Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server

[GuillaumeB]

Getting the thread nearer to it's original topic, is it not possible that the Totaldac is quite simply a little bit better than AIR? i.e. maybe AIR does do cleaver things coordinating and clocking data from a computer, but the Totaldac is simply doing much the same thing and maybe doing it just that little bit better? Assuming the Totaldac is not a rip off, and assuming it is competently designed, then it should be better than AIR, it is about five times the cost of an AIR module. So if the Totaldac is offering reasonable value for money, then yes, it should be able to outperform AIR?

Well if you think about it AIR is an app sitting on someone else's computer... and which depends on that person's music player software of choice. There are lots of variables, hence the differences in SQ between A+, iTunes, Mac etc, not to mention power supplies and operating systems. Some are getting white noise and dropouts, others not.

The d1 server on the other hand is a perfectly optimised "single purpose" computer/unit where all the elements (software and hardware) are controlled and optimised by totaldac. Only sound quality is important.

Guillaume