Computer/DAC combo sugestions

The best I have found for the money is:

Mac Mini Oct. 2009 SSD/8Gigs -> USB cable -> Off-Ramp 5 -> I2S cable -> Wired 4 Sound DAC2

Total cost is around $4499.00

This will beat 99.9% of transports, period. Supports up to 192. Killer SQ:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=112012.0

If you want to spend more, you can do even better, but the W4S above is a giant-killer using I2S.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

I am sure audioengr is right but in the mean time a Mac mini (mine is real old lol) via toslink to W4S dac2 sounds pretty good. You can set the mini to boot iTunes (or other app) on boot up so if you have an ipad/iPhone you don't even need a tv/monitor and just use the remote app.

CAPS 3 Zuma + Red Wine Audio Black Lightning (dual output) + JPlay + Centrum Hex (or your choice among many good DACs)

Vladimir,
Could tell us more about the Zuma and SQ? I'm thinking about purchasing one. What did you have before? What does the Zuma do better?
Thanks,

Steve

Steve, there is much more to say about it than is possible in a single post, therefore the best way to get informed about it is to go to the Computer Audiophile link and read, there is a huge amount of information there back to the first CAPS computer. In my opinion, that is the place to go to for computer audio, which is evolving fast. I know this is highly subjective and, for some, ideological too (Mac or Linux against Windows), but there are certain things coming out of the fog: Macs, Amarra and AudioNirvana are no longer the only way to go, Windows and Windows players such as JPlay and XXHighEnd are just as good or better; computers need to have as clean a power supply as possible, and battery power is ideal for that; depending on the DAC, USB-to-S/PDIF converters such as Empirical Audio and Audiophilleo, especially if battery powered, are improvements