Computer music server PC or Apple????

the setup in my den consists of: totem speakers, definitive technology supercube sub, sony 9000es dvd/cd/sacd, nikko fm tuner, dk design vs-1, adcom gda-700 dac, audio alchemy dti, mac mini, and airport express. i have both the dvp9000es and the airport express hooked up to the dti to cleanup the jitter, and then a digital cable from the dti to the dac.
i have other rooms in the house with airport express units hooked up to receivers in those rooms. i have my macbook control the mac mini running itunes from the other parts of the house (wireless). i'm purchasing an ipod touch that will also allow me to control the mac mini running itunes from anywhere in the house using remote buddy.
once the mac mini is up and running, you don't need the keyboard or mouse any longer. put the mini in the rac with your equipment and use the toslink cable from the mac mini to an external dac or use the cable from the mini with rca terminations hooked up straight into your preamp/receiver.
i use apple's airport express devices (wireless or wired) to distribute music to the whole house. you can tell itunes which speakers you want to play.
i think if you get a good quality external dac with toslink input, you will be happy. i did hookup my digital transmission interface between the mac or airport express and the external dac and the sound was more fluid, more bass, more clean.
there are other options too. also, you need another disk drive to backup the 500gb disk you have. use the internal mac drive for your operating system, and programs, use the 500gb drive for all your data, documents, itunes stuff, etc... and then get another 500gb drive or larger and backup both of these disks to it each night. use time machine with leopard, it does it automatically once you set it up.
don't use a laptop, they get too hot and the heat will damage the laptop after a while. my macbook get really warm after a couple hours usage.
if all you are going to use the mini for is an audio server, you can get an older one, you don't need the core duo intel processor. if you want to run applications on here besides itunes and if you think you will need to win windows (why go backwards), then go for the newer intel models. i have all intel macs and use either parallels or vmware to run linux,solaris, or windows (i have 1 app that needs windows).
if you think you might want to use this server as a whole house central server to run your file/print/itunes/hvac/security system/etc.., go for the macpro or older power mac, these are made for 24x365 servers.
good luck.

Jwmazur - not even close. The DAC-1 USB is a lot better.

This is NOT my opinion. You need to let the guys at Benchmark know what you think. This is what they told me when I asked them. To be more specific, this is the opinion of Rory Rall at Benchmark. Maybe you should initiate a dialog with him on this matter. However, I do appreciate knowing what your opinion is. Could you be more specific on the differences you heard? I was always under the impression that Toslink was inferior. I also conveyed this opinion to Rory at Benchmark.

Jwmazur - The Benchmark guys know what I think and they dont give a hoot. I know Rory. Hes a really nice guy. Benchmark makes a great product at this pricepoint. Benchmark also makes a lot of marketing claims that I simply dont believe because I have a lot of experience with their units. They dont believe that it can be improved substantially for one. I've been modding them for about 4 years now and a hundred customers have my modded DAC-1. I think the reason is that they are from a Pro Audio background, so it is likely that their systems are not up to the standards we are accustomed to, not as revealing, not as extended, not as quiet, with relatively poor imaging. There is some sibilance in these systems which tends to mask the effects of jitter as well. It is their own experience, and you cannot fault them for this. Until they are shown better, this is all they know. I have heard it before from Pro audio guys, Crown amps, JBL speakers, cheap IC's and speaker cables etc... Pro audio guys are mostly cable non-believers I have found. Most rely too much on measurements and too little on listening IMO. I have battled with Pro Audio Sound guys extensively on the pro-audio forums until I finally gave up.

This is the case with a lot of jitter non-believers as well. Their systems are just not good enough to hear these differences, much less obtain a solid, focused stereo image. The same folks think we are blowing smoke when we speak of images placed horizontally beyond the speaker edges. Until they hear a really resolving system set up acoustically correctly, it is like beating our heads against the wall. My head already has a big bump on it from this. Time to go skiing....

Moral of the story is "listen to it and make your own judgements". Dont rely on marketing hype and reviews. If anything, listen to other audiophiles and learn from their experiences, but be careful that you dont make decisions based on the guy that just sold his Bose, bought his first decent stereo system, and he's writing glowing reviews on all the forums. Pick someone that has been doing it for 20-30 years, has gone through a lot of components and knows their stuff.

BTW, I found the USB input on the DAC-1 USB to be much more focused and clear than the other inputs. I never recommend using Toslink, unless it is input to a reclocker, where jitter is a dont-care.

Steve N.