State of the Source: Server, computer....or what?

Surprising to me not a single poster has yet weighed in on their experience with digital sources. Back 5 or more years ago, when we were mostly spinning silver discs, the discussions on disc players seemed almost endless, yet now when probably about half the folks here are using a digital server type source (or computer) there doesn't seem to be the same level of discussion about sources, only about DACs.

I am genuinely curious about the new class of servers coming to market recently, why they are said by some to sound better than tricked out computer sources, and how they actually differ from a tricked out computer when that is exactly what they seem to be.

I am curious to hear from folks who have directly compared several of the available server options and what distinguishes products like Antipodes (that is getting good press lately) from others such as Music Vault, which seems to offer more bang for the buck since their comparably priced units have features such as SSD, fast processors, ripping capabilities, multi-TBs of of storage, and equal sized multi-TBs of auto back-up.

I do understand some of the server products utilize proprietary software but does that really make that big a difference, since a computer is able to run different player options that the user can download.

I guess I was hoping to see more technical discussion and user comparisons to understand better what design features have the greatest impact on SQ and how that shakes out with the different digital source options available today.

As I continue to research the potential benefit of a dedicated audio server, two reasonably priced options seem to be the Antipodes DXe at about $4,000 and the Aurender X100L at about $3,500.

In comparison, the Aurender X100L would seem a better option because of an internal 120GB SSD cache for "latency-free playback", and two onboard 3TB HHD storage drives while the higher priced Antipodes DXe offers only HDD storage, with 1TB for the base $4,000 price, 4TB for $5,000, and no SSD until you upgrade to their more expensive DX Reference model. On the plus side, the DXe provides "Internal Linear Regulated Power Supplies" and an onboard "Auto CD Ripper." Both offer quiet operation with no fans to be found in either unit.

The Aurender's "fanless Switching Mode Power Supply" that "delivers stable power to non-audio components" is disappointing since, to me, that may be the only poor design choice in the unit. Being internal, it would not be easy to replace with an outboard linear supply. Replacing it would require an operation like on my Mac mini, where the original supply is entirely removed and a jack added or, in the case of my mini, a hard-wired cord. Maybe they believe it is not a problem since although their next model up, the Aurender S10, uses a "low-noise linear power supply to effectively minimize jitter and noise," it also uses a "fanless Switching Mode Power Supply" to deliver "stable power to non-audio components."

If I were to purchase today, of these two, I would probably select the Aurender XL100L because the interface is supposed to be excellent and the combination of 6TB of on-board storage plus the SSD would be hard to beat...if it just didn't have that SMPS.

However, nothing I have read about so far compels me to purchase a server at this time, since either option seems to be a sideways move at best compared to my Mojo Mac mini set up, which already has an outboard 2TB AV HHD that is powered by the same linear supply that powers the mini, and that connects with the mini using a special non-powered firewire cable. Since my DAC has an internally powered USB input, I run the USB from the mini into a filter and galvanically isolated (ifi) power unit and then into the DAC using a non-power USB cable. By using Pure Music as a player, I can upsample to 24/88.2 (or whatever I choose) and playback from the SSD in memory mode, so the HHD is only used for storage. I suspect the reviewers who keep writing about computer sources sounding "thin," in comparison to audiophile servers such as the Antipodes or Aurender, do not have their computers optimally set up with linear power supplies, SSD and outboard storage.

I plan to keep looking but, at least for now, I am not compelled to give up my computer set-up for a dedicated server. Servers, DACs and computer audio have all made huge advancements in the past 5 years and continue to improve with each year's models eclipsing previous versions. That is another reason I am struggling with investing upwards of $5K on a new server at the present time.

I found the following quote from 6moon's Srajan Ebaen interesting, given that he has heard/reviewed several top notch servers and has been into computer audio for quite awhile now. Even more interesting since Srajan's computer is not powered with a linear supply, which I found to improve tonal density and dynamics.

But what I'd concluded after my encounter with Aurender's top €15'000 server became a syndication for the aria to have me quite unshakeably sure now. A properly configured top-drawer iMac—library on 2TB HHD; OSX and PureMusic & Co. on 256GB SSD; 16GB of RAM for memory play to spin down the HHD entirely; bypass of redundant processes; 64-bit software upsampling etc—still makes life for costly audiophile servers most difficult indeed. So far I've not heard a truly compelling sonic reason to join the seemingly credible but quite off-key chorus that computers are bad for audio. If you do it right, it just ain't so!

Once you commit to a specific music server setup it is a non-trivial task to switch to another system. Between the ripping, tagging, playlists and comments someone can have more than a thousand manhours invested in a setup. There is very little incentive to change. One of the few easily changed items are DACs and cables.

Mitch2,
How much for Antipodes' DX Reference?
Does "audioengineer" carry these?