advertisement


Teddydac users; CD/transport or PC/streaming?

M

Magnuska

pfm Member
Hi!

Call me old fashion but I´m still enjoing my DVD player (pioneer dV757) Trichord modified unit with the Teddydac. There is also a Teddy PR-1 and MB-100 in the mix. I´m actually very happy with the sound but I wonder if the Pioneer transport could be bettered with a better transport or should I go for the Pc/streamer route?

I wonder if you Teddydac owners still do the same as I, or have you gone over to the more "modern world" of PC/streaming? If so for you who have compared, is it better soundwise than the transport/DAC combo? Can you list your setup.

Regards Magnus
 
Hi Magnus,
I bought a TeddyDac to use it with a 1st generation AppleTV (the one with a hard disk drive). My CDs have been ripped in ALAC format. The result (soundwise) was brilliant, and in my opinion, significantly better that my Linn Ikemi CD player.
But, surprisingly (or not?), when connected to the Ikemi digital output, the overall result did not seem to be better than the Ikemi alone.
From this experience, I have the feeling that "streaming" is the way to go, however, I should mention that my AppleTV does not prove to be very reliable, and though sounding better than the Ikemi (when partnered with the Teddy Dac), I hardly use it nowadays... but I'm still in the thinking phase for finding the appropriate streaming hardware (I am not in the mood for spending big money on Linn or Naim streamers)

JC
 
Tof ,

What exactly was "hardly used nowadays" Didn`t follow you there, sorry I`m swedish.

I really like what the TeddyDac does soundwise. Its just a matter of combining it with the best option. In what way did the DAC/AppleTV combo sound better than the transport/DAc option?
 
Magnuska said:
Hi!

Call me old fashion but I´m still enjoing my DVD player (pioneer dV757) Trichord modified unit with the Teddydac. There is also a Teddy PR-1 and MB-100 in the mix. I´m actually very happy with the sound but I wonder if the Pioneer transport could be bettered with a better transport or should I go for the Pc/streamer route?
Click to expand...
Can't you do both with the Teddydac?
Most people I've found here that go/went for a streaming solution seem to give up on CDs. I like to keep both options myself.

Michael
 
Magnuska said:
Tof ,

What exactly was "hardly used nowadays" Didn`t follow you there, sorry I`m swedish.

I really like what the TeddyDac does soundwise. Its just a matter of combining it with the best option. In what way did the DAC/AppleTV combo sound better than the transport/DAc option?
Click to expand...

Hi Magnus,
as I mentioned, it is only a matter of reliability for the Apple TV. When it works, it sounds really great.
I'm not good at describing how things sound, but let's say that the AppleTV/TeddyDac combo sounds effortless, the music flows in a more relax and natural way than with the Ikemi; in addition, I have perceived numerous details which I never noticed with the CD player... to some extent it brings the digital sound closer to a good analogue source (I have a LP12/ekos/troika).
hope this clarifies my point

JC
 
Mikas said:
Can't you do both with the Teddydac?
Most people I've found here that go/went for a streaming solution seem to give up on CDs. I like to keep both options myself.

Michael
Click to expand...

Hi Michael! Yes you can do both. I was interested to hear users view when starting with a Cd/DVD-transport and then move on to a computer/streaming solution.
 
tof said:
Hi Magnus,
as I mentioned, it is only a matter of reliability for the Apple TV. When it works, it sounds really great.
I'm not good at describing how things sound, but let's say that the AppleTV/TeddyDac combo sounds effortless, the music flows in a more relax and natural way than with the Ikemi; in addition, I have perceived numerous details which I never noticed with the CD player... to some extent it brings the digital sound closer to a good analogue source (I have a LP12/ekos/troika).
hope this clarifies my point

JC
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
Hi Magnus
There are two completely different routes to streaming. Either a PC and DAC (which really includes Apple TV type of system) or a DS with a NAS/PC for storage.
Given that you already have an excellent DAC and presumably have a PC somewhere, all you need to try out option 1 is to install Itunes rip a few CD's in ALAC, connect the PC to you TeddyDAC and listen.
The only way to try out the DS route and see if it's worth the investment is to try an borrow one, but given the rest of your system something like the Linn Majik or Akruate DS should really come into it's own.
When making such comparisons in a system like yours it's important not to rely on compressed sources like Spotify as the compression really takes the life out of the music and will make things all sound the same (IMHO :)
Hälsningar//Piers
PS The TPX 2 is doing fine :eek:))
 
Grumpy said:
Hi Magnus
There are two completely different routes to streaming. Either a PC and DAC (which really includes Apple TV type of system) or a DS with a NAS/PC for storage.
Given that you already have an excellent DAC and presumably have a PC somewhere, all you need to try out option 1 is to install Itunes rip a few CD's in ALAC, connect the PC to you TeddyDAC and listen.
The only way to try out the DS route and see if it's worth the investment is to try an borrow one, but given the rest of your system something like the Linn Majik or Akruate DS should really come into it's own.
When making such comparisons in a system like yours it's important not to rely on compressed sources like Spotify as the compression really takes the life out of the music and will make things all sound the same (IMHO :)
Hälsningar//Piers
PS The TPX 2 is doing fine :eek:))
Click to expand...

