Upping my digital game

Hi Zavato,

I used to use a stripped down Mac Mini as my server into my DAC.  It worked well and I thought it sounded pretty good. I optimized it in all ways suggested for improved audio performance.  Nevertheless, I ended up purchasing an Aurender N100H to improve convenience (pretty seamless operationally between stored files and streaming services) and found it sounded markedly better.  I now also have an Auralic Aries G2 in another system and it sounds notably better than then Aurender N100H, as I’m sure does Aurender’s N10 as well.   I’m now enjoying a level of digital performance that’s vastly better than I had before - using the same DAC.

As an owner of their products, I can certainly recommend the units noted above. (btw: Auralic’s Lightning DS app sounds significantly better than does Roon - a separate discussion). You should certainly check out Lumin and Innous, too as there are many very enthusiastic fans here.  And, you might consider Bricasti with a network card.  Are you able to audition some/any of these units in your system?

In my opinion and in my experience, the server and/or streamer is as important as the DAC - and perhaps more so - for quality sound. Said differently, I found a greater leap in performance by moving upstream on the server than I did by going upstream on the DAC.  Of course, YMMV.

Best,

You could look at MinimServer it runs on a few platforms... I run it on a MacBook Pro as well as a Windowz Custom i7700k where I have my local music files... A Lumin U1 mini on a wired LAN along with WiFi... The Lumin U1 mini is in front of a Chord Qutest DAC... Can access local files on both PCs from an iPhone Lumin app, from Roon and Audirvana on both PCs... Will probably go with a Synology NAS next and put all the local music files there too... Life is great...

The trick seems to be to move to a thin client thick server topology to separate the electrical noise created by a standard pc from the DAC by adding a network transport device, call it a thin client, purpose made to not do much more than transporting data from a network and presenting to a DAC...

You have lots of choices in streamers less so in streamers with attached storage. Auralic is a great rec by mgrif I use an older Aries Mini it sounds great spinning my files from a Synology NAS or streaming Qobuz/Tidal. Not sure if separating streamer and storage would be an improvement in sound, a degradation, or neutral. My gut tells me letting the streamer just stream and the NAS store is the best route but of course I could be wrong.

Games only being sold digitally has also been a hotly contested issue, with many gamers opposed to it. Online sales must therefore "fairly" compete with stores on discount prices in order to uphold positive business relationships and aim to please all clients. The standard price is so high, but you may generally get a great offer a little later.

The majority of people, I suppose, think that selling games online is essentially free, however there are expenses like server upkeep, an IT crew, customer care, etc. Therefore, there is still a need for a markup on digital purchases.