Request to Guido Fawkes

Guy's generous and instrucive contributions are available via Search.  What is your current hifi situation and goal?  Many here can offer good advice in the Mac area.

Regards,

Nick

Many here can offer advice and there are lots of great threads. 

I run an office (upstairs) and main (downstairs) system 

My office system has a Internet connection going in to a Juniper SRX100 switch which as Ethernet cables to a Naim UQ, Apple Airport, Vortexbox, Sonos Bridge and some other stuff. UPnP on my VB serves FLAC to the UQ, which plays through TD150 speakers. I've  experimented with a Mac and Yazsoft Playback (YP) UPnP worked well. I control the system using nStream. 

Downstairs I use a Mac Mini/Supernova 6/Naim DAC/555PS into a Naim amp/speakers, which I control with Apple's Remote app. Works exceptionally well and plays everything - I use the BitPerfect app to automatically switch sample rates.  I use iTunes to manage the files. 

Should I want to play files from the VB downstairs I have a Wired-4-Sound Sonos Connect that does that through the DAC - it is wireless and just works (standard resolution only).  

My recommendation is Vortexbox for streaming UPnP or a new Mac Mini for direct connection to a DAC. [If you have another Mac then use a USB/S-PDIF convertor such as the hiFace, V-Link, Hallide Bridge or BAD Alpha {if you are very rich}]. The best optical cable I've tried is the TCI Kurki glass optical, but it is no longer made, so I use a Wireworld Supernova 6 which is just as good, but a bit more expensive. My Kurki is too short and has the wrong connector, but works from a V-Link. 

However if you want to use a Mac as UPnP server then YP works for me. 

Yes I could use a NDX as a transport, but I'm not convinced I'd notice the improvement enough to merit such expenditure. I do plan to check out the NDS and KDS against the Naim DAC. The NDS and the Naim demo sounded superb, but I do have a couple of concerns about Naim's digital streaming products so I need to be happy these are not an issue before doing any upgrades. 

I am not intending to be an early adopter this time around. 

If the Naim kit didn't work with Vortexbox (Linux) or Mac then I wouldn't use a Naim solution, as I've no intention of buying a Windows PC. 

Hope this helps - James N has written some great threads the Mac. Nick knows his way around too, as does Tog, Gary and quite a few others. 

Streaming can be daunting sometimes, but then so is setting up a turntable. We also seem to want to distribute kit around the house now, which was never easy. 

As always a good dealer is priceless in getting this all to work. 

Ripping on a Mac is easy - you just need XLD - James wrote a detailed thread on how to use it - it is free and is the best ripper around with one exception - if you want to rip HDCDs you'll need a PC running dBPA to get all 20 bits - sad, but true as Microsoft bought the HDCD code and won't let Apple or Linux users have it. However, if you just want to rip CDs then XLD to AIFF, ALAC or FLAC - nothing rips CDs better though many others do an equally fine job. 

XLD is free. 

iTunes also makes bit perfect tips most of the time - though it doesn't tell you if it has problems. 

Hope this is of some help. 

All the best, Guy

If you have specific problems then post and I and others will try to help you. 

How would you know this?  Why make the claim you cannot verify in ANY way.

I have compared files ripped by Naim, XLD and iTunes and some other rippers and found the resultant PCM to be identical. In the case of iTunes/XLD, I did this for several files - well more than several. I have also compared with files ripped with EAC and dBPA with the same results. The rips not done on a Mac or Vortexbox were not done done by me, but by friends who were interested in the comparisons. 

I'm sure you can find CDs where things may be different. However, as on nearly every occasion I've tried the bit for bit comparison, I've found consistent result then I made a quite reasonable conclusion. 

In saying Bit Perfect, I'm assuming that the rippers didn't all get it wrong in exactly the same way. I have to concede that all rippers may be getting it wrong as I don't have a checksum for the original CD and the Accurate Rip database may simply be misleading if that is what you are saying. 

I am confident in the majority of cases there will no difference between the various rippers - even ones running on Windows. However, XLD on a Mac is nice to use and reassures you - so it is the one I use. 

I'm not going to do any more comparisons as there are more interesting things to do. 

Anyway, I was asked a question about my system and the way I get it to work, which I tried to answer. I do not see a need for a Mac user to ever buy a Windows, as they can do everything except HDCDs with their Mac. I would still advocate for streaming that a Vortexbox is ideal and is another way to stream music without any need for Windows. Interestingly, Spoon has posted on his forum how you can run Asset UPnP server on a Mac without any need to buy Windows, which is good news as Asset is another very good product. 

You would buy a Rolls Royce and then put retread tyres on it so why put Windows on a Mac. I have a cheap PC for work and it is really dreadful - I can't see how anybody would be satisfied with it. Windows 7 is the worst version of Windows I had to use - the number of times I have had program not responding is unbelievable. Cheap PCs are not good move in my opinion. 

I'm not sure why so many threads have to end in an argument. There are different ways to get results that keep us happy. As I've stated if using a Windows was the only way to get a Naim streaming solution to work then I'd be looking elsewhere for non-Naim solutions, but for the most part Naim works well for those of us who prefer to be different. Apple users tend to like things that just work. 

If other people want to use Windows then fine - I don't contribute to those threads as I can be of no help. However, I try to help fellow Mac users who want to get Naim kit to work with it. 

So in conclusion, whether you use iTunes, XLD, EAC, dBPA, cdParanoia, Naim magic ripper or some other super ripper - I do not believe in the majority cases the PCM (Music) you extract will be any different. Even if the odd few bits were different I'm unconvinced a listener would notice, but in the ones I've sampled they are not even different. 

Thanks Guy (and others)

I want to make sure I understand what you've said before I follow up with any question - or even just to say that your answers have been more than sufficient.

Interestingly, I use a PC at office and at hope we are Mac only.  I am not as negative about the PC as some; possibly what I do with it just does not create the same set of problems.  And I have used  the PC from the very first IBM PC and others before that.

So thank you everyone for your replies and I will give feedback soon

David

Same here - PC at work, Macs at home hence the desire to find a good Mac UPnP solution to utilise my existing iTunes library. 

James