Build High-End Audio System w/ Hard Drive Storage?

nganju asks: "Hard Drives have finally reached the size where I can rip down 1000 CDs directly to WAV files, and skip the compression step (read: headache) altogether, ensuring that the audio playback is what the original CD author intended. Now the question is, how do I get that WAV data off the computer and into the amplifier with minimal distortion? Are there D/A PCI cards comparable to high-end CD players? Or is the best solution some direct digital output card (SPDIF) and a standalone D/A converter component? Specific model names would be greatly appreciated."

Comments

Lossless compression does exist.

[fatty bimble]

You really should consider some type of lossless compression. The "headache" is minimal, and although it isn't the 10x compression of its lossy brethern, 2x is nothing to completely ignore. http://flac.sourceforge.net/

Wrong forum to ask this question in.

[Murphy Murph]

You really should be asking this over at Hydrogenaudio:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php
The signal to noise ratio is much better there for this kind of question.