Mike,
Thanks for sharing your journey with us. It is truly enlightening.
thanks. i'm having fun.
Got a few questions for you regarding setup:
- Have you considered getting a top notch Esoteric transport to play your existing disks, while using your new computer solely for downloads? Do you think playing ripped files using the computer your son is helping you build will kill the best Esoteric transport out there? Is this an intermediate solution, until you choose to get a top notch transport, or do you think what you have is better (or a wash)?
ripped SACD files and native dsd files have sounded equal or slightly better in my system in the past to the esoteric drive inside my Playback Designs. when I added the Herzan TS-150 under the Playback Designs it did help the Redbook CD discs quite a bit more than the SACD discs but still the files were about equal to the SACD discs. native dsd, such as all the Channel Classics files, are slightly better than the SACD's to my ears. analog/PCM sourced dsd files/SACD's are more a crap shoot to predict. I know there are a couple higher level Esoteric disc drives than the one in the Playback Designs. when I moved my server downstairs that did boost dsd file performance very slightly....which is part of the picture.
so I don't have any particular feeling that SACD disk player performance brings particular additional performance based on my experience. I have no doubt that the very top level Esoteric disc drive might be better than dsd files. but I would bet that possibly that has to do with less than ideal server connectivity, or clocking connectivity, to the dac in that system. so it's really hard to know what is causing what.
I have a co-worker who can rip SACD's; which would be the only reason I would have to have a disk player once I complete my CD ripping. almost 100% of my 1200-1300 SACD's have already been ripped anyway. i'll always have my CD/DVD single drawer ripper on the old server.
and these days much of my dsd listening is to 2xdsd vinyl rips which clearly trump SACD and dsd. and then we have quad dsd to consider going forward.
hard to predict how whatever dsd dac might better the Playbacks Design dac for dsd in my system will affect the disc drive question; but one would expect it to push it more in favor of files. I think when you read about the design of the Trinity dac, and how additional cables and distance compromises jitter and the integrity of the digital signal you start to realize the limitations of the disc drive.
as far as a disc drive and PCM.....well....game, set, match to the CAPSv4 and Trinity dac. I cannot fathom any other result.
I also think that the dac designer who 'get's it most right' will throw the advantage more to the server since he has solved the connectivity issues best.
- Do you think your new computer will outperform any of the professional servers out there, such as Aurender, Baetis, or any of these
http://www.3beez.com/comparison/competition_chart.html?
http://www.3beez.com/comparison/gloves_off.html
don't know really. common sense might tell you that an open content generic machine can tweak more individual parts optimally than a closed system. OTOH maybe synergy overcomes that aspect. my 'guess' is that the since being able to assemble a PC is now so common place, that these 'professional servers' are only 'great' for a particular moment in time, and that the generic open system gets improved monthly since there are is so much attention on this subject from so many directions. I happen to have a Son who is a network engineer, so if another 'better' part comes along, I can have him throw it in there.
for instance, the Teradak ATX linear power supply and Uptone JS-2 linear power supply i'm using, are enhancments to earlier specs of the Lampi DSD Komputer, which is an enhancement to the CAPSv4 Pipeline. and that is just in 8 months since the CAPS v4 Pipeline was first launched.
what other tweaks will come along in the next 8 months?
but for the person who needs plug and play, the professional server might be preferable (for 3x to 4x the $$$'s). might there be some proprietary 'magic' from say the Trinity dac and it's Trinity PC & Drive server? could be. maybe Audiocrack can, at some point, move his CAPSv4 into the Trinity System and do the comparison. or might the Aurender W20 somehow sound better than any generic server? don't know. maybe someone can answer that?
i'm likely not the right person to give you much help on this issue. as I've simply followed other's (mostly Elberoth's) directions. which has turned out rather well for me I think.
- Finally, what is the technical rationale behind moving your NAS closer to your components? Why should it matter how far away it is? You mentioned the disadvantage of fan noise? What are you gaining in the trade-off ?
Thanks and Enjoy!!!
moving the server downstairs eliminated (1) a 40' CAT5e network cable, and (2) the powered USB over Ethernet extender which allowed that 40' cable with the USB on the end of it. the new CAPSv4 server still has to connect itself to the network over a cable and then to the NAS over the network, but the server is just a 2m USB cable from the dacs. I know that how the Trinity controls jitter with it's 'uber' clocks requires a short USB, can't say exactly how it affects the Playbacks or another dac.
of course now I have the new CAPS v4 Pipeline server which is totally quiet as well as much better sounding as I described. but with the old server moved downstairs I did get much better performance from the Trinity and a little better from the Playbacks Design as well as the single disc drawer for ripping was now in my listening room which allowed for me to easily rip CD's for that week it was there. now it's back upstairs with the Kodak big boy ripper.
