Hard Drive/Computer Audio at the SHOW and CES

You know, Hack, that elitist attitude of yours is contributing to the death of high end. There are quite a few here that are interested in a very high quality music server. The OP did not say anything about mp3s or Ipods. And not all source material is available on vinyl. There does not seem to me to be any technical reason that a quality recording ripped from CD to a hard drive, and played back through a high end DAC cannot sound great. Some of us here are interested in a way to integrate computers into this process. The physical media is only a means to an end.

Swampwalker,

I don't have a problem with any media, and I use it all so I'm not an "elitist". I do think you ought to match the media to the appropriate gear, the gent mentioned iTunes and I just don't see how that plays well into a high end system. I have yet to hear any digital system match analogue, which implies the digital content is best used for either convenience or budgetary reasons. This is a site for audiophiles and music lovers, I don't see how preferring a more musical format would be considered out of the ordinary. Hey, I work in electronics (semiconductors) so you won't find anyone more interested in advancing the state of the art. That being said I'm not interested in going backwards, I love music.

Sammie, there is a good thread under digital.

Hack- Fair enough but

I read there was going to be a lot of new computer/hard drive/memory audio stuff at the SHOW and CES, like Wavelength, new VRS stuff, new USB DAC's,

I don't see anything here that mentions I-pods or lossy compression. I've never heard Wavelength but it is supposed to be pretty darn good. I guess you touched a nerve because I am thinking of going the music server route for my digital, which IS the bulk (2/3) of my software.

I have compared lossy and "lossless" compression to WAV files, and I can hear a difference (but I'm picky, no doubt). I ripped all of my CD's to external hard drives as WAV files and use them on my iPod when I travel, it was VERY time consuming (this was a year ago, haven't added the other 100 CD's I bought since). My biggest concern is the time it takes to rip all your music and make sure there's no errors, and hard drives do fail so what do you do? Have a back up set of drives ready in the event of failure?

I did wander into a room at T.H.E. show where there was earnest discussion going on with a media server company and some zealous enthusiasts ($7k digital music system), but I didn't stay as there was no music playing at the time and I didn't get around to going back to listen. There's also Kaliedascape (sp?) for those who like such things, seems like a good solution for the most part.