Music from hard drive better than CD?

Fom the Tact hackers group:

--- In TacTHackers@yahoogroups.com, "kana4813" wrote:

Not cheap, but for those who don't want to use their PC, here's another approach:
http://www.qsonix.com/Public/Default.aspx

I realize that the topic is pointing towards a Single PC serving to a Single Dac on a Main System...
But Can a Single PC Serve Music over a Network, to Other DACs and Amplifiers, Simultaneously to Create Multi-Room listening...
Or to state it differently... The Same Music is being Played on Different Systems Throughout the House, over the Network, Being Sourced from a Single PC/Harddrive.

Also Does Anyone Have any OtherLinks to CHAT on this subject trough Audio Asylum or ???

Jmesarch-

You may want to look at the Roku Soundbridge products, the Slimp3, and the CD30. They are network audio devices, and I think they are all "server-push" so they will allow you to run multiple remotes off a single computer. Don't know whether they will permit multiple remotes to play the same exact music, however, since the network is running a point-to-point protocol. You might look into using the computer to create a stream like the netradio stations and using the remotes to access that if playing the same thing from multiple places is important. I think most of these things have digital outputs as well as analog. I suspect the analog outs are pretty suspect for audiophiles, but if you are just looking for ambient background music, probably works...

Dig around in the digital forums here. There is a bunch of info on folk's server based systems.

Dazzdax - a properly configured computer makes an excellent transport. But I would always use an external DAC. There is just no way to properly shield/isolate/power condition the DAC on a PC soundcard.

Planckscale:
”Best thread yet! I am planning to build my own Hard drive system. Does any body have a suggestion on which HD brand, speed (7200 or 10,000 rpm), and what size disk space to buy. Would a relative small size hard disk be better that a large one (i.e. using two 80 gig drives, as opposed to a single 160 gb)? “

A 7200 rpm drive would suffice for music playback. In my opinion a 7200 rpm drive will be good for most applications with the exception of those who demand a high level of performance from their computer (gaming, graphics, server, etc). As for the brand, that depends. A major concern would be the amount of noise the drive makes while reading the disk. I owned a Western Digital drive once and it was the loudest drive on earth. I’ve found Maxtor drives to be fairly quiet, but it would be good to do some research in this area. Also, if you buy the drive from Best Buy or a place that allows returns, you could take it home, install it, and listen to how loud it is; just take it back if it’s no good. A large drive will effectively work the same as a smaller one, as long as the disk doesn’t become too fragmented. The NTFS and FAT partition types (those used in Windows operating systems) suffer from high levels of fragmentation. Other partition types such as those used in UNIX (Mac OS X) or Linux suffer less from file fragmentation. Either way, you’ll end up with a bit-for-bit read of the music, but the level of file fragmentation can affect how active the drive must be while reading the disk. Basically what happens when files become fragmented is parts of the file are spread out among the entire disk, causing the disk to have to access several different parts to read the entire file. This again can affect the noise level of the drive and the read time of files, but for reading music files there would be no serious effect. As long as you perform regular defragments on the drive, this should not be an issue. So basically I would go for the larger drive; there’s a certain drive size where you can get the most for your money. I haven’t looked at prices lately, but I’m guessing it may be around the 160 GB size these days. Retail stores sometimes offer great deals (with mail in rebates). Otherwise you can look online to get a great deal (www.pricewatch.com).

I find it amusing that I can see a "split" forming within the digital community as once happened between the digital and analog people.

Compact discs will not be the digital storage media forever. Eventually music will be stored on ROM chips, once the cost of production drops enough to allow such an alternative to be feasible. This will not only reduce the size of albums to the size of a fingernail, but will also help in the recording industry's fight against piracy (unless they come out with ROM "burners"). I can see the majority of people more willing to switch to a more “convenient” storage form than one that sounds better (SACD) and maintains the same size as the conventional CD.

Either way, the computer transport/DAC model seems very interesting, and I am considering taking this route myself instead of upgrading my cd player. I have a laptop available that can be used, but I am concerned about noise from the fans. Some effective cooling method would be needed so that the fans don't kick into high gear while listening. Any ideas there?

Also, what about SACD? Are there any "SACD-ROM" drives for PCs that could read SACDs? And would the Apogee DAC be able to interpret this digital signal? Would a USB connection be able to offer the bandwidth necessary to transfer the SACD stream in real time? Perhaps a USB 2.0 connection, but USB 1 seems unlikely.