) and can be used to find/download hi-rez track directly?

Thanks...