Resolution Audio - Cantata

Thanks for your detailed thoughts Clio09. I have only compared the Cantata built in CD player to streamed music via my wireless Sonos zoneplayer 90 fed from my Apple lossless itunes file. Without any comparisons the streamed music sounds great. In fact better than I have ever heard before using my previous DACs. But when I compared it to the CD replay yesterday with a few friends there was noticeable differences. With CD replay you could hear the textures of instruments and voices much more clearly. Music had more focus and the soundstage enlarged.
I have yet to compare the direct USB connection from my iMac and using the Pure Music app you mentioned. I am a lazy bugger and don't feel like moving my iMac downstairs to my main system! LOL!

There is so much to read on computer audio these days it is almost impossible to determine where to begin. For me, with a small collection of CDs I ripped them to the HD using XLD and AIFF format. Using some of the tweaks from a few MAC tuning guides I have found and the aforementioned Pure Music interface I have been very pleased with the results.

Now I want to play around with both Ethernet set-ups using the Pont Neuf. Wired or wireless this would allow me to keep the computer out of the main listening room.

Keen to hear how you go Clio09.

No matter what anyone says I think a computer be it PC, iMac or whatever looks butt ugly amongst a fine HIFI setup.

A quick update on my Cantata. I added black diamond racing cones and a hifi tuning fuse to my Cantata. The difference is startling. The organic nature of the Cantata is amplified dramatically and more analog sounding than ever. Soundstage is deep wide and tall with CDs and computer based audio sounding the same. I'm shocked that the Cantata could get better, but it has. Expensive at $6500 this player/music center playAs way above it's price?

In a quest to approach the sound of my analog system, I have owned, and listened to, many top-rated CD player’s and amps including a number of Linn and Naim’s top systems. At the urging of a close friend, I bought an Opus 21 a couple years ago and was extremely impressed with its organic analog-like sound. It was far and away the best CD player I had ever heard…until the Cantata Music Center that is! I bought the Cantata Music Center and the matching Cantata C50 integrated amp and I have been thrilled with both of them! I have spent so much more time listening to my CD collection than I had ever done before. I had several occasions to speak with Jeff Kalt and found him to be a class act. He must be brilliant to design such great sounding gear but he seems so humble and unassuming. Although I have not yet taken the plunge into computer audio, I look forward to enjoying my Cantata system for some time to come and since it appears to be designed to accommodate future updates, I expect I will.