Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Mitch2 - the only thing I can recommend in your situation is the Off-Ramp 5 USB converter/Dynamo power supply and my BNC-BNC cable driving the Hex S/PDIF input. These together cost $2318.00. Just the OR5 would probably improve things though at $1299.00. Money back guarantee on all, less shipping.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Thanks Steve, I appreciate the information. It seems your experience is that the Hex can be improved on by using the S/PDIF input through the Off-Ramp vs. the Hex's onboard USB. It would be an easier decision if the USB on the Hex was crappy, or even mediocre but most say it is one of the better implementations on a DAC so I have to think hard about whether to try to improve it with a different input, or to simply upgrade the DAC. I suspect part of the improvement through the Off-Ramp is the additional clocks before the DAC?

I am interested to see if the DX straight into the Hex is an improvement over the mini, and then I will give the DAC issue some more thought. For the money, I may be just as well off to upgrade the DAC but I have some stuff I should sell first. I understand the front end of your ODSE is pretty much equivalent to running a USB through the Off-Ramp and then into a really good DAC. I will consider that, but one step at a time, for now.

HChil,

You can PM me at Audiocircle, Compaudiophile or Audioshark dot org to follow up.

Modded Mac Mini, Music Vault, "Clone" Music Server, The Memory Player, YFS, Baetis and CAPS servers are all essentially modified PC's.

Ketchum and others who use these, please offer opinions as compared to going with a design specific music server like the Antipodes, Aurender or TotalDac. I get that you can tweak a computer to any purpose, but I'm having a hard time believing that any level of modification to a computer will sound better then a unit designed from the ground up for the sole purpose of top SQ. Or am I totally off on this thought?

Matt, THEY are all computers and from what I recall Aurender was not even a prticularly good mobo.

Some like Antipodes are (Vortex box) Linux based, others are windows/OSX based. Not sure if any are Android or iOS based...good as they are "light" OS, but so is Linux if done right.

No one is going to write an OS from scartch unless they are a major like an HP. Even HP dropped WebOS which they bought from Palm for $2b (less than 3 years later).Too many $$$$ to maintain constant development.

The best bet is modified/stripped to the Core Linux/or Tablet OS and tweaked for audio. So light as possible general purpose OS that is cthen optimized for the limited purpose of Audio playback/basic networking infrastructure and perhaps Internet access to gather meta-data. Then on top have an optimiser mode to shut down non-essential processes during playback....this includeds even data retrieval from other than quiet/simple ram buffer!

Or so the gurus online claim....

Its an impossi