themystic3000
04-25-2010, 07:45 AM
Hi. I have a Rotel/Magneplanar MG-12 2-channel setup at home, and a spare MacBook Pro. I have all my music in iTunes, and many of the tracks are encoded in Apple Lossless, so if I were to use a traditional digital music server like an Olive, I would have to recode over 1,000 tracks to WAVs or MP3s to use it properly. I didn't feel up to it, so I decided I would use the MacBook Pro as a music server and do it right.
I went to Midi Music in Santa Rosa, CA, (shameless plug), and the proprietor Mike set me up with a USB 2.0-based Tascam US-122mkII DAC meant for live performances that had RCA jacks out. So I picked it up for about $150 and then went straight to the audiophile equipment store and bought set of really good Tara Labs cables for $100 (I never scrimp on cables) so I would get the best sound possible out of the Tascam.
I connected everything, checked to make sure everything was configured appropriately, had to do a little cable input swapping, and voila! Incredible sound coming right out of my MacBook Pro and the Tascam. To be fair, I am running the latest SRS Labs iWow plug that subtly alters the sound of the tracks, but my wife and I ran a comparo test between having it turned on and then off again and we decided that it sounded richer using the iWow running.
So the net result is for the already-amortized cost of a MacBook Pro, plus the Tascam and great cables ($250 total), I have a music server that not only sounds as good as my Rotel CD player, I can control tracks, playlists, albums, etc., with my iPhone running the Apple Remote app from anywhere in the house.
I think I've achieved great results and I've been able to do it inexpensively and preserve my investment in iTunes without having to get an Olive or some other digital music server. I highly recommend this setup for anyone in the same boat as I'm in.
I went to Midi Music in Santa Rosa, CA, (shameless plug), and the proprietor Mike set me up with a USB 2.0-based Tascam US-122mkII DAC meant for live performances that had RCA jacks out. So I picked it up for about $150 and then went straight to the audiophile equipment store and bought set of really good Tara Labs cables for $100 (I never scrimp on cables) so I would get the best sound possible out of the Tascam.
I connected everything, checked to make sure everything was configured appropriately, had to do a little cable input swapping, and voila! Incredible sound coming right out of my MacBook Pro and the Tascam. To be fair, I am running the latest SRS Labs iWow plug that subtly alters the sound of the tracks, but my wife and I ran a comparo test between having it turned on and then off again and we decided that it sounded richer using the iWow running.
So the net result is for the already-amortized cost of a MacBook Pro, plus the Tascam and great cables ($250 total), I have a music server that not only sounds as good as my Rotel CD player, I can control tracks, playlists, albums, etc., with my iPhone running the Apple Remote app from anywhere in the house.
I think I've achieved great results and I've been able to do it inexpensively and preserve my investment in iTunes without having to get an Olive or some other digital music server. I highly recommend this setup for anyone in the same boat as I'm in.