Just to add on to Edo who has certainly put together a nice rig -
Running out of a G5 is a nice way to go. Before I moved to USB, I ran the Wireworld SuperNova Toslink from my G5 to my TriVista and it was very very good. Fine solution to 15 feet. No cables longer then that.
There is no "but" except that you really need to pay attention to the quality of the cable. Also be aware that not all Toslink implementations are created equal. So YMMV depending on the DAC.
However you may not need or want a G5 (full size tower) for your listening environment. It works for me because the rig is also my office - I just put up with the low level noise. If you are using a tower, one thing I would recommend is to take advantage of the SATA drive implementation rather then the LaCie USB/FireWire implementation. SATA is much more robust to live with (no FIFO/LIFO nonsense) and doing back-ups between SATA drives (which is essential to plan for) is much faster. Besides again in the office context it makes sense for me,
A lot of guys are doing Mac Mini implementations which seems like a very nice way to go if it works in your room. Both the iPod Touch and the iPhone can control it remotely. Front Row is free etc.
Running out of a G5 is a nice way to go. Before I moved to USB, I ran the Wireworld SuperNova Toslink from my G5 to my TriVista and it was very very good. Fine solution to 15 feet. No cables longer then that.
There is no "but" except that you really need to pay attention to the quality of the cable. Also be aware that not all Toslink implementations are created equal. So YMMV depending on the DAC.
However you may not need or want a G5 (full size tower) for your listening environment. It works for me because the rig is also my office - I just put up with the low level noise. If you are using a tower, one thing I would recommend is to take advantage of the SATA drive implementation rather then the LaCie USB/FireWire implementation. SATA is much more robust to live with (no FIFO/LIFO nonsense) and doing back-ups between SATA drives (which is essential to plan for) is much faster. Besides again in the office context it makes sense for me,
A lot of guys are doing Mac Mini implementations which seems like a very nice way to go if it works in your room. Both the iPod Touch and the iPhone can control it remotely. Front Row is free etc.