That's all changing rather quickly now . . .
But crucially, access to 24-bit media is a crucial piece in the armoury of computer audio in the war against vinyl!
rega dac, cdq, young dac bake off
- Thread starter bottleneck
- Start date
That's all changing rather quickly now . . .
But crucially, access to 24-bit media is a crucial piece in the armoury of computer audio in the war against vinyl!
Ok, I've spoken to Mark (Item Audio) on the phone and we are sync'ed up to be able to accommodate all the DACs on the day and make sure all drivers etc are installed.
I thought it might make sense if it's ok with Chris to turn up a little earlier than everyone else along with Mark to load up the music files and make sure everything is just ready to go on time as we have a pretty full on day.
Really excited now folks, it's going to be a great occasion.
thanks
Jason
I thought it might make sense if it's ok with Chris to turn up a little earlier than everyone else along with Mark to load up the music files and make sure everything is just ready to go on time as we have a pretty full on day.
Really excited now folks, it's going to be a great occasion.
thanks
Jason
Hi Avole,
it's a PC that's been designed, put together and configured to play music as its no. 1 priority and at the highest quality it can.
To me that means:
- Completely silent with no spinning fans and disks to create electrical noise and interference.
- Properly designed linear power supplies for both the PC and separately for the analogue stage of the DAC if there is one built in.
- The software configured to ensure bit-perfect and jitter-free transport of the music bits to the DAC
- And very importantly, be super easy to use for someone who primarily wants to use it for playing music: e.g. as soon as it's switched on have the music library fill the screen and be ready to play immediately; and be controllable in convenient ways from the comfort of the listening position with remotes and tablets etc
- It's also important (in my opinion) for it not to look like a computer, but a piece of hifi kit so that it fits in aesthetically with other hifi kit and the rest of the living room (as opposed to an office)
To put it into perspective, at one end of the scale there are products like squeezebox, which is effectively a computer that has been locked down to perform just one single function and in a limited configuration.
A HiFi PC takes it to another level where again you have a computer but while it hasn't been locked down, and in theory you can do anything with it like any other computer, it has been optimised and configured to perform the function of playing music very very well, but it can also be used as a computer.
The advantage of that is the wealth of extra value it provides as Spotify, internet radio, movies, You Tube or anything where there is sound or music will be played back at its highest level of quality.
And ultimately, if you put a silent, attractive computer in the living room why not use it for browsing the internet and reading emails and all the other stuff we use computers for....
Jason
Hi Simon,
if only I'd known that before I could have saved myself 6 months of hard R&D developing the TFS...
Jason
had to laugh out loud while reading this one... I do think that the pro is overkill, but IME mac is a better out of the box in audio reproduction
but I don't intend to enter the mac/pc debate about the high-resolution files: I think we all know that 99% of digital music is 16/44.1 or lossy, but I do believe that people who take an interest in this hobby are probably the vanguard of what will become rather common in the future, since internet bandwidth and HDD space are becoming cheap commodities. It even seems that apple will start giving the option of high-res downloads.. at least that's what I read in a very recent article: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/02/22/24.bit.music/index.html
let's see what happens, but it does seem to be a rather big trend
best regards
André
A Mac Book Pro is the perfect digital transport as long as you don't connect it to the switching charger and the mains.
And apart from the OS clutter, which needs to be stripped back to a minimal stack and the fewest possible background processes.
And apart from iTunes, which is a better library management tool than a player (poor).
And apart from the monitor sat millimetres from the audio signal path throwing noise at the DAC.
And apart from the radio transmitters and other sources of wide spectrum electrical pollutants throwing noise at the DAC.
And apart from the hard drive, which - let's face it - is much the same as an optical transport when it comes to magnets and motors and all that other stuff creating vibration and throwing more noise at the DAC.
And apart from the lack of audio-standard power regulators.
And apart from the dearth of high quality optical transceivers.
Other than that, it's perfect!
bottleneck
pfm Member
Im really looking forward to this day.
Both Item audio and NVA do (as above) dedicated music computers.
What I have done, is load the Young Dac drivers onto my extremely old, nasty, Asus laptop (which is about 5 years old, and standard in every way).
We can rip a file or two onto it, and compare (with dedicated music servers) if Item / NVA are agreeable.
NB
Anyone travelling stupid distances is welcome to 'crash'.. bring an airbed or similar. As it's likely to take most of the day, will lay on something to eat.
Looking forward to what promises to be a really interesting day.
Both Item audio and NVA do (as above) dedicated music computers.
What I have done, is load the Young Dac drivers onto my extremely old, nasty, Asus laptop (which is about 5 years old, and standard in every way).
We can rip a file or two onto it, and compare (with dedicated music servers) if Item / NVA are agreeable.
NB
Anyone travelling stupid distances is welcome to 'crash'.. bring an airbed or similar. As it's likely to take most of the day, will lay on something to eat.
Looking forward to what promises to be a really interesting day.
Chris, that would be really interesting - good suggestion. And I can bring my own bog standard Mac Book Pro and try that too if there's time...
