Music Server vs. PC vs. Transport vs. ?


I don;t really want to add another rack in my living room. If I do, I may end up sleeping on one of the couches. Ideally, I would like to do the following:

1. Either use a pc or a server to store discs and have them accessable.
2. Have a way for the kids/wife to hook up their ipods
3. Have a way to get digital radio (xm, sirius or even computer streaming, doesn;t matter)
4. Do all of this WITHOUT degrading the sound quality ( i know, the ipod, by definition will do this)

My understanding of most high end DACs is that they do not have USB ports, but that is the ideal port to use to negate jitter. As I was researching this, I got the latest issue of the absolute sound, and they address some of this a bit. My feeling seems to be that one pays a HUGE premium for a server, that both their DACs and PCs DACs suck, and one has to get a USB to AES or other adapter, and still use an external DAC. It also seems that if one is willing to use a lossless system, that the universal opinion is that a hard drive rivals or beats any transports.

So my initial thought would be to get a pc with an ipod dock, run lossless, get an additional adapter say from Wavelength, and use the current dac. That adds at least two pieces, maybe three.

Help?????
Thanks,
Chris

Help??????

Thanks,
Chris
128x128mount_rose_music
Deshapiro-

Have Mr.Lapporte and his partner seen this:

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/2/27041.html
Sure Ckorody, go ahead and use a generic sound card in your pc. My audio system is too important to me to use a generic sound card. If I were to do this, I might as well use zip cord for my speaker cables.
Under1630-

Just wondering....

What's so special about a soundcard with a Toslink output, powered by a noisy SMPS(does PC Alchemy use linear PSUs?) with no clock link running into a stock Benchmark DAC-1?
1630 -

Dude, don't you think you are being a little harsh? There is no reason to be disrespectful.

Read - and understand my post. A USB card is NOT a generic sound card. It is a USB card. Nothing more or less. One can use it to run any kind of USB device - including DACs.

If you know enough to want the electrical isolation between the PC and the DAC that Toslink provides (because it is fiber) you can achieve the same thing at a lower price with the Opticis USB Fiber Optic cable.

I have been helping people do this for a long time. The point I always make is that there are a lot of different solutions.

Some involve roll your own solutions - because a lot of people who are geekish wouldn't have it any other way. Some prefer buying prebuilt servers as you did. Good choice you are obviously an analog guy.

Posting here is about making people aware of those choices. The best solution is the one that meets your needs. For some people it is budget, for some it is ultimate resolution, for some it is ease of use.

As for zipcord, had you taken one minute to look at my system you would see that we both use Cardas GR...