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Music Server for feeding Theta Gen VIII DAC

I've been away from audio for a number of years after putting together a system* that I was mostly satisfied with.  I took the system apart for a couple years for a living room remodel, then shortly after I set it up, my SOny ES CD player I was using as a transport died.  I now realize that I no longer know how to play music.  I would like to use some sort of computer server rather than a disc spinner for the convenience, but am overwhelmed by the choices available.  I want something simple with excellent sound quality.  Right now, I mainly want to rip my CDs to a hard drive.  I recognize that at some point in the future, I may want to use some sort of streaming, but right now, I'm not interested.  Having been to a few shops, candidates include the Cambridge CXN V2, Aurender N100C, and Naim Uniti Core.  The Aurender seems hobbled by a new change that sacrifices sound quality of non-MQA files, the Naim seems like it can't accept files downloaded from the internet.  The Cambridge seems to not have any identified problems, but I wonder if it's possible for a machine that is so affordable to provide sound quality on par with the others (although if it can, that would be great).  I have no idea what to do.
*Theta Gen VIII s3 DAC/Pre, AtmaSphere MA1 amps, Ascendo ZF3 speakers, Kubala-Sosna EMotion interconnects, Entec LF-20 subwoofers.
honest1
ricred1
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honest1 OP
586 posts
 
I see there is a notation that says there have been 8 responses to this thread, the last one by Audiotroy, but I only see 6 responses, the last one by Ricred.  Does anyone else see 8 responses, or know why it says there are 8 when I only see 6?
david_ten
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nekoaudio
489 posts
 
@honest1 when you say you want to rip CDs to your hard disk, is it that:

a) You want to also use your computer to play the music back into your audio system but your computer isn't nearby so you can't simply connect a DAC to your computer?

b) You want to rip CDs from your computer but don't really care if your computer to be in use or not when playing back music for your audio system?

c) You want to rip CDs from your computer but then you do not want your computer to be used at all when playing back music? In other words you need the ripped files to be stored somewhere else so you can turn off your computer.
honest1 OP
586 posts
 
I want my audio system to be free from my computer as much as possible.  I've been debating whether I'd prefer to load everything from my computer onto an outboard hard drive, or have the music server rip them from an internal CD drive to internal storage.  It would certainly be easier to have one machine do it, like the Naim Uniti, but then I'd have to connect it to the internet to get cover art and such, and I"m not sure if the files would be transferable from the Uniti or the Innuous mentioned above to some other HD to use in a different room, or if I decide to change servers.  But I do not want my main computer to be used in normal operation, only when loading new music.  Part of this is my deep distrust of computers and the internet.  Every few years, my computer starts getting slow and I have to replace it, presumably due to junk files picked up from the internet.  I do not want to have to go through this for my music system also.  Part of it is also the awkwardness of stringing cables from my computer to my music system.  I would like to control the server from a tablet that is dedicated to just the music system.
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