Music server quality.

Actually sw23 my comment was not directed at you so much as it was intended to ratify your position - that the Mac doesn't crash etc...

To cut to the chase - I have a Bolder modified SB2 with all the trimming including the Bybees but not the uber power supply. I have a Wavelength Brick in my workroom/reference system. IMHO it is better then the SB2 -In my work room I also prefer the Brick because I can use all the conveniences of the Mac to control it rather then having to use the excellent but not quite native SB interface.

The only possible next step is to get a Cosecant... that IMHO is the only way up from here.

BUT when I go into my HT room or the bedroom or the guestroom and fire up my various modded SBs I am not hating life - In fact I am very pleased with all the work that Wayne at Bolder has done for me. The two "good" SBs with modded power supplies, the platinum Sonic Caps etc all function as analog outs (no DAC required) and the sound is excellent - much better then I ever expected to own for my budget. My installation is simpler and more space efficient. I no longer need a power conditioner - I need one pair of good ICS etc All of them share one iTunes library with the Brick - and all this is very powerful stuff for me.

Now, just for the record, I had a TriVista fully modded by Parts Connexion. $3,400 MSRP. I supported it with another grand in cables and isolation. It was better then the SBs. I never compared it head to head with the Brick because I sold the TriVista to get the Brick. The TriVista probably was better - for 2x-3x the investment it should be. But I do not miss it. You might

YMMV

I tried the MSB Tech IPOD system at dealer today. Basically a docking station hooked up to an external dac, IPO reconfigured so it outputs digitally, and wireless from IPOD to the docking station.

The main system hooked up was unfamiliar to me so I can only comment on the context of relativities: MSB Tech Platinum DAC, Moon Audio CD & amplification, and Wisdom Audio speakers.

I compared a) CD vs b) IPOD in the docking sation vs c)IPO in hand?data sent wireless to the docking station.

c) was quite good but when switching to b) the difference was immediate: bass got tighter and imagining better defined, sound staging improved. Moving from b) to a) was much less of an improvement, but I did think CDs had better solidity to the notes, if u know what I mean. The diff from c to b was far greater than b to a.

This may support the previous talk of Wavelength PC etc vs some wireless solutions...the diff in sound quality may well be more about wireless vs wireline as opposed to PC based vs music server based etc.

However c) does offer a lot of convenience in that the IPOD becomes your remote control. Accessing playlists for example become a cinch and one can quickly move from track to track for example.

I would have liked to do a side by side comparison of say Sonus or Squeezebox wireless vs the MSB but could not. My hunch is that the latter is better but just hunch as I could not do any sort of direct comparisons.

Thus it seems to me the MSB IPOD system which costs circa US$2500 (including an 80G IPOD reconfigured so that digital output is possible)...is niche product with the following value add

1. For some homes.places....wireless thru out the house is difficult due to inteference, type of walls: in such cases a room by room approach is required.

2. IPOD user interface is familiar, u can charge it, and most of us have one anyway for portability...so nice way to integrate things

3. If need be and you don't need to keep switching tracks and prefer better quality, you can play it with the IPOD in the docking station which probably beats most if not all wireless solutions.

4. IPOD is much smaller than a notebook!

But also the strengths also mirror its weakness: remote...nothing beats Sonus. Capacity limited to 80GB, no multi room capability....etc

I am interested but still will continue to think thru and investigate options...may come back to this however.

Hope that helps

Henryhk- Great info. It would be interesting to compare the
MSB Tech IPOD system to a MacPowerbook feeding the same DAC
via it's built-in digital output.

You say "nothing beats Sonus," I guessing you're referring to
the Sonus display remote, but how does the Sonus sound quality compare to Mac set ups, and is the Sonus software as easy to use as iTunes?

Thanks to all for the responses so far. I didn't realize how little I know about this topic. For that reason I'll sit on the sidelines for a while, and let others with more knowledge do the talking.

Hi- yes wireless can potentially always be an issue - very prone to interference and not much can be done about it. A wired approach will always be more robust.

For me a $2,500 iPod misses the point of what's going on in the marketplace. First, a totally tricked out Squeezebox is a lot less and does a lot more.

But more importantly - at least to me - is that the whole PC thing is all about using widely available, mass market, highly standardized products to drive prices down without compromising quality. Put another way, when a 500Gb hard drive is $139 an iPod for $2,500 is nuts.