[raysracing]

I had some FLAC files I never played in my MacBook. I figured VLC could play them. I went with my SPIDF out and changed to 24bit 96hz with the Midi control panel and was blown away. Talk about a cheap and cheerful solution to this problem ( I use iTunes).  No complaints for me with sound of the free VLC Player. This experiment lead me to download free HD tracks sampler (aiff) which played in iTunes, also 24,96.

Really happy there too. Now if I could only afford high res downloads and Amarra or etc.

[fridays]

You don't need Amarra, try Audirvana

 

[persisting1]

If for some reason you want to listen to your FLAC files in iTunes, you can always convert them by using MediaHuman. It's free, so that's a good thing.

http://www.mediahuman.com/audio-converter/

[raysracing]

I dug out my old office Dell Optiplex and made a media server with ASIO driver out of it the last few days. But the PC is very old only has a 80gb hard drive and the annoying, but powerful Winamp in it. Boy is that frustrating to work with when you have not used it in years. I don't want to invest any money in it because who knows when the machine will die. But it did open my eyes to how relatively easy it would be to build a do all machine on the cheap. TO my ears playing through a stock USB to my DAC it sounded quite good. In fact it had an openness to the sound and less crispy highs I think that was a step ahead of my macbook when I run it with iTunes out of the USB or SPIDF.

I will try Audirvana first on my macbook I think because of the cost. 

[raysracing]

I DL the trial of Audirvana and I love it. I don't know how I will pay for it when it comes due in a few days, but I feel like listening to my entire iTunes library again now. Am I crazy or does music not played through my Dacmagic also sound better ( airplay to my Apple TV and through the laptop speakers)?

But on my stereo system it is amazing.