Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Ok, two questions then. First what drive unit would you purchase for a 2009 mac mini. Then where would you store it? Do you set up a NAS with firewire or just a double bay hard drive in RAID 1?
Also please share models that you use and love. I can't wait to Steve's DAC up and running in my system, I could use the built in super drive but have been told that a remote usb drive is best as you can buy a much better quality one. Plexor was the name Steve game me, but when I went to their site, they seem to only be for window's systems.

Matt we had this talk last week about servers/DACS and where they are headed. I totally agree with you.

Regarding storage and playback, I encourage you to read about Paul Pang blog and Jplay.eu forums as well as Computeraudiophile subsection on storage (in this order). Personally I use a NAS system: Synology. I currently recommend Enterprise drives. The top drive keeps changing. I have Hitachi. I also purchased mine through Simplynas.com. This was by far cheaper than individual units through Newegg or Tom's, etc.

I also never thought I would have beyond 10 TBs of music either. The catalog grows quick.

The current trend I read is transferring a sub-section of music to a playback SSD drive that your server draws from. I personally do not do this.

Read these sources and your will be well versed on the topic.

Cheers.

02-02-15: Ctsooner
I can't wait to Steve's DAC up and running in my system, I could use the built in super drive but have been told that a remote usb drive is best as you can buy a much better quality one. Plexor was the name Steve game me, but when I went to their site, they seem to only be for window's systems.

CTsooner, in my experience with external optical drives (which as a disclaimer I'll mention is limited to Windows and Linux operating systems, and to non-audio applications), you would get much better reliability and consistency of performance across diverse media, as well as greater speed if you choose to use it, if instead of purchasing an external USB optical drive as such you were to purchase a standard size internal drive intended for desktop computers, and mount it in a **good quality** powered external enclosure which provides a SATA interface internally and a USB interface externally.

I note that the one optical drive Plextor currently offers is that kind of internal drive. Having essentially no Mac experience I can't say this for sure, but my suspicion is that even though it is described as being for Windows operating systems it would work fine with a 2009 Mac Mini when interfaced via USB through an external enclosure.

You can find suitable external enclosures at Newegg.com, which is my "go to" place for computer parts and accessories. Here is one such enclosure that looks promising, although I have no experience with this or other currently listed models. If you click on the "see questions and answers" link to the right of and slightly below the photos, you'll find a couple of people mentioning that they are using it successfully with Mac Minis.

Newegg also sells the Plextor drive, btw, for $30 in OEM form or $37 in full retail form. I presume the OEM version comes without box, manual, and mounting screws, although mounting screws are supplied with external enclosures in some cases, apparently including the one I linked to.

Regards,
-- Al

Audiolab - No plans to build a streamer. I have other projects on my plate right now.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Matt,

I am going to have a full day listning session with the Dartzeel Ethernet dac/Integrated amp (the one soon to be released) in 2 weeks, i will let you know.

USB stick is a no-no for ultimate performance and NAS(ties) have too many issues in terms of signal degrading connections. Packetized data gives problems.

Ultimate performance (IMHO- informed by some insiders I know and respect) will come from optimized SSDs and SDXCs, BUT not sure they should be in the dac box. Given that, all this may end up in the speaker, like Linn Xact, Devialet Phantom or Goldmund Metis lines.

What does Linn Marketing say? The speaker IS the source. LoL

Just MHO and food for thought.