Werner’s system

[Werner Berghofer]

The desk in my office.



From left to right: LaCie 1 TB harddisk, connected via Firewire to a Mac Mini (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM) running Mac OS X version 10.6.7, Beresford Caiman+ DAC (Toslink connection to the Mini), Fatman iTube valve amp, Q Acoustics 1000i bookshelf speakers (the matching subwoofer 1000Si is placed below the desk as shown in the first picture).



My favourite location for headphone listening. Digital signal from an Airport Express is sent via Toslink to another Beresford Caiman+ which is connected to a …



… Schiit Valhalla headphone amplifier.



The floor-standing Triangle Zays Esprit loudspeakers in the living room upstairs.



From left to right: Loudspeaker detail, Apple Airport Express, Yamaha AX-592 integrated amplifier (bottom). Yamaha CDX-890 CD player (very rarely used), Yamaha T-550 tuner, Beresford Caiman, Sony DTC-790 DAT deck (top).



Wireless streaming can be routed to any point in the house, either from the Mac Mini on the desk or my Macbook Pro. The Mac Mini can also be controlled remotely via my iPhone. Currently my sound library contains 631 albums, all ripped to Apple Lossless format (mostly by using the XLD audio ripper).

During the last six months the most popular artists I listened to were Anouar Brahem, Lucinda Williams, Roy Orbison, Kraftwerk, Penguin Café Orchestra, Tord Gustavson Trio, Fabrizio de André, Keb’ Mo’, Diana Krall, Madeleine Peyroux, Rebecca Pidgeon, Tori Amos, Jan Garbarek, Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

Gear highlights of my analogue era were a Thorens turntable, a Revox A77 reel-to-reel tape recorder and a Nakamichi cassette deck, but this was long time ago. Can’t remember anymore the last time I played a vinyl LP.