Are you still playing CDs after, comp based syst?

Late to this party...I have a Ayon CD-5s for DAC/Transport; and its clearly better in sonic performance than hi res downloads on my Qsonix 205 server; being run thru the same tubed dac, with balanced digital cable...I enjoy the convience of my server for play lists, and it comes about 85% of the sonic quality; depth, and detail of the Cd direct; but when I have friends over for serious listening sessions; I drop in a CD...
I did hear a fellow 'Goners digital system at home in Malibu; and it made me re-think my server; and perhaps some of my problem lies in my Qsonix, not the server world in general. Not sure I want to convert out of Qsonix into the world of MAC, transport, ipad, and other stuff...but I'm glad I'm not alone in preferring the sonic quality of a good disc spinner vs computer audio...usb vs firewire, expensive dacs and usb cables; upgraded power supplies and tweaks, and which software to use; it makes my head spin, want to get it correct if and when I make the switch...

I currently prefer by a large margin playing cd's or sacd's

"Not sure I want to convert out of Qsonix into the world of MAC, transport, ipad, and other stuff...but I'm glad I'm not alone in preferring the sonic quality of a good disc spinner vs computer audio...usb vs firewire, expensive dacs and usb cables; upgraded power supplies and tweaks, and which software to use"

You can still keep the Qsonix and get better SQ from it. I have been adding reclockers to customers Qsonix for years. Originally I added the Pace-Car, but that required mods to the Qsonix output board.

Now, I have the Synchro-Mesh to lower jitter of the Qsonix. No mods needed. May be all you need:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/empirical4/1.html

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

My new Marantz SA8004 sacd player/DAC has a USB input. So for the hell of it I ripped some cd's (WAV lossless)unto my laptop on Windows media Player. Hmm, easier than other programs I tried to rip cd's to. The album picture and songs are there. So I listen to my computer on my big rig. I tried a song each from about 10 ripped cd's. I'm using a really cheap USB cable I got for $1 at a thrift store. One end plugs into the computer the other end into my cd player/dac. It sounds really good. Before this I thought computer audio was so tough. Not. So, my computer laptop using WMP is now a music server. It seems to be everything I will need. My selections from my library are only limited by how many of my cd's I rip. I will transfer everything to a backup hard drive. I have about 60 cd's on here so far. I can play any tune from them with one click. I can also make a playlist, quickly from the cd's. Can anyone tell me why I would want to buy an expensive music server or even use another program to hold my library? For computer music this seems to be all I need except I ordered a lower cost Audioquest USB cable. In a short time listening, it seems to sound at least as good as spinning discs without having to get up and and find them. If I can easily do this anyone can. Nice discovery after all the computer audio horror stories I've heard about.

"Can anyone tell me why I would want to buy an expensive music server or even use another program to hold my library?"

Sure. Its all about sound quality. If you have a $100K system then this type of source will limit the performance. If you have $150 receiver, maybe you cannot hear it anyway.

You can make improvements to what you already have by first doing software changes.

Why dont you try this: rip a CD that you have ripped before with WMP, but this time rip it with DBPOWERAMP with Accurate-Rip enabled. you can download a free trial version here:

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

Then play this on a decent player: Foobar2000 and use memory mode for playback. you can download this free app here:

http://www.foobar2000.org/download

If you have a decent system, the dbpoweramp ripped track will sound better when played back on WMP and Foobar2000 will sound better than WMP.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio