Victoria, Bc

I just picked up your magazine for the first time and love it. I especially enjoyed The High Fidelity Digital Jukebox (in UHF No.74) and looked up your previous articles on the CEC DA53 and the iPod.

I would like to know what would be necessary to make a “hi-fi” system with this technique. I would start fresh and abandon all my mid-fi and at this point would use a CD or DVD player and stream music via Wi-Fi or LAN. Thus I am most interested in playing music from digital sources. I would like to start building my system, so could you list the components in order of necessity? I already have a computer, iTunes (I use Apple Lossless) and a network.

Derek Sou

Derek, this issue includes a review of the Slim Devices Squeezebox, which may be one key to getting the best possible sound from your computer. The Squee- zebox connects by Ethernet or Wi-Fi, and it can feed a digital signal into a genuine hi-fi system. Using the Apple Lossless codec is the right choice in our view. Anyone not able to use iTunes can download the Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), available for all com- puter platforms including Linux, Unix, Solaris, plus some we’ve never heard of. It’s at http://flac.sourceforge.net. Actu- ally, if your computer is near your music system and it has a digital output, you don’t even need the Squeezebox.

The idea of getting a digital signal from the computer or the accessory box

is to avoid letting cheap computer gear handle the digital-to-analog conversion. That means you’ll need a good quality external converter, which could turn out to be your most expensive single component. If you want to be able to play CDs directly, look for a good CD player which also has a digital input.

Then add what you can afford in the way of an integrated amplifier and loudspeakers. Both should be made by companies that also make the products you wish you could afford.

First of all I want to tell you how much I love reading your magazine. I am very

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 13

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ADVICE

76 specifications

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