[virtue]

I received a Pure I-20 from Amazon today for $89 inc. prime shipping.  Peel back the plastic and it looks very well done, uses the XMOS iPod reference design, overkill DAC for iPod quality output, remote, cables, etc. very nice.  The unit looks very comparable to Wadia and HRT. 

What's the verdict on using these devices as HiFi music servers?  I've not yet pulled the trigger on ours and am just wondering whether we can possibly add any value aside from putting something like this in a nicer case with some incremental upgrades.

[Obriendigital]

I received a Pure I-20 from Amazon today for $89 inc. prime shipping.  Peel back the plastic and it looks very well done, uses the XMOS iPod reference design, overkill DAC for iPod quality output, remote, cables, etc. very nice.  The unit looks very comparable to Wadia and HRT. 

What's the verdict on using these devices as HiFi music servers?  I've not yet pulled the trigger on ours and am just wondering whether we can possibly add any value aside from putting something like this in a nicer case with some incremental upgrades.

Seth,

I have had great success with mine with my Virtue One.2 and some Ascend Acoustics!  Nice little rig, and seems to be a nice DAC...especially for $89!  In terms of a music server, works (or better even better than) a Logitec Sqeezebox in my opinion. 

What do others think???

[tabrink]

My Logitec Squeezebox Touch in my opinion is the coolest piece of gear I own. I can control with almost anything (iPad, Iphone etc.) wirelessly listen to my personal music collection and dozens of playlist and stream MOG (my own personal 16,000,000 redbook song collection) internet radio and more.
Now if I could control the Pure I 20 with a pad now we are talking. I have a Pure I 20 and seldom use anything but my Virtue Piano and my Touch.
  Decisions we audiophiles wrestle with. How cool is that!!!

[WC]

I was going to get the Pure I-20, but I picked up a Marantz AVR with the USB digital connection. I found that the only time I hook it up is to play MOG through my system. I normally listen to MOG at work on my iPhone and listen to my music collection through my Netbook and DAC at home. I keep adding to my music collection so I am not sure I would use an iPod to store it all if it would even fit.

[wsturner]

For those using the Squeezebox Touch...I just added the following 3rd party app. For FLAC files, the results were amazing!

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?94512-Announce-Enhanced-Digital-Output-app-USB-Dac-and-192k-Digital-Ouput

Scott

[RDavidson]

I have an Arcam drDock that I have running into my DAC. I also have a Squeezebox Classic running into the same DAC. Well, one day my Squeezebox was giving me problems. I think Logitech must've been doing some system maintenance or something. This prompted me to try using my drDock with ipod Touch as a streamer (I listen primarily to Pandora as well as stuff I have stored on my Touch). Not sure why I didn't try this sooner as the sound from the drDock into my DAC vs the SB Classic into my DAC is far and away superior. The biggest difference is lack of clarity with the SB.

[wsturner]

I also have a Pure I-20 - and send the signal to an external DAC.

For the price, it sounds great! But an iPod/iPhone is not a good repository for your entire catalog in FLAC format   

Scott

[RDavidson]

Good point. Totally agree. Good for streaming and a relatively small selection of lossless music files only.