digital front end to rival best vinyl?

Koegz,

What did you listen to at Goodwin's. Was it the DCS or computer to the Berkeley DAC or something else? Both come very close to analog.

I think the largest issue is the SW, there is not alot of high res around yet. Most of what is available is classical with some jazz. This is a new format and it takes time to get going.
You will have to sample most of your own music. Upsampled red book CD's do sound better with the computer & Berkeley combo than from a CDP by itself. There is no jitter from HD systems I think and I also think and that helps alot with people who are sensitive to digital error. You could also spend $30,000 or more on something like the DCS or Esoteric systems. The issue I have there is there are huge advances all the time and CDP's seem to change too often. I myself do not want to throw down that kind of money on an item that wiil change shortly as I did with DVDA.
I have the Berkeley waiting for me to pick up and I have already built the computer. The setup cost alot less than $30,000. The computer also has more uses than just a music server so it has a good WAF.
It will take me time to build the library but I have all winter to do it. I am interested in sampling my CD collection to the computer and downloading HRes from the web. I will try some of my vinyl but I think I will prefer my analog to stay analog as I have since I got into this hobby.
I am glad that something digital has finaly come along that sounds very good and should have a good shelf life. I put alot of time and effort into my analog-HT rig. With the Berleley/computer setup I can also do 2 channel digital correctly without going broke. Upgrades should be much easier on the pocket also. BTW IMHO.

Hevac1; i do not know which i heard, but i agree it sounded great. you are building your own computer or having it built? i also agree with the advances which has kept me on the sidline up until now. also you are correct on the limitted software. i do not listen to jazz or classical. meridian bought out that soo???? i was going to look into that. what computer system are you building/having built?

Hello Crna39:

"...Playback Designs MPS-5... it will accept a direct DSD signal via ST-optical. Hi-rez PCM and DSD..."

Are you sure - I looked at their agent web site: http://www.bluelightaudio.com/playback_designs.html
and it does not say a word abou it.

Thank you
Rafael

Koegz
I purchased my own parts and built my own computer awhile ago. It is a XP with 4 gigs (only 3gigs seen by XP system),quadcord at 2.40Ghz, raid 10 with 3 Tbs X2 of hd space for movies, DVD/CD burner, M audio 24/192 soundcard, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB display and a MyHDTuner 130 card.
I am adding another raid controler so I can add more HD space for music. I figure another raid 10 with 2 X 6TB. I have to remove the MYHDcard to do this but I never use the turner anyway. That will free up 2 slots so who knows I may add another raid controler. Hard drive are cheap now. I am also changing the M audio to a LynxStudio audio card.

The best part is my wife is letting me move my computer from the sound room to the sitting room next to the closset where my stereo equipment is. I purchased a very quiet computer case but all those HD's may get louder than I can stand. I have to punch a hole into the closet and change out some cables to the eqipment. My mouse & keyboard are Blue tooth. I do have to run a video and usb cable back to where the monitor pantry door is and I am all set.
BTW a raid 10 configered controller will setup 6 2TBs Hard Drives into 2 mirrored 6TBs of hd space and write to both at the same time so back is done at the same time.

What about the Linn DS range?

Concept is to have no moving parts in the player itself - no hard disks, no CD transport. It has a network port and a DAC (or two, as you go up the range). Someone mentioned the Slim Devices Transporter, or the Modright fettled version, which works on the same principle.

Key thing with this design is the elimination of jitter-prone connections. Using ethernet (wired or wireless, though wireless can be unreliable), data is pulled down to the player well ahead of when the DAC needs it, and conversion to PCM stream happens right next to the DAC. No need to worry about any clock discrepancies between computer and DAC. Also no interference from computers or hard drives, which can be kept elsewhere.

Never heard one myself, but very highly thought of. Received wisdom is that each of these Linn sources better the CD player in the range above. Very probably going to get one soon.