[Parabellum]

Thanks James,

These are my thrusty Totem Mani-2 Signature (isobaric configuration). I really love their sound, but not their 4 ohms impedance load. I once fried the Lavardin IS Reference amplifier of my best buddy because of them... If only I could find a speaker that would have that sound signature, rich and plenty, with a 8 ohms load I would be a happy camper.

Since I have been in and out of renovations of my basement since the last 2 years, I had planned right from the start to wire the whole house with CAT 5e 1Gb ethernet (I should have ran CAT6 cable instead). This is because I knew that I would make the switch to the digital media with a digital player and finally ditch the CD player once I rebuild something decent for hi-fi setup. I wanted to make sure to have a stable connection. But the new wi-fi dongle would eliminate another cable so it's not a bad thing.

To answer your question, it was very easy to start with a USB stick with the front panel controls. Not that one needs to be a geek to operate it, but since it is my first foray in digital audio I guess I was more intimidated than anything in the beginning (first DAC also). But after a few hours I felt right at home and reading the manual made things quite simpler in understanding the beast. For all digital medias, it cannot be as simple as to insert a CD in the CD player and press play. Now that I am almost setup, I am quite happy about the move. I just need to buy a 2 TB SSD and an iPad and I will be all set. I will subscribe to Roon once there (did the 14 days trial and really liked it).

Thanks,

Serge