Looking forward t it - thanks for organising the day.
Jason
Sure: can't see me and Jason being in the same room and not A-B'ing at some point. With so much gear to bring, I shan't wheel out the big guns, but will tuck a Stealth Mini in my pocket.
Final word re: allowing each converter to be the best it can - we can level the playing field by using the same USB socket + lead ± SPDIF/AES/EBU converter to cater for each DAC's favoured input, but what about the attenuator situation?
A volume control on a DAC can be a major feature if used to bypass the preamp and control the power amp/s directly. Again, we're forcing such a DAC to play left-handed if it's denied the chance to operate that way.
More to the point, if everything is jacked into the same preamp, what looks like a level playing field is actually a handicap for the better equipped DACs - we'll be listening to two attenuators in the system, rather than the converter itself.
To really find out what they can do, we'd need to listen briefly both ways, and base a verdict on the performance of the best configuration. Otherwise we're kind of comparing preamps rather than DACs.
Final word re: allowing each converter to be the best it can - we can level the playing field by using the same USB socket + lead ± SPDIF/AES/EBU converter to cater for each DAC's favoured input, but what about the attenuator situation?
A volume control on a DAC can be a major feature if used to bypass the preamp and control the power amp/s directly. Again, we're forcing such a DAC to play left-handed if it's denied the chance to operate that way.
More to the point, if everything is jacked into the same preamp, what looks like a level playing field is actually a handicap for the better equipped DACs - we'll be listening to two attenuators in the system, rather than the converter itself.
To really find out what they can do, we'd need to listen briefly both ways, and base a verdict on the performance of the best configuration. Otherwise we're kind of comparing preamps rather than DACs.
Purité Audio
Trade: Purite Audio
The Zodiac doesn't attenuate at 0db does it?
Keith.
Keith.
anubisgrau
pfm Member
isn't a wide open attenuator theoretically closest to not having it?
bottleneck
pfm Member
I'm using a Tribute Autoformer, candidly one of the best passive pots in the world.
Bypassing this and using a DAC's inbuilt volume control is (likely) to be more of a disadvantage to it.
Bypassing this and using a DAC's inbuilt volume control is (likely) to be more of a disadvantage to it.
bottleneck
pfm Member
nb
Bob can't make it because he's only really wanting to know Audiolab vs Rega, so if any of you guys can bring a Rega Dac send me a PM.
Bob can't make it because he's only really wanting to know Audiolab vs Rega, so if any of you guys can bring a Rega Dac send me a PM.
Purité Audio
Trade: Purite Audio
We tried a Tribute in our pre amp design, nicely made, re attenuation ,cif you set the Weiss dacs to 0db there is no attenuation.
Whether you prefer the sound of your preamp is another matter,but the digital attenuation is completely transparent.
Keith.
Whether you prefer the sound of your preamp is another matter,but the digital attenuation is completely transparent.
Keith.
bottleneck
pfm Member
It is a thing of absolute beauty I think (the tribute).
If 'passive' is your bag, its up there with the best I think. Adds, takes away nothing except level.
Much prefer it to stepped attenuators, carbon pots, cheaper transformer passives, and LDR passives.
A good active pre-amp can be a thing of joy, but most sound very coloured after using the Tribute.
Here it is, seeing as this is a hifi forum.
http://www.tribute-audio.nl/
If 'passive' is your bag, its up there with the best I think. Adds, takes away nothing except level.
Much prefer it to stepped attenuators, carbon pots, cheaper transformer passives, and LDR passives.
A good active pre-amp can be a thing of joy, but most sound very coloured after using the Tribute.
Here it is, seeing as this is a hifi forum.
http://www.tribute-audio.nl/
bottleneck
pfm Member
Hi again avid readers
Anyone near Reading with the Rega?... or any existing visitors able to bring one?
I can get one from local dealer to borrow, but would have to stump up £500. Not that keen!..
I know we have enough with the Audiolab, Young, Wyred 4 sound, etc - but this would be a nice addition if anyone is near enough to bring one.
I feel hearing the DACs through a selection of streaming transports - from humble SB3 to dedicated music servers will be really interesting too.. so if you own a Rega DAC and were thinking of moving from a transport to a ''server'' type arrangement, now is a great opportunity for you..
Cheers all,
Anyone near Reading with the Rega?... or any existing visitors able to bring one?
I can get one from local dealer to borrow, but would have to stump up £500. Not that keen!..
I know we have enough with the Audiolab, Young, Wyred 4 sound, etc - but this would be a nice addition if anyone is near enough to bring one.
I feel hearing the DACs through a selection of streaming transports - from humble SB3 to dedicated music servers will be really interesting too.. so if you own a Rega DAC and were thinking of moving from a transport to a ''server'' type arrangement, now is a great opportunity for you..
Cheers all,
Pete the Feet
pfm Member
I'm not contradicting you here but could you post a few links where higher res music is available as I've yet to find any that interests me so far.
Pete the Feet
pfm Member
Cheers for that. I have already had a look through the first link the other day but there are quite a few listed on the Comp Audio link worth a look.