"I've yet to hear a PC system easily trounce a really good CDP."
If you buy the USB DAC du-jour, you will not get there either. It takes a bit of work, including selection of the best computer platform (not a "music server"), the best playback software and ripper and the lowest jitter USB converter or DAC with USB interface. All of these things are doable and there are plenty of recommendations out there.
It is not cheap though. In order to compete with for example the dCS Vivaldi, you have to spend at least $10K on the computer, USB interface, DAC, power supplies, cables and software.
The good news is that spending $5K on a CDP will not get you the SQ of spending the same $5K on computer and DAC IME.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio
If you buy the USB DAC du-jour, you will not get there either. It takes a bit of work, including selection of the best computer platform (not a "music server"), the best playback software and ripper and the lowest jitter USB converter or DAC with USB interface. All of these things are doable and there are plenty of recommendations out there.
It is not cheap though. In order to compete with for example the dCS Vivaldi, you have to spend at least $10K on the computer, USB interface, DAC, power supplies, cables and software.
The good news is that spending $5K on a CDP will not get you the SQ of spending the same $5K on computer and DAC IME.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio