I want to give a quick update on my preliminary thoughts of the new server. Later today I will try the touch remote application again and see if I can make it work this time. First of all, I want to thank Gary for sharing his secrets/tips/tricks with all of us for free. Second of all, if any of you have a modest digital server for your music (and by modest I mean you don’t have tons of dough invested in your digital playback), run don’t walk to your nearest electronics store and scarf up one of these Toshiba laptops before they are gone.
What Gary has done here is nothing short of giving you the equivalent of a multi-thousand dollar upgrade for $349.00 if you stick with the stock hard drive as I have done for now. SSDs are very expensive right now, the reliability of them is not super from what I have read, and the storage capacity is low. A year or two from now, SSDs will cost half as much and the storage space will have doubled. It’s just the nature of the digital beast.
Trust me when I tell you that I have spent way more money on various “upgrades” to my system over the years and never heard anything approaching the upgrade that this server brought to digital sound. Now I have to be candid here and tell you that my new server is sitting next to one of my gear racks instead of being in the other room which means I eliminated a cheap set of 35’ ICs that went from my D/A converter into my preamp. Some of you that have trillions invested in your ICs will say, “aha” no wonder it sounds better ya big dummy. For those of you that think all ICs are more or less created equal, prepare to be shocked if you buy the laptop and embark on the journey that Gary will set you upon. Even if you have trillions invested in your ICs, you may still be shocked.
You basically have a laptop that Gary has you hotrod to optimize it for playing back music. There are a zillion things that run in the background of your computer even when you are performing simple tasks and Gary has you turn as many of them off as possible. To my ears, this results in a greater purity of sound. There is a greater sense of ease for lack of a better term. For me, it has taken digital sound to a new and higher level. And keep in mind that I’m using a cheap D/A converter, the Creative Labs E-MU 0404 USB which I happen to think sounds very good. Please tell me if you know of a DAC that will playback files up to 24 bit/192 kHz that sounds better than the 0404 for anywhere near the price.
In summary, this is simply the biggest bang for the buck upgrade I have ever bought. I could listen to this level of sound quality for hours (and I did last night). There is no doubt that digital sound quality has come a long way over the years, and this set up will give you more than a glimpse of how good it can be. Thanks again Gary.