Why are server setups so costly relative to CDP's?

Mrtennis - It depends on the DAC. Jitter rejecting DACs like Benchmark DAC1 might sound different with different transports but perhaps not because of jitter. It was reported many times that it often sounds better with cheap DVD player than expensive transport (that has lower jitter). It might be that cheap DVD player have more sensitive laser optics (DVD players have good tracking) or transport is not bit-transparent (DSP, digital volume control etc) or one of the creates ground loops in the system etc.

For DACs other than asynchronous-upsampling (jitter rejecting) transport is very important - I agree.

This is such a fun hobby/addiction that we do get lost in the small details. To return to the original question...there will always be a debate regarding which road to choose to bring us to the "best sound" and before it was (and is) vinyl vs CD, and now computer vs CDP. It all depends on the implementation and what sounds good to you. As a beginner in the exploration of computer based audio my experience tells me that for less than $1000 a dedicated CDP is better (today's dollars). Over that it is possible to expand into computer audio and achieve better results using computers. Just like with vinyl, there is a point in which CDs can closely approximate the sound of good vinyl, but it costs more.

if you take out the computer cost I thin it's actually cheaper.You can get a $3K system that will rival a $20K Lin Or Meridian CDP.But if you want a Sooloos and to spend you can.And when you look at what you can do with it functionally you get more.I see a number of companies like Linn that are integrating a whole CD player with a wireless system which is fun and can save huge amounts of hard wiring a house
Chazz

I have SlimServer installed on my PC in another room. All my seedees have been ripped to the PC (the hardest part of the process). I have a SqueezeBox attached to the DAC on my Wadia seedee player through a S/PDIF optical fiber. Music is wifi'd from the PC to the DAC.

Can't tell the difference between this and a seedee played directly on the Wadia.

Regards the OP, one can get under 1k with a PC set up, using one of the numerous inexpensive but well regarded USB dacs (which I've not auditioned). But it is worth pointing out that things can add up pretty fast, with cabling, and an external hard drive (at least 1 TB for many of our collections), preferably set up in raid array. So my hunch is that one could do better price wise, at the "entry level," with a well-regarded CDP: eg, a used Jolida (which I used and enjoyed) could be be had for 500 bucks or so, and it would be hard to go lower than that for a PC rig, unless you had most of the computer stuff you needed around. That said, I've found my PC system to be a lot more fun to use than a CDP, particularly regards to accessing my (not too big) collection of music, and I'd not go back.

Regards the tangential discussion, I very much enjoy my Perfect Wave DAC, and certainly recommend that people contemplating a PC system give it a listen, but now we're talking a good bit more $ than the OP.

John