Esoteric K-01 and Mac music server

Thanks Mark this helps! What is a USB Converter? I am thinking about getting a mac mini.

I would also checkout a Bryston BDP-2. Since it caches tracks in memory before play, how data is stored is not important to sound quality. You can use K-01 Coaxial RCA to BDP-2.

The USB Converter I am using is the Bel Canto Reflink. Once you acquire a Mac Mini the connection is as follows:

External HD (If the extra space is needed) > Mac Mini (via firewire) > USB Converter (via USB cable/Input) > Esoteric K-03 (via Coaxial S/PDIF using BNC connector).

A USB Converter essentially optimizes the asynchronous interface to reduce jitter before sending data to DAC.

Mark

I use a usb conveter too from my pc to the coax input of my K-01 player. Once you have gone this route, you can never go back to usb direct. The coax input makes everything sound whole and right.

Just out of curiosity (not trying to start a war on this) but I am curious about the opinions expressed that using a USB converter is better than going USB direct. Wouldnt it really depend on the USB implementation? I am big fan of simplifying my system and have been thinking about getting a new DAC with a USB input so I can get rid of my cheapo Musical Fidelity V-link converter. However, if having a converter improves the sound then I would instead keep my current CDP/DAC (Luxman D-05) and get a much better USB converter like the Bel Canto or Berkeley or ????