Using a Mac Mini as a digital source
- Thread starter JTC
- Start date
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
I've listened to this in 24/96 and 16/44 Joe, I can tell no difference,
http://d.yimg.com/ec/image/v1/release/35887255;encoding=jpg;size=300;fallback=defaultImage
Cheese
Bitter lover
An SSD is definitely more expensive than a same-sized HD.
Robert
Tapehead
I don't think you understand the test.
If the two signals are different, they don't null. Simple as that. Positive null test results aren't difficult to obtain. Oddly enough they surface when a real, proven difference exists.
No difference between lathed and standard.
Flat line - with a completely silent sound file produced.
I don'r see any evidence in this thread. None at all.
I see lots of theory, claims and anecdotal 'evidence' to support your view but absolutely nothing concrete.
However I notice you've chosen your words very carefully.
Nobody has claimed that it is 'impossible' for two transports to sound different.
Transports can and do fail and become faulty, and if a sub standard transport is feeding an elderly or just plain poor dac then of course it becomes feasible to get differences.
sq225917
Bit of this, bit of that
Item, you must mistake me with someone else. I never, ever complain about the tone of people's posts nor would i complain about derogative personal comments, it's not a creche in here. So have at it.
Despite your claims otherwise so far you've proven, or shown facts to prove the square root of sweet **** all as regards your position on digital audio. But in case you are making incorrect assumptions about my position let me clearly state...
I do believe that transports 'can' and 'do' make a difference. I know it to be true I've measured it and heard it. However, increasingly this is becoming less and less true as dac designs continue to improve in terms of signal handling and inherent noise rejection. But note I'm only referring to transports here, and by that I mean separate cd spinners, I do not include HD and SSD here and I definitely don't believe them to sound any different, certainly not n my set-up with my mac and dac.
No doubt it's not revealing enough,..... lol
Despite your claims otherwise so far you've proven, or shown facts to prove the square root of sweet **** all as regards your position on digital audio. But in case you are making incorrect assumptions about my position let me clearly state...
I do believe that transports 'can' and 'do' make a difference. I know it to be true I've measured it and heard it. However, increasingly this is becoming less and less true as dac designs continue to improve in terms of signal handling and inherent noise rejection. But note I'm only referring to transports here, and by that I mean separate cd spinners, I do not include HD and SSD here and I definitely don't believe them to sound any different, certainly not n my set-up with my mac and dac.
No doubt it's not revealing enough,..... lol
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
My iPad playing the same ALAC files over USB( through a camera adaptor) into a benchmark HDR sounded obviously worse than the laptop. How did that happen?
Evil Emperor
Taller Than Stalin
It didn't. You are suffering auditory hallucinations brought about by being exposed to emotions, possibly as a result of an unauthorised attempt to listen to music instead of test tones.
If you continue this ill-conceived venture, it may lead to you having your own opinion. This will not be tolerated.
Others have also tried this and found the same thing. It's been discussed on another (more objective) forum once people starting reading the article posted on benchmark media's website.
You're not hallucinating. But several people will be along shortly to dispute you regardless and accuse you of all sorts of witchcraft. Trusting your ears as an arbiter of sound quality is unacceptable.
Was the laptop a mac or a pc?
That's fair enough: I know your experience with digital audio is more extensive than some here. I also know from experience that the Young DAC is robustly designed in that regard, and am a big supporter of async DACs (in principle) as (in general) they tend to reduce the importance of the transport.
However, we're on a mad mission to hunt and exterminate imperfections: to make a computer a 7/10 (or better) transport in the grand scheme of transports in general. It's a surprisingly big ask, given the IT junk we're working with. It's not that difficult to build a system that shows you very minor transport issues, as well as the grosser ones that are generally noticed. And it all matters: SSDs, DC cabling, power supply - the lot. Not ripping methods (in storage terms, bits really are bits), maybe not ethernet cable, but almost everything else.
This isn't a game you need to play: you can buy a good DAC and be content. You can even buy a low-rent DAC and a streamer and have fun. But if you really want to do digital properly, this is the rabbit hole everyone inevitably ends up in. SQ225917 - you're half-way in, and called it quits - fair play.
avole, basil et al, I'm sorry, but you don't seem to have even found the entrance yet . . .
True enough. I have fooled myself in the past.
Either Benchmark made a mistake in collecting the data or their methodology is flawed in some way. Entirely possible.
Trusting your ears is completely acceptable in order to make a purchasing decision. It is not acceptable in establishing a new 'science fact' because it also a 'science fact' that you can't trust em!
In science of course a 'science fact' is something we know to be true until we can come up with a better explanation. This is used by peddlers of religions, cults and boutique USB cables. Caveat emptor.
sq225917
Bit of this, bit of that
Item, nah that's just bollocks, cables and hard discs offer no improvement over 'adequate' alternatives, ie ones that are not broken. Swapping out the switching regs in the young for better linear ones might improve it as would making the output stage dual differential, at least in terms of specification and measurable noise if not as recognisable Audible improvements.
Frankly I'm nowhere near your rabbit hole, I buy solid engineering and proven design expertise not bullshit foo from shills who knowingly gouge naieve customers. I have zero respect of any aspects of your viewpoint and don't need your friendly approval of my viewpoint, thanks all the same. You don't represent any part of my views.
Frankly I'm nowhere near your rabbit hole, I buy solid engineering and proven design expertise not bullshit foo from shills who knowingly gouge naieve customers. I have zero respect of any aspects of your viewpoint and don't need your friendly approval of my viewpoint, thanks all the same. You don't represent any part of my views.
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
Andy, laptop was a Sony vaio with vista. I really thought the iPad should have sounded at least as good into the HDR dac but it sounded very obviously worse and oh how I wanted it to work. The sq was so poor I have no intention of using the iPad this way.
I've been using it to stream to the AppleTV and have been pleasantly surprised by the results, so presumably it's Apple's USB implementation that is to blame.
You seem to derive inordinate pleasure from being disagreeable. I say black: you say white. Leaving aside personal issues (and for you, this seems to be weirdly personal), the entrance to the rabbit hole is marked:
“Bit-identical transports sound different: enter, or leave?”
If you deny the existence of the rabbit hole (avole, basil, sonddek) or claim that the entire industry of cutting edge researchers beavering away mixing metaphors in it are all insane, then frankly you're claiming the sky is green. It's not about me, you know.
If you acknowledge that bit-perfect transports differ, and have spent more than a few seconds thinking about why, you're in the rabbit hole: even if you don't like the company you're keeping. You appear to be a rabbit-hole denialist, sq225917!
As Steven Stone notes in this, and last, months' comprehensive review of digital transports and DACs, there's no such thing as a DAC 'so good' it makes this irrelevant. It depends on where you set the bar, how you value your sanity, and whether you're inured by the IT mindset so thoroughly you haven't yet considered the computer as part of a differently-sensitive audio system.
Half the contributors to this thread will be saying: 'how is that POSSIBLE? They must be delusional)'. The other half are saying 'how could it be otherwise? Well spotted'.