Computer based music collection ??

A good soundcard will have digital out and audio out. Audio Out can connect directly to a line level pre amp. Digital Out will need a DAC then into the pre. Ok that was the short explanation. Like most things that have to do with computers and HiFi there are tons of configurations and options.

A good place to start would be in the PC Audio Forums here and also go to Audio Asylum and spend some time in the Digital-PC Audio Forum there too.

I sold my CDP (Cary 303/300) this year. I now only listen to Vinyl exclusively. I bet my LPs last longer than your hard drive.

Btstrg:

I have been looking into this, over the past year.

I actually purhased an Olive Opus when they were first released. I ended up selling it, as I was disappointed in its playback via analog outputs. However, in all fairness, I was comparing a $3K unit that was a one-box 500gb storage and cd player/burner against my reference $5.5K cdp.

In the little time that I spent with the Opus, my interest really grew with having my music accessable throughout my home via hd storage on a network. This technology rocks!

In talking to a local dealer and expressing interest in Sonos, he did some research and recently became a Sonos dealer. In the short amount of time that he has been getting familiar with the Sonos system, he is reporting very impressive feedback. I should also state that my dealer sells really nice gear and has good ears

I am going to demo the Sonos tomorrow and will report back.

I intend to use an external DAC from the Sonos in my 2-channel listening room (this is how the dealer has been demo-ing, as well.) The other smaller systems in my home will be fed via the Sonos' analog RCA outputs.

...details to follow.

Down the rabbit hole you go...

As Vegasears points out, there has been a tremendous amount written on this both here and on Asylum.

Search on SLIM Devices and Squeezebox - one of the most successful products.

Empirical Audio and Wavelength Audio. The two smartest engineers and equipment designers. They are both active posters, especially on Asylum

Search on my name here because I have written about this a lot.

Hopefully you are computer literate and comfortable. If so, pass go, collect 200 dollars and work on getting the key concepts into your head before you get embroiled in the geek minutiae - especially on the PC side (as opposed to the Mac side) of making this work.

The big idea is this: Imagine you had a perfect (ok near-perfect) source. That jitter and all the rest were no longer an issue. This is the immediate virtually certain benefit you will enjoy using a PC as a transport.

Now build your system accordingly. DAC. Pre. Amp. Speakers. Electrical. Cables. Room tuning etc

That's it.

Read these:

http://musicserver.blogspot.com/

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/4564.html

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/harddrive/harddrive.html

http://www.wavelengthaudio.com/usbdac.html

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue22/nugent.htm

I have a 500 gig external hard drive connected to my laptop which is located on a table next to my listening chair feeding a ps audio digital link iii upsampling dac via usb interface. I can create playlists or use different softwares to manipulate the data before they go to the dac.