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[Vinyl Grinder]

Steve
Being into apple is kinda like being into Naim or Linn, you are trapped withi the company idiology.It just so happens that Apple have good play back facilities.That aside..

You don't have to use your PC /laptop soundcard etc.Everything's best done outboard, outboard hardrive to keep your music on (Safe)..Outboard dac not the one in the PC/Laptop...It all becomes apparent that your only using your machine to run the filing & playback facilities with no real need to upgrade unless your machines a dinosaurus...I for one have been mighty impress with FLAC playback..I'm determined to give this a try, the Apogee DAC is most definatly a good un but god it looks so much like a studio play thing...

[Filterlab]

Being into apple is kinda like being into Naim or Linn, you are trapped withi the company idiology.It just so happens that Apple have good play back facilities.That aside..

A lot of folk who don't use Apple on a daily basis often follow this misconception. An Apple computer is compatible with everything, more in fact than an MS based computer, and Apple's are a lot easier to use and more stable and reliable. It's not akin to Naim/Linn or anything like that, it's just a better alternative to MS.

Steve;

Ok, I had problems in that the drivers weren't available (yet), so all I did was run the optical cable between the DAC and the computer - done. The same way in which you'd run a cable from a CD player to a DAC - nothing more.

[Marco]

Great photos and write-up, Rob.

This is something I want to get into in the very near future, so it's interesting reading the various different methods of obtaining music from a computer. I like the idea of your set-up, and indeed what Ashley was describing before (he's gone strangely quiet now...)

I would like to be able to play music DVDs and movies too, so I think I'd go for a media player (something like a Helios) to facilitate that, and also use it for streaming music through my laptop. What I'm looking at now is to incorporate a cinema system into my hi-fi set-up, with a screen and a projector. I think it would be quite something in my room

Steve,

With the sound we were getting yesterday with that valve amp, can you imagine being able to watch the band playing in front of you at the same time?

All I'll need is a popcorn machine and fridge to stock cold beers!

Marco.

P.S Have you recovered from the shockwaves being sent through your gut after playing that Tiesto track?

[Vinyl Grinder]

With the sound we were getting yesterday with that valve amp

Spill the beanz then Marco..Kept me in suspence for a day now

[Marco]

Andr'e, I'll be writing a review of it soon enough. Sorry mate I can't name it yet. I have my reasons

Marco.

[sastusbulbas]

.

[Phil Bishop]

Rob,

This is a great post - you do an excellent job of explaining things! You mention in your post "no moving parts". So does this mean the music files are not on a spinning hard disc? Very intrigued with this whole area.

Phil

[Filterlab]

Rob,

This is a great post - you do an excellent job of explaining things! You mention in your post "no moving parts". So does this mean the music files are not on a spinning hard disc? Very intrigued with this whole area.

Phil

Yes, but the music doesn't stream from the hard drive as such. It's actually buffered into the RAM before reaching the output stage albeit only slightly. Essentially there's no moving parts but without being stored on a solid state drive it will never be completely without moving parts somewhere down the line. Realistically the movement of a hard drive is almost negligible but I suppose it could be factored - and presumably some drives are better then others.

[Ali Tait]

Solid-state hard-drives are getting cheaper,so a good replay system with no moving parts is easily achievable now.Seems to me a good way of removing one variable in the replay chain.

[Filterlab]

Solid-state hard-drives are getting cheaper,so a good replay system with no moving parts is easily achievable now.Seems to me a good way of removing one variable in the replay chain.

Once the capacity gets high enough (and cheap enough) on the solid state drives, I'll use one for all the playback and simply back-up to the platter based hard drives I currently use.