Hi Piers, nice to hear from you. Glad you liked the TPX-2.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try to make a quick test and connect my wifes laptop direct to the dac and I will see how that sounds.

Regards Magnus
 
I went to a demo comparing streaming from a PC via Naim V1 DAC and comparing to a Naim streamer ND5XS. The person who held the demo was using JRiver, laptop V1 DAC and NAP100 and comparing to ND5XS/152/155. Well the latter combo was much better. The important thing I took with me was that streaming from PC to USB have many drawbacks, it is better to use an audio streamer such as Sonos, SBT to external DAC or Naim streamers.

I use Sonos connect (W4S), TeddyDAC, PR1 and ST60. Earlier I used a modded SBT with TeddyTouch. I can not hear any difference between the both connected to my Teddy rig.
 
Hello!

Just to give me an insight I followed some suggestions here and have now finallly plugged a laptop via usb cable to the Teddydac just to see how that would sound in my setup with Teddy pre Pr1 and MB-100.

I used db poweramp to rip Eric Claptons unplugged into flac. The file is then played by VLC mediaplayer followed by Jriver media.

With VLC mediaplayer, compared to my cd transport with the same dac its more relaxed , top end seem a bit more smooth. Unfortunately the timing is worse, he sounds unengaging when he sings, almost tired... the dynamics is much worse. It doesn`t sound like an live album anymore.

This was maybe an comparision made that was a bit unfair. Didn`t use the best software nor the dac is asyncron, but if computer audio sound like this I will stick to a transport with dac, BUT...

A bit strucked of this first findings, I was thinking I read somewhere that Jriver was a good player...

I installed that on now we are talking again, with Jriver the dynamics is almost back to the level of my cd transport. Detail is better also, the timing issue is also reduced but not complete. A transport is better in that aspect.

I have been thinking of getting a Mac mini with Teddy:s new converter,with an external portable HDD but my test makes me a bit careful with the setup knowing now that software is very important. All in all- very promising.

I was planning to rip my discs with DB poweramp to this eternal HDD on a windows computer. On that one I also have 24 bits of wav files containing my own songs. Can I bring this HDD to a mac mini (concering the meta tags and so on, will not loose any settings) and play it with Audirvana plus wich seems very good in the mac world!
I guess that audirvana must be installed on the mac and Db poweramp installed on my windows main computer.

One more question: I have som SACD records, Can I rip them as well and play them in this setup?

Thanks!

Magnus
 
Unfortunately SACDs can only be ripped on a PS3 with firmware 3.55 ( I think) and some other software. A shame really.
 
Hi Zephan, thanks for the answer.

I ripped an SACD today with DBpoweramp to flac- it was possible but no more than 16 bit output of course.

/Magnus
 
Magnuska said:
Hi!

Call me old fashion but I´m still enjoing my DVD player (pioneer dV757) Trichord modified unit with the Teddydac. There is also a Teddy PR-1 and MB-100 in the mix. I´m actually very happy with the sound but I wonder if the Pioneer transport could be bettered with a better transport or should I go for the Pc/streamer route?

I wonder if you Teddydac owners still do the same as I, or have you gone over to the more "modern world" of PC/streaming? If so for you who have compared, is it better soundwise than the transport/DAC combo? Can you list your setup.

Regards Magnus
Click to expand...

Magnus, I am watching this thread with interest.

I too have a TeddyDAC, TeddyPre and a pair of MB1's. I went from a DVD transport to my Roksan DP1 CD transport, and better it sounded too, not night and day but certainly better.

I would like to stream one day and obviously don't want to loose any sound quality, ideally improve the SQ.

As say, I will be watching this thread with great interest. Bob
 
Hi Bob, good to hear from you.

Yes this is an interesting question for me. So far I must conclude that the transport with dac produce a better sound than the laptop.

I had the same song on a cd and on the flac file just toggling the dial and could instantly hear the difference between the two.

I can say for now this hasn´t convinced me to change, maybe if a usb/spdif converter adds so much that but don`t know for sure without testing.

//Magnus
 
I stream music with a Wyred4Sound modified Sonos into a TeddyDac and NaitXS with TeddyCap. As a source, the basic Sonos is okay but the modification takes the Sonos to another level. Having owned a Linn LP-12 setup and top of the line Marantz SACD player, this is an equally satisfying setup. Plus, I have access to all the music in the world with Spotify and MOG.

As for sound quality of a DVD player vs direct from a computer, a good USB/SPDIF converter that controls the data flow (Stello, Audiophilleo, etc) from a dedicated computer like the MacMini should sound better than most any a DVD or CD disk spinner... except perhaps the very best, most expensive units.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top