Mac with USB Dac

I am using the Peachtree Nova connected to my Mac Book. I think it sounds way better than the cast off Sony CD player my brother gave me. But I have never owned a high end CDP. I really like the sound and the ease of picking up new music through i-Tunes. This simple system is really easy to live with and it integrates with your TV easily and Blu-Ray player through 2 toslink connections.

The drawback with i-Tunes is you cannot move into Hi-Rez music as you are limited to 16-44 play back. The best sound is probably coming from HDCD's 24-196 reference recordings. With Tera-byte drives costing less than $100 I don't see any reason not to collect digital masters which might become the new audiophile standard.

I sold my Cary 306-200 CD player and got a Mac Mini and Wavelength Cosecant V2 with no looking back. Although the Cary had plenty of detail the Mac Mini/Wavelength combo is much more musical to my ears. I listen to vinyl 90% of the time and find this combination much more analog sounding than my previous setup. I am sure the Wavelength has a lot to do with it. Hoping to upgrade to the V3 when I can but the V2 sounds great.

For those of you using the Mac Mini are you using a screen and keyboard with it or just the i-touch?

I actually use the good old heavily modded G4 Cube as a music server for Front Row and iTune. It is connected to my Pioneer plasma as well as to a 7' LCD screen. I have everything set up to switch back and forth between the two using my Harmony remote control and the Logitech DiNovo keyboard for the occasional internet navigation. The reason I am setting it up this way is that I don't want to turn on my plasma all the time. I also set up the screen saver such that the 7" LCD doubles as a digital photo frame when I am not accessing the Cube for music.

I would love to use the iTouch as a remote for my system but it doesn't do infrared, so that's a no-go.

I use the Apple LCD display to view Front Row. It's big enough to easily view album art, as well as title, artist, album, etc. from our listening area. It is actually quite beautiful! Along with the display, my Mac Mini, mouse, and small Apple keyboard occupy the top shelf of our audio rack.

For remote control I use the small white remote that at one time came packaged with Apple computers. I think it is a cost option now.

The little remote will wake the computer. I only use the keyboard if I am ripping, installing, updating, etc.