Help me set up new stereo system

And if I buy a few high resolution albums from DSD what format will they download in? Will iTunes be OK or should I use something like Jriver or Amarra?

Thanks again for all the help.

I highly suggest not relying on iTunes as the playback engine, especially if you will eventually be downloading DSD. Audirvana Plus will interface to the iTunes library nicely. If you want to divorce yourself from iTunes then go with JRiver which is what I did. I stored my music on an Oyen Mini drive and used FireWire to connect it to the Mini. Then I pointed JRiver to that drive and imported my music. These days I am using a network and wired Ethernet solution that relives me of JRiver and the Mini, but that's another story.

I'm beginning to make sense of things now. Since there are a few absolute things on my listening list, I will purchase them on CD. I'll research on how to put these various recording formats (SACD, DTS, 5.1 mixes, etc) into my harddrive, whatever that may be in the future.

For now I am going to connect my computer via USB and use iTunes for playback. I will also connect my Oppo BDP83 via optical to the Hegel and listen to the CD's I just purchased. That will give me a bit of instant gratification and a few days to listen to the system and figure out what to do.

I'm really thinking of going the Mac Mini and external HD route and connecting via toslink optical to the Hegel. Then I will use Jriver and distance myself from iTunes.

Another questions. I keep reading about the ability to EQ and adjust levels...that is exactly what I do not want. I'd like to listen to the recording as intended, not with some wild personal house mix added. Will all my music be required to be EQ'd and thus changing the sound?

Some of the software packages like JRiver come with EQ and other DSP capabilities but you do not have to use these features. I did not use them but I occasionally used the up sampling features.

Your plan sounds excellent. Does your DAC hanle DSD? If not you can still get great sound without the DSD
I actually use I tunes with a Mac Air which has a thunderbolt output. I have a FireWire DAC, and use a thunderbolt to FW adapter. Redbook CD
Sounds great and downloads (24/192) as well. My Oppo 105 is used for my SACDs, DVD-A and Blu Ray and the grand total of my 2 DSD downloads. I tunes works for me but I don't use it for High res downloads, which I keep on a separe USB drive and use Decibel for playback . It all works, sounds great, and I still play vinyl and CDs.