chung wrote in message ...
so this confirms a lot of what i have thought....
snipped
If you are ripping CD's into your hard disk and storing them as either
.wav files or compressed files, there is no way the CD transport could
make any difference.
B) How is the CD stransport different in an audio CD player and
computer CD drives.
Computer CD drives can read much faster. They do not have good
analog-to-converters necessarily.
Then why are computer CD drives $39 and CD transports $1000? Doesnt
seem to make much sense to me.
Software such as EAC (Exact Audio Copy) can do an excellent job of
making sure that the tracks are ripped correctly onto your hard disk.
Is there a Mac OS-X version or could I just drag the files into
itunes?
If I read the sound files from the CD onto my
computer I can use different computers and get always the identical
sound file (yes, i compared the bits).
Yes.
If the transport would be
different, then the bits should be different, or ?
No, unless one of the transports is broken 
.
which goes to the above.. why is the transport in cheapo CD Rom
players so much better than in hifi CD players ? For sure a decent DAC
can be build for $500? is the rest just design/marketing ? I mean,
$3000 CD players ?
C) If i store sound files uncompressed on a hard disk of an able
computer (500MHz G4), then shouldn't I be able to play these files via
a good DAC (i.e. M-audio firewire audiophile, 96kHz) and get CD sound
back???
Yes. I recommend that you send digital out from the computer via a sound
card. Sending digital data out is an easy task for any computer, unless
the computer has to do a lot of other intensive tasks. You may also try
to use a good music manager like iTunes. And try compressed formats to
see if they are good enough. Hard disk space is very cheap these days,
and 800 discs uncompressed will probably take up about 400 MB. I saw a
250GB on sale for $139 this week, after rebates. You can use lossless
compression to save space, too.
D) any other "computer intrefacable" DACs that are better than the
M-audio?
Any recent receiver should have built-in DAC's and accept S/PDIF signals
(toslink or coax). My recommendation is try those first instead of
getting an external DAC.
I have a Mac G4 with 500GB HD space and was thinking of an extrenal
firewire sound/DAC card as my amplifier (Linn Majik) doesnt have a
digital input.
I have a Linn Majik, Nakamichi CD/DVD player, Blueroom speakers, B&W
sub. I really enjoy the sound from CDs. I went to a dealer and they
claim that $1000-$2000 CD players (Rega planet, Linn Genki) sound way
better. Is that just the DAC in the player ?
Certainly if there are differences, the DAC's will likely contribute the
most. But realize that information the sales people get you may not be
always technically accurate.
I heard people claim that they use different CD transports on the
samer DAC and hear differences....
I came across a couple of products that you might find interesting:
http://us.creative.com/local/1/newsl...Specifications
http://www.slimdevices.com/
Both of these are wireless-ready music servers. They allow you to place
the receiver anywhere in your house, away from the computer which is a
source of acoustic noise. I believe these products will become very
popular, as well as cheaper in the next year. They both have internal
DAC's if you don't have a receiver with built-in DAC's. And you avoid
the problem of running optical/coax cables.
those seem cool. wonder how they sound. Actually, my computer is
almost silent as it doesnt ahve any fans in it and the WD hard disks
are also pretty low noise.
So I huess I have to hunt for a good DAC now and then start putting my
CDs on the hard disk...
Which external DACs with USB or firewire interface sound good ?
Pat