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audiophile music servers the latest products, info

I am very interested in a music server and would like to know more about the latest products and information. I have been doing homework and still not sure if I can get the best audiophile sound out of a server. I have Wilson Audio W/P 7s and Krell 350 Mono blocks. I would love the convenence of puting all my 1,500 CD on a hard drive, but if I have to sacrifice any sound quality I will pass for now. My question is, is there a product out there now that is up-to-speed with the best CD players? Which ones? and what options should I be looking at? Thanks for your feedback!!!!
duanea
misskuma
75 posts
 
check out Naim Audio's new HDX.

It sounded pretty darn good and was joy to use.

http://www.naim-audio.com/products/hdx.html
jpod
59 posts
 
The Naim HDX looks pretty good eh?

If you don't want to wait for a lot of good one-box solutions to appear, you can go the PC (or Mac) audio route.

If you want more info on computer audio I suggest you check out the PC Audio forum here on Audigon. Most of the hundreds of threads Lush mentioned in his post are on that forum. You will find a great number of very worthwhile "prescriptive" solutions (such as the one Rbstehno just posted here), and you will also find a great deal of helpful background information.

Like good CDPs or good transports, computers (PC, Mac or Linux) can very good "PCM data handling machines" and as such are the least important part of a good digital audio system. As others have said, its the equipment upstream that is most important. IMO if you put enough research and money into those upstream components, you will have unrivaled sound quality.
rgt
4 posts
 
The Memory Player by Nova Physics Group is your answer!
mribob
200 posts
 
The Qsonics has a phenomonal touch screen and great user interface; plus has high quality audio sound. Check out their webpage...easy and fun to use; can get with 500Gb or more hard drive; and it connects to the Musicgiant on line store for easy downloads....qsonix.com
martykl
3,563 posts
 
I use the QSonix with a Benchmark DAC1. The user interface is absolutely fantastic - search the threads for "QSonix" and you'll find my detailed description.

Sonically, IME you will hear the sound of the DAC with little character imparted by the server vs. a high end transport. I have used my DAC1 with my Cary 303 as a transport - and the dig outs of my Bel Canto and Sony SACD-1 CDPs as well - for comprison purposes. The Cary has adjustable OS rates (and a non OS setting) as well as user selectable tube and ss output stages. The DAC1 sounds a bit different than any setting on the Cary.

The Bel Canto, Sony, Cary and the QSonix sounded damn near identical (to my ear) when used a a transport with the DAC1. It's always possible that YMMV, but I would expect that most listeners (even the lunatic fringe) will be satisfied with the sonic performance of the QSonix as a transport.

2 other quick notes:

The analog outs are pretty decent, but unlikely to make you happy - you will very likely want to use the unit as a transport.

My model is the (older) 100 and gets quite noisy from time to time. Th e newer 110 is reportedly quieter, but reconditioned 100s are available at pretty steep discounts. If you can isolate the drive chasis (as I can), IMHO the 100 -though not cheap - is a pretty compelling value in touch screen servers.

In sum - find a DAC you like and the QSonix will sound great and the interface will change your listening habits forever. I coud never go back to a CD player (or even a text based server) after living with the QSonix.

Good Luck

Marty
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