Who or what is a Audiophile?

[Ajani]

Hi there,

Yes, I agree with those out there using music servers or digital devices - I can cleary see that this is the way the audio world is heading. Even Bryston has put out an all digital device with capability to accept USB and other digital inputs for play back, this could then be hooked up directly to the preamp.

My trusted dealer buddy is trying to steer me away from CD players claiming that these things are in the past now, and wants for me to invest in a highend DAC and go for one of those Mac books or HP music servers... I am still not yet fully convinced about the overall sound quality (although quite natural) but then again not so natural as vinyl...

Anyway, I stopped my quest for the ideal CD player, because in Australia they are an absolute rip off! Any highend CD player over here would cost well over 10 grand. Turn Tables on the other hand are not that expensive, I came across a few Rega models starting from the P3 to the P9, price was in the range of $1300 to $5000 including the cartridge & phono stage. now that's an investment! The music stores I regularly visit also have plenty of vinyl and keep adding new labels / albums all the time, hence I don't see this diminishing any time soon.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Ajani, and the rest of the team. Enjoy your music!
Cheers, RJ

The sound quality debate of music server versus CD is not likely to be resolved anytime soon (if ever) as there are persons who claim music servers are clearly superior to CD, others who claim CDs are better and some (like me) who have yet to notice a difference between the two...

[Feanor]

The sound quality debate of music server versus CD is not likely to be resolved anytime soon (if ever) as there are persons who claim music servers are clearly superior to CD, others who claim CDs are better and some (like me) who have yet to notice a difference between the two...

I don't hear any sound differences vs. my CDP when using the same DAC. (My external DAC is superior to the CDP's internal DAC.)

I use a semi-dedicated Vista computer as my server. I have unfrequent "glitches" -- mostly burps and studders which don't effect the basic sound of playback. I attribute these glitches to the OS' background operations, to sound drivers (e.g. WASAPI vs. the M-Audio ASIO), or maybe to the external eSATA drive that I'm using. Maybe a true, purpose-made music server would elimniate these problems, or maybe not. In any case they are infrequent and minor in the big picture.