Possédant un DAC de qualité (dCS Puccini + U-Clock) avec entrée USB, j'ai demandé un conseil à dCS sur le matériel à utiliser. Je vais commencer à acheter des fichiers hautes résolutions. Pour information, voici leur réponse.
Dear Philippe
Many Thanks for your enquiry.
We have published a guide to Computer Audio that deals with most of the set-up issues you are likely to face but if you are starting out from scratch then the first choice you have is Windows or Mac as the Operating System.
For ease of use and sonic performance I would recommend a Mac as the server instead of a Windows machine. Secondly, if you decide to go down the Mac route then you have the choice of 3 different machines to act as the front end:
1. Laptop
2. Mac Mini
3. Desktop
Each of these vary in features and price and there is a case for a Desktop PC as you get much more of everything, especially RAM and Disk Space. Some people choose the laptop as they want to use it elsewhere but we find the Mac Mini to be an excellent choice as a front end because it is small, silent and once configured to be part of your system you don’t need screens/keyboards/mouse etc.
The only downside is that at the moment our usb output is limited to 96kS/s although we are working on new technology to enable output up to at least 192 over usb and this is scheduled for some time in 2011. If 176.4 and 192 from the computer is a must for you then I would recommend a Desktop Mac and the addition of a Lynx or RME soundcard outputting Dual AES but this is more complex to install and set-up. I can’t see the 96k limit being an issue for you through as Red Book is obviously 44.1 and most of the high res labels (HD Tracks, Linn, Passionata) are settling on 88.2 or 96 for their material.
Finally on the choice of front end if you decide on the Mac Mini then I recommend that you install a small Solid State Drive (SSD) to run the OS and Applications as they have no moving parts and in theory contribute less noise and interference. There are a number of specialists who can install these for you. Secondly, the addition of an iPod Touch , iPhone or iPad is extremely useful because there are apps that allow you to use that device as a keyboard, mouse and screen for Mac Mini and therefore you don’t need any of these components in the listening room. Alternatively your existing desktop PC could also be set up to control the Mac Mini from the other room in situations where you need to configure something. Finally if you do decide on a small SSD in the Mini then you will need an external drive to store the music. We recommend a Firewire drive or Time Capsule so the usb is kept free for the U-Clock.
When it comes to ripping music I rip all of my music in AIFF (using iTunes with Error Correction enabled) because the AIFF format is lossless, embeds the artwork and metadata and almost all Windows and Mac Playback software supports AIFF. I also keep my iTunes library (and all music) in an external Firewire drive rather than on the internal HDD. I do this for a couple of reasons. Firstly it is easier to backup and more portable, second it is alleged to sound better than using the internal HDD of the machine as it is more processor intensive that way. On the external drive I use a large 2TB external Firewire drive meaning the usb port is free for connection to dCS only.
If you are ripping music in iTunes you can select either Apple Lossless or AIFF and please note that there may be some music you download or buy that is FLAC and in that case you might have to run the Songbird application as your Playback software or else use a program like MAX to convert to AIFF.
On the computer audio side of things there are 2 Mac applications that make a big difference compared to just using iTunes. They are Pure Music Player or Amarra. Both do the same job allow you to output bit perfect audio to the dCS box, switch sample rates automatically and sound better that iTunes.
Finally, depending on how far you want to go down the computer audio(philia?) route there are some Operating System changes that may or may not make a difference.....
Mac OS X: tweaks to decrease overhead on a music server | Computer Audiophile
I hope this all makes sense and Good Luck
Best Regards
David Steven
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
David J M Steven
Managing Director
email:
djmsteven@dcsltd.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 1954 233950