Thanks all. My needs are pretty simple.. be able to load all music on a hard drive, hit shuffle,not have to worry about changing a CD, and not succumb to the awful sound of digititis. I see this as to be used primarily in a stand alone system with a Ray Samuels headphone amp and seen 650s.. with possible later migration to my two channel system with tube gear and Duevel loudspeakers. I want as little time spent hooked up to a computer as possible. That why the Olive, Cambridge or even the Yamaha look most interesting to me. I would consider mods or a DAC to improve over stock sound at some point.. but I want to start with a quality product and go from there. 160-250 GB HD would be enough to get me started. I'd consider adding a additional external USB drive once I grow beyond..
music server
Im very close to taking the plunge to a music server to store and play all of my CD collection for either a main system or dedicated headphone system. I dont want to have to be hooked to my computer per se.. but can make occassional connection as needed for upgrades etc.. i see products from Olive and Cambridge that are priced right and i kinow that some outfits like Red Wine / Reference audio mods provide modification packages. I consider myself an audiophile with the quality of sound being important, though not hard core.. music servers make so much sense .. thoughts / recommendations? I undoubtedly will use the server with my headamp senn 650 to start.. then experiment with my 2 channel system.