Do i need a CD player, or can I use Mc Book?

Once network (Ethernet, WiFi, Async USB) is used payback program does not make any difference (unless it is making additional processing - like oversampling). It is because data and not the music is sent (no timing) while timing is recreated on the other side of the network bridge. At this point nothing on computer side makes any difference (program, speed, amount of RAM etc) - saves a lot of money. You can also use computer during playback (as I do) - it won't make any difference.

That's not strictly true.
- Audirvana caches the entire track - before it sends to the DAC, hence eliminating all possible network related issues - then it's just the USB cable issues to overcome
- It also bypasses the crappy Apple audio and streaming program code for significantly improved performance over stock iTunes playback

I've tried Audirvana and Amarra and to these ears Audirvana had an audible slight edge - it's also a lot cheaper :-)

BTW - my NAS drive, along with the various routers etc..are all on a very good UPS + seperate Surge protection just because of what Al pointed out

My NAS drive is from DLINK and it works very well - at least for me so far

But if you have a fire you've got a lot more problems than reloading your music - even my paranoia has to draw the line somewhere :-)

Regards...

Audirvana might improve playback in S/Pdif streaming but does nothing to network playback since data is sent in packets of different size - not in the real time. The fact that Audirvana is caching is absolutely irrelevant with the network connection.

Shure I will have more serious problems when my house is on fire, but thats why I don’t want to have more. In addition It took me long long long time to rip about 2000 CDs and I don’t want to loose it.

Kijanki - I think I may have grabbed the wrong end of the stick and we may be talking about two different things

My setup...
- NAS Drive Library in the basement connected via Ethernet cable to router
- iMac in Living room connected via Ethernet cable to the same router
- iMac connected to DAC via USB cable
- iTunes used for Library management
- Aurdirvana used to move content to my DAC

I was referring to streaming content from my NAS drive to my DAC

Then there is streaming content directly from the web - in which case you are absolutely correct - Audirvana does not cache in this instance and basically allows iTunes to control playback (i.e. in my setup)

To me it is all streaming and I may be misusing this term.

I guess I should have been more detailed in my comments - my apologies

So just to let other members understand what I have observed(suffered) - when playing content from my NAS drive using iTunes only.
- originally I had the whole setup configured using a wireless network
- I experience severe breaks in the music - sometime playback just stopped
- I even talked with an Apple support guy - he advised I convert everything to MP3 :-)
- I then decided to implement a gigabit Ethernet between the NAS drive and the iMac
- this reduced the severity of the breaks but did not provide a complete remedy to the problem - especially with 24/192 files
- I still encountered frequent clicks and pops, especially when using the computer for other stuff at the same time
- Audirvana not only fixed the clicks and pops, but also improved the quality of playback significantly when splaying content from the NAS drive only.

As for the "Backups" - I think the ease of backing up these days is affording us a new luxury.
- back in the days of vinyl - some people might have taped each album and stored tapes off-site
- then with the advent of CD's and computer technology - some might have burned duplicates for off-site storage
- now it is so simple to copy the entire library to a hard drive and place it somewhere off-site for the most protection we've ever had to this point.

So I have to wonder - is anyone using "the cloud" to store their library???
- perhaps the ultimate solution

I would like to understand the details of what you have implemented please.

Regards...

So I have to wonder - is anyone using "the cloud" to store their library???
- perhaps the ultimate solution

Hi Steve (Williewonka),

No, I would have to say it is not a desirable solution, at least as the primary backup solution for a large music collection.  While incrementally uploading the files for backup purposes, over time, should be fine in most cases, consider what would happen if the entire library had to be downloaded due to failure of the local hard drive(s).  Even making the optimistic assumptions that the user's interconnect connection is as fast as 100 mbps, and that the download speed is not limited by the responsiveness of the server at the other end or by any servers in the route through the Internet that is in between, downloading say 2 terabytes of music would require approximately 56 hours of non-stop downloading.  And under less optimistic assumptions about the speed of the download process, that could conceivably stretch out to several weeks.

Best regards,
-- Al
 

Williewonka, assuming that all bits are being sent (bitperfect) without any processing the only thing that can affect sound is jitter.  In case of NAS, WiFi or async USB minimizing timing errors made by computer by caching does not make any difference since different clock is being used on the other side of the bridge.  It can only make a difference in real time streaming like S/Pdif.

I had also 1 second drops with WiFi.  I found later that it comes from two sources:  from the routers of my neighbors and from my microwave (and possibly neighbor microwave).  There was only 12 channels to choose but each channel occupies 3 channels width - very easy to collide with other routers.  My microwave worked at identical frequency as one of the channels cutting off the music.  Finally I gave up and bought dual band router.  Now, a lot of channels to use and very low traffic (5GHz is not very common), but also 5GHz poorly penetrates obstacles like walls shielding me from the outside.  Since then I have no drops at all.

You're right - backups are so easy now.  To make backups that my Mac does automatically (Time Machine) they had whole departments of IT people before.  Also cost of media is insanely low, like  5TB Seagate drive in Costco for $119.  Taping albums was very common form of the backup but tape left unused were known for layer to layer copying. Large recording studio, where my friend works for about 30 years, had procedures to rewind each tape in huge archives.  It all ended with digital recorders.