Apple vs PC for Music System

I forgot to add that if you have the iPhone or the iPod Touch, you can download the "Remote" application onto the iPhone or iTouch and control the Apple TV remotely via WiFi. So you only need a tv monitor for initial set up and for updates.

The "Remote" application has the exact playlists, artists, etc. as your Apple TV and it has all the playback controls of iTunes at your fingertips.

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You can also use Mocha VNC (downloadable from the Apple iTunes website) and web surf from your iTouch or iPhone... you can control Rhapsody or Pandora, etc. as well... you need a wireless gateway/modem to do that.

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Gordon Wavelength, your experience is irrelevant. Unless you have used the correct hardware and softare on a PC then you have no idea what you are talking about.

As I'm starting to set up a music server I'd like a "real" answer to this as well. My plan is to store music files on a NAS and feed analog to my preamp with a Benchmark DAC1 USB but am struggling with my choice of "middle tier". Sound quality and the ability to access my library with reasonable ease are my primary objectives.

To those who assert that one platform is better than another, is it a question of how the ones and zeros are retrieved and sent to the DAC? Is it a question of jitter? Are there more "artifacts" (e.g. noise) sent from a PC than from a Mac? And is this the fault of the OS, the audio software or something with the hardware itself? If any of these are the case is it better to go with a dedicated appliance (Sonos, Slim or whatever)?

I am a PC guy and work with Wintel boxes as part of my job as a data architect but if a Mac Mini would SOUND better than a PC or appliance and I could fit it into my network and I don't have to use a monitor or laptop to control it, I'll use one. But I'm still searching for a technical reason why one is better than the other.

I have spent a little time in recording studios, mostly at the business end of the microphones. My impression as to why Macs are more common in music is that for so long they were the only game in town and so much easier for non-geeks to use.

What? No takers? There seems to but a fair amount of passion on the topic. Surely there's someone who knows why one is a better sonic platform than the other.