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Mac Server vs. Wadia/iPod combo

Friends,

Assume a digital system with an Empirical Audio Pacecar USB converter and jitter reducer, and a Berkeley Alpha DAC. If only using 16/44.1 material, does a Mac-based music server have any advantage over a Wadia 170/iPod combination feeding the Pacecar/Alpha? If so, why, and are there only particular Mac configurations that can better the Wadia/iPod combination.

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

Jeff
jeff_arrington
jeff_arrington OP
8 posts
 
Tbg,

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into that.

Additional information: all files on the server or iPod are ripped from CD as uncompressed files. The Berkeley does not have an USB input. It has Toslink, SP/DIF and AES/EBU inputs. The DAC is optimized for the AES/EBU interface.

Jeff
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Toslink will come straight from some Macs, but not this one. No Mac that I have used has SP DIF or AES/EBU.
sufentanil's avatar
sufentanil
782 posts
 
Tbg, what Mac do you have that doesn't have Toslink? Keep in mind that the jack is hidden in the headphone jack, which doubles as a mini-Toslink jack. (You will need an adapter, or a cable that has a mini-Toslink connector on one end.)

Michael
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Sufentanil, I stand corrected. I have never used Toslink and could not find an output for such. I have a Powerbook Pro 2.26 GHz
sufentanil's avatar
sufentanil
782 posts
 
Tbg, do you have a Powerbook (they had the Motorola G3 and G4 processors, although I'm not sure if any of them went up to 2.26GHz) or a Macbook Pro?

I'm not sure if the old Powerbooks had Toslink. You can look it up on the specs on Apple's website, though.

At least for the Macbook Pro's, I can say that they have the mini-Toslink / headphone jack combination.

Michael
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