Can anyone please give a quick, up to the minute update on streaming bits to an audiophile DAC?
Yesterday, I took a trip to BH Photo in New York which is always an adventure.
Their "Pro Audio" guy on staff came highly recommended and for the first minute or so seemed like he knew exactly what he was talking about when it came to hard drive based audio and uncompressed, bit for bit WAV files.
As we spoke, he pointed me towards a glass case full of reasonably expensive pro audio DACs, and also the Benchmark DAC 1 in a sleek, black rack mountable case, in stock for $995.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there, however, and he then had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how I would
1) rip my CDs to WAV files on the hard drive(s) of my choice
2) "tag" these WAV files with album and track information
3) export bit for bit perfect data without insulting my other components by using a cheesey cheap sound card or "interface"
4) implement "best execution" for connections, whether USB, XLR or some other acronym that I dont necessarily understand
and
5) Get all of this with a minimum amount of "jitter" or other nasty artifacts into the DAC of my choice.
From the DAC, I can handle things from there.
This guy looked at my like I was nuts, and even more so when I told him this was for only 2 (?!?!?) channels, despite his credentials as a Benchmark dealer.
So I am still confused and would greatly appreciate any up to the minute updates on this lively, timely topic.
Steve N I appreciate your technical comments, which may also be a bit over my head.
Could anyone put together an off the shelf list of components that I can go out and buy today to do this in a Windows environment?
Thank you.