Is this a reasonable Audiophile Mac-based Server?

Synthfreek - good point - I use that setup but no DAC - my mac mini directly controls ALL sources (including CD player preamp and source selection via an USB to serial link to an infra red controller box)

Sammie,

good grief that's a lot of TB's! Do you have the fmaily movie collection on that thing?

No, I'm a visual artist. All my art is stored on there. Here is a
link to my galleries.

the weak link in your system is the AE. Even with DAC, it is not going to sound nearly as good as a computer hardwired to the DAC...at least based on my trials.

Are you 100% sure? You have done careful blind A:B comparisons?

My suggestion would be to put your laptop on your rack hardwired to the Benchmark... The laptop can be controlled using Frontrow

I may try some tests with it set up that way. I like the idea of simplicity, and what I have drawn is complex, but if it is all digital, and the data is transferred correctly, where will the loss occur?

Also, as it seems money is not a significant limiter, ditch the Benchmark and step up to a better DAC.

Do you know of any DAC that has better specs?

Ckorody,

... but if I were after the ultimate I would take both the wireless and the Toslink out of the design, wireless first.

I could run an ethernet cable from the Apple Xserve RAID directly to a Mac in my listening room. From the Mac I could use Toslink to connect to the Benchmark DAC1. But it would be a lot less convenient.
And are you SURE I would get better sound?
If so, why?

Wireless is prone to interference

What would that sound like?
My system has the Apple's newest version of an Airport Base Station, the "AirPort Extreme Base Station with Gigabit Ethernet" . Does that help?

This leaves you with a Squeezebox, Transporter or their new device the Duet at the end of the Ethernet cable

I don't understand what part of my system the Squeezbox replaces. Why is it better?

The cleanest set-up would be to hang a NAS on the Ethernet network thus taking the computer completely out of the equation except for ripping.

Forgive my ignorance, I'm not sure what you mean when you say "hang a NAS on the Ethernet network". Please explain.

Thanks!

Synthfreak,

I'm still a little confused why everyone insists on going wireless instead of getting a Mac Mini, a dac & a huge hard drive

That is certainly a simpler solution than the complexity that I have cooked up. But I was basing mine on existing equipment. And it does work, well.

However, I like what you are saying. Instead of using your plan and attaching a "huge hard drive" what if connected the Mac Mini via ethernet to my 5.6 TB RAID in the basement?

That should work. The only thing that I'm thinking now is that you'll want to have an internet connection available(usually via ethernet) to look up cd info and album artwork when ripping newly purchased cds. Do you have a vga jack on the back of your tv to use as a display?