Fuck if this thing had S/PDIF in as well as USB, it'd be such a no-brainer... I'd happily pay more than $2.5k for such a thing... just can't bring myself to part from spinning CDs completely yet... fuck maybe by 2010 I'll have everything in iTunes and can go whole hog...

spin your cds in your computer

As much as I dislike Apples as computers, they're really the way to go for audiophilia, huh? =(

spin your cds in your computer

clearly the logical choice... not sure why i haven't given in on this one yet, there isn't any good reason... stubborn-ness i guess. for a 25-year-old IT professional, i'm a total luddite... didn't even start computering my music until i got an iphone when the 3g came out... didn't have an ipod or anything before that... now no clue how i lived without...

As much as I dislike Apples as computers, they're really the way to go for audiophilia, huh? =(

won't ask why you hate them... but there is one thing that bites cock compared to Winbloze - ask someone about Audio Midi Setup.app and sampling rates...

Eh, not that big a deal. Certainly compared to asio.

Eh, not that big a deal. Certainly compared to asio.

doesn't bother me; being a luddite, all my material's in 16/44.1

The audio midi setup shouldn't bother you for the same reason

The audio midi setup shouldn't bother you for the same reason

it doesn't... i adore OS X down to the ground (the NeXTstep ground that is!) and that was the one negative i could think of when it comes to macs and audiophilia

As much as I dislike Apples as computers, they're really the way to go for audiophilia, huh? =(

Not really. OS X doesn't have foobar2000.

foobar is only popular because it helps fix what sucks about windows music stuff

itunes is great.

foobar is only popular because it helps fix what sucks about windows music stuff

itunes is great.

foobar also plays every lossless format

I convert everything to alac when I add it to my library, so that's not a problem. It's not like there's bit rot in a conversion. And I rip my own cds a lot more than I buy flacs...

Besides, there are lots of music playing apps on mac that play all the formats. And plugins to let itunes play most...

actually in my windows days i ran WinAMP with an asio out plugin to my m audio 2496 card. provided bit-perfect s/pdif out and worked rather well.

worst thing for me going winamp -> itunes was sorting... in my winamp days i had my folder structure organized LastName, FirstName/AlbumYear-Album Name/Track#-TrackName, and organized in winamp by folder structure, and It Was Good... in itunes i've had to spend hours and hours fucking with Sort Artist and Sort Album fields to get everything to come up in the right order on both itunes and ipod...

used to use monkey's audio for lossless on windows, and EAC to rip... using XLD to rip on MacOS and ALAC of course...

the old windows/monkey's audio/winamp setup was really good for my anal retentive obsessive compulsive tendencies... i could even rip cds to image/cue format (saved in .ape) and create .apl cue files to add to winamp

I convert everything to alac when I add it to my library, so that's not a problem. It's not like there's bit rot in a conversion. And I rip my own cds a lot more than I buy flacs...

Besides, there are lots of music playing apps on mac that play all the formats. And plugins to let itunes play most...

Right, that's fine for you. I was addressing "foobar is only popular because it helps fix what sucks about windows music stuff" (Ayre's website even recommends other players that defeat Windows Kmixer as well).

that's not the only reason it's popular.

this is becoming quite the thread crap... props to deepak for bringing an ayre mention back into it

I don't get the foobar thing at all to be honest. I'm just not a tweaker.

A couple of recent tidbits on the QB-9 upgrade path from Charles Hansen. Just on the off-chance anyone else is interested.

It would be great if they would sell just the board to non Ayre/Wavelength owners. That, even I would buy. Maybe when one of you guys upgrade, I'll buy the old board off of you ... seriously.

I use foobar on my netbook, since it can barley power anything else. I use iTunes on everything else though.

I've tried other stuff, but I'm just too hooked on the iTunes interface to use anything else. Its more satisfying than Foobar, aesthetically.

I use foobar on my netbook, since it can barley power anything else. I use iTunes on everything else though.

I've tried other stuff, but I'm just too hooked on the iTunes interface to use anything else. Its more satisfying than Foobar, aesthetically.

Must admit I like the "it just works" aspect of both iTunes and the QB-9. Plug it into a spare USB port, select in Audio Midi, open iTunes and you're done, for good. I haven't had a single hiccup in a couple of months. Click play, get great sound. Know we're all tweakers to some extent around here, but that simplicity and transparency have got to be worth plenty to most normal folks.

If there was a Mac netbook, it would only run on organic Quinoa.

do you generally suggest barley for netbooks? i would have figured wheat or corn would be the way to go.

dont be dissin mah fazt typeing skilles, mang. I cante be al aboot spellin n shitt.

I much prefer foobar, too, because itunes just killed my old computer. Also, I hate converting filetypes.

I don't get the foobar thing at all to be honest. I'm just not a tweaker.

I like foobar over itunes primarily because it is incredibly light weight and makes itunes (for windows anyways) feel incredibly bloated in comparison. Also that it does everything I want without need of downloading/installing/configuring any additional plugins. Moreover stock, which is how I run it, is stripped down while preserving a necessary feature set that is still intuitively accessible.

Anyway, for me, it isn't just because its tweaky and fixes kmixer.

Core audio fixes the crap out of kmixer.

i use Cog. i haven't found much that i would want to play that it doesn't play. well anything, actually.

I thought Cog had a really ugly interface (especially with huge playlists), I'd use itunes over it.