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  3. 142057-4481

Music Server for feeding Theta Gen VIII DAC

I've been away from audio for a number of years after putting together a system* that I was mostly satisfied with.  I took the system apart for a couple years for a living room remodel, then shortly after I set it up, my SOny ES CD player I was using as a transport died.  I now realize that I no longer know how to play music.  I would like to use some sort of computer server rather than a disc spinner for the convenience, but am overwhelmed by the choices available.  I want something simple with excellent sound quality.  Right now, I mainly want to rip my CDs to a hard drive.  I recognize that at some point in the future, I may want to use some sort of streaming, but right now, I'm not interested.  Having been to a few shops, candidates include the Cambridge CXN V2, Aurender N100C, and Naim Uniti Core.  The Aurender seems hobbled by a new change that sacrifices sound quality of non-MQA files, the Naim seems like it can't accept files downloaded from the internet.  The Cambridge seems to not have any identified problems, but I wonder if it's possible for a machine that is so affordable to provide sound quality on par with the others (although if it can, that would be great).  I have no idea what to do.
*Theta Gen VIII s3 DAC/Pre, AtmaSphere MA1 amps, Ascendo ZF3 speakers, Kubala-Sosna EMotion interconnects, Entec LF-20 subwoofers.
honest1

Showing 3 responses by honest1

honest1 OP
572 posts
 
Thanks for the inputs.  I do not feel computer literate enough to put together a server on my own.  
The Innuos sounds interesting, and looks cool as a bonus, but I'm concerned about the lack of SPDIF outputs.  Does it make sense to take something so highly specialized and refined and hang some random adapter off of it?  How good are such adapters?
Regarding Aurender, what's going on with it's implementation of MQA?  The Stereophile review indicated it was applying MQA filters to non-MQA data, which would reduce the SQ of such files.  If you have anold one, you can revert to the non-MQA software, but not so new production Aurenders.  Have they changed this, or is this still an issue?
I'm not really interested in ROON at this point.  From what I've seen of it, it is very computer-y, something I don't want in my music system.  No constant upgrades that may or may not work.  No changes to the GUI where they just shuffle everything around for no good reason, making you re-earn how to use it.  No wondering when they might make my favorite music inaccessible.  No constant slow trickle out of my bank account for a monthly subscription.  I could go on.  I really just want something like a regular HiFi component that I can plug in and use for many years without the use of it becoming a hobby in itself.
honest1 OP
572 posts
 
I see there is a notation that says there have been 8 responses to this thread, the last one by Audiotroy, but I only see 6 responses, the last one by Ricred.  Does anyone else see 8 responses, or know why it says there are 8 when I only see 6?
honest1 OP
572 posts
 
I want my audio system to be free from my computer as much as possible.  I've been debating whether I'd prefer to load everything from my computer onto an outboard hard drive, or have the music server rip them from an internal CD drive to internal storage.  It would certainly be easier to have one machine do it, like the Naim Uniti, but then I'd have to connect it to the internet to get cover art and such, and I"m not sure if the files would be transferable from the Uniti or the Innuous mentioned above to some other HD to use in a different room, or if I decide to change servers.  But I do not want my main computer to be used in normal operation, only when loading new music.  Part of this is my deep distrust of computers and the internet.  Every few years, my computer starts getting slow and I have to replace it, presumably due to junk files picked up from the internet.  I do not want to have to go through this for my music system also.  Part of it is also the awkwardness of stringing cables from my computer to my music system.  I would like to control the server from a tablet that is dedicated to just the music system.
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