In my experience, the entire audio component, from source to speakers should be transparent enough so that you can hear the subtle differences in the music playback whether it be different types or version of music files or material; or maybe different types of cables; or tubes or whatever you insert or change in the music component chain.
A carefully made music server or music source may not necessarily output the natural presentation of a music material if any of the components is not able to process or convey the music signal in a transparent or natural way by how the music material was recorded (good or bad). In simple words, if a music file or material is good, the output should be good; and if it is bad then the output should be bad. That's what I meant by transparency.
If you think your music server has been properly built to a certain level, maybe check out the other components in your audio chain which may be the link that does not provide the transparency.
In my case, when I started to use Magnepan (planar) speakers and Mark Audio fullrange diy speakers, I was able to tune my audio components better and also found which of my music materials were recorded good or bad. The aforementioned speakers, for me, are regarded as transparent and resolving. It will output what you feed them (good or bad) and will sound good or bad as originally intended. So I realized that all the while, my previous speakers were 'forgiving' and did not provide me the actual sound that my components were producing.
But please do take note that YMMV and I hope my experience can provide some insight in your audio journey.
Oh, and BTW, the Paul Pang cables can be sourced locally too thru a local distributor. (Victor Sow - 0917-855-0668; PDVD handle rotciv64)
Sadly my audio components are not resolving enough so I can't tell the difference. I even tried playing back a DSD audio file on an SMSL M8 DAC connected to either laptop or PC and I could not differentiate between the two using HD600 or HE-400i headphones. I'm limited to my budget-fi setup unfortunately
But having said that, I think the new "Intel NUC" style PC's can help in building a noiseless PC source that won't break your bank account. They do meet some of the requirements that JoeyGS mentioned:
- Processor is fanless and cooled passively (especially for Baytrail quad-core CPUs)
- PSU is fanless and uses a Pico PSU with separate adapter.
- Can use an SSD
- Can be upgraded to 16GB of memory
- Headless operation is possible (I think?) as they are designed to be used as HTPC with remote.
The only requirements they don't meet are the audio grade SATA/HDD cables and the Paul Pang audio grade USB card. Very specialized components that have to ordered from abroad I guess. The passive cases like Streacom are also very expensive. A good alternative to Streacom are the Akasa passive cases.
But having mentioned the above...
Wouldn't an HD Audio media player be more practical like the Dune HD Smart D1 or Popcorn Hour C300? They can use SSD's for storage, can be controlled remotely, and you can connect them to an external DAC or audiophile grade receiver. The only drawback I see is they don't have support for DSD audio files