DACs: Airport Express vs waveterminal vs mini-dac

To upsample in iTunes on a Mac (running OSX 10.4.4), go to your applications folder, look in the Utilities subfolder, open up "Audio Midi Setup".

Under Audio Output: format, you can upsample to 96,000 Hz.

96kHz is only available on the newer Macs.

I think that the newer Macs have the Crystal CS84xx which is actually the same chip used in a lot of high end DACs.

I have been doing research on this as well. The only way I could figure to get the information is to start throwing money at the situation.

So far I have used the the Monarchy Dip/DAC, Edirol UA-25 feeding a Mcintosh MDA1000, the M-Audio Transit, the Waveterminal, and the MiniDAC. (Also compared them to high end McIntosh CD transport - the computer won).

I set these up on two identical systems (one is mine, one a friends): Apple Mcintosh playing Apple Lossless files to DAC to Mcintosh MC1200s to Mcintosh XRT 28s.

The only real standout so far was that the Transit sounded BAD on several different Apple Macintosh systems, and the MiniDAC drops the USB signal about six times a day (Apogee says it is my computer). I will do more in depth listening next week.

The consensus seems to be that it is best to avoid SPDIF and toslink connections. Does anyone know of a high quality USB device that will supply digital output via an XLR balanced connection?

Steve,

I tried the Transit on two separate Apple systems myself, and had several friends come to the same conclusion on different systems.

My tests were on a Powermac dual 1.42 G4 to the Transit, then in to a Monarchy DIP/DAC.

Also a Powerbook G4 to the Transit, then to a McIntosh MDA1000 DAC.

In both cases the music sounded like it was castrated.

Ed

Right now I have two systems set up. One with the MiniDAC, the other with an Edirol UA-25. They both sound fantastic. Both are fed by Apple computers playing Apple Lossless files through iTunes.

We thought the Transit sounded great until we compared it to a high end CD transport. We then realized that much of the music was just plain missing. It is not subtle. We replaced it with the UA-25 on one system, and the MiniDAC on another. We are using anolog out on the MiniDAC and digital out on the UA-25. Both sound devine and easily compete with (if not exceed) the high end CD transport. I was surprised that it could make that much difference.

The Waveterminal is still in the box, but I will set it up late next week when I return from travels.

This is incredibly exciting to get this quality out of a computer. I am sure the traditionalists will stick to one CD at a time, swearing that it sounds better than a "computer". Lets face it though, these days most CDs are mastered on computers.

I have a friend who switched from the Transit to a Waveterminal. He is using a powerbook and a MSB DAC. playing Apple Lossless files.

After switching to the Waveterminal he said "So that's what the music is supposed to sound like, it's like unfogging your glasses."

He also said he liked the way music sounded with the Transit, but he really likes how it sounds now.

Ed

I have listened to the McIntosh MDA1000 DAC.

The MDA1000 is a bit "smoother" sounding than the Apogee MiniDAC. I love the way both DACs sound, but if I had to pick one to listen to for extended periods, it would be the MDA1000. The MDA1000 also upsamples to 768kHz, and it also cost 8 times more than the MiniDAC. The waveterminal seems to do a great job passing the PCM data to the MDA1000. I did not listen to the Waveterminal built in DACs, nor did I try the Waveterminal upsampling.

I did not do a blind test, so my thoughts are purely subjective.

The set up is: Apple G4 playing Apple Lossless files, USB to Waveterminal, Toslink to MDA1000, McIntosh 1201s, McIntosh XRT28s.

Sounds absolutely fantastic.

Dshea_32665, I have set up two nearly identical systems. One I set up for my friend, the other is mine. The only difference is that I am using the Waveterminal, and he has the Edirol UA-25.

Since the systems are set up miles apart, I cannot give you a side by side comparison, but after hearing both extensively, I would say that there is no difference.

What is fascinating to me is the difference between the MiniDAC and the McIntosh MDA1000. Switching between the two, the music sounds much different. The MDA1000 does just what they advertise; the music is smoother, less harsh, much more pleasant to listen to for extended periods. I have read numerous reviews that describe McIntosh as "musical", and that is precisely it.

Having said that, the MiniDAC might be described as ultra clear.

Both are fantastic. If I had to pick one, it would be the MDA1000.