Next I pointed Origin at my external 4TB SSD drive to import all its meta data for the final library view of the previous page. That data transfer took a while. Without exception, all album art imported. And only 5 albums had lost their artist's name to require adding it again in Audirvana's editor. Once completed, those albums popped back into proper alphabetical sequence. I like law and order in my library. It's the only way to find things.

To optimize 'extreme' mode, I installed a SysOptimizer helper file. With that aboard, Audirvana turned on this feature. Checking on computing resources, playing back music had the CPU at ~1% load. That makes this consumer-grade computer a pure music playback machine whose 3rd-party player software acts as the server interface, disables all redundant computing threads and finally replaces iTunes fully to be format agnostic for .dff, .flac and .wav approval. .aiff is no longer the only language spoken.

The Lhy network switch handles signal pre-conditioning on Ethernet for the occasional web session; the Singxer bridge signal post conditioning on the exiting USB stream.

Today is not a gotcha feature as in, look what I just got. My reason for this brief report is simply to demonstrate my subversive talk walked for real; about what I think remains an excellent cost-effective solution for a serious music-optimized server/streamer based on an iMac. If my main system streamed off the cloud a lot, I'd probably install Audirvana Studio instead to route my Qobuz Sublime subscription through its optimizer routine like my local files. I just don't do enough of it here. The Singxer SU-6 USB bridge on super-cap power handles external buffering and reclocking for €700. Has the sound changed over the macOS Sierra iMac, with local files on its 3TB FusionDrive and Audirvana working behind iTunes? I'm convinced that my digital front end now sounds even more organic and round. When you've lived with something for as long as I've lived with Mr. iMac, its contribution to the overall sound is in your bones. The new setup bones up over that.

I needn't know whether it's due to Origin beating up 3.2xxx; Ventura OS; hosting the library on an external SSD drive; or something different. For €100 from Amazon I got 2x16GB extra OWC RAM to increase my stock 2x4GB to 40GB. Unlike M-series chips which integrate RAM to lock it in, the last of the 27" iMacs retain their removable small back plate to expose four bays for a DIY boost. If this machine lasts me another 10 years as the one still not MIA, I'll consider it an ace buy. The oldie keeps ticking but its legacy Audirvana install routinely refuses to launch. Now I must launch PureMusic instead which doesn't sound as good. Finally, the 5K Retina display in dark mode really is quite a busy bee in the bonnie bonnet.

So the king lives on; new but barely changed. At least that's my very fine excuse for still not boarding the headless audiophile server/streamer hype train. If reading this has a few readers consider a similar path—Audirvana works for Windows so Apple hardware is far from mandatory—today's 'gotcha' will have served a worthy cause.