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Dac Questions from an Analogue guy :

As you can see from my Forum name I am a vinyl enthusiast at heart but do from time to time have digital needs so to speak. Upon learning that my DAC on my old CAL LABS ICON MKII Cd player seems to be dead as there is no audio out of the RCA's I figured I would use the digital coax O/P utilizing a friends PS audio NUWAVE DAC since I have never used the digital coax out before. I figured the player was not totally dead because of the fact that when a CD was inserted into the transport all the of the CD info appeared on the player. So I gave it a shot and voila it worked with very nice results. Simple, done. My curiosity furthered me into the other connections on the unit being the USB and the optical. I gather the Optical acts as a link such as the digital coax from my CD player but the USB connection puzzled me a bit. Having looking at the specs of the DAC, it of course is capable of 16/44 audio but can also do 24/96 and 24/192. Of the 2 latter formats, how are these utilized? Through the USB say using a computer or note pad device? I did not do any research as you can see, so these questions I know are rather rudimentary. Do correct me if I am wrong, is the 24/96, DVD audio? ANyways, my whole curiosity of this is how one utilizes the USB connections and all the higher resolution audio features of this DAC. How is the overall Audio quality of these formats? What are my options if I want to delve further into this? yeah I looked on the Net and saw a huge plethera of products which confused me even more so you can say I am a bit brain lazy when it comes to this whole digital format.
I do have an Ipod with MP3's mostly for my car but I can't see that being the end to be all to be utilized with the Dac since I personally find that this overlly compressed format to be inferior. Anyways, any answers starting from 0 would be greatly appreciated.
vinylmad814

Showing 5 responses by vinylmad814

vinylmad814 OP
62 posts
 
Are these high resolution 24/96 -/192 files, flac files. The reason I ask is that I have lent over 300 discs mostly classical and jazz titles to my friend who is going to convert these files to his computer. I believe he said something about Flac files. You know I think he has some kind of interface on his Ipad to run these files. I suppose I should ask him lol. ANyways, would the files he is converting from my Cd's to his hard drives be these 2 higher resolution formats or are they just the 16/44 format?
The main reason I am even considering this is mostly to at least put part of my music collection on a digital format to make room for more vinyl. Since i do not intend on purchasing all these classical titles in vinyl, I figured this digital option would be a great alternative.
vinylmad814 OP
62 posts
 
Thanks for the info folks. I just had a chance to go and see a high end audio provider who's main focus is analogue but has been impressed with some of newer digital advances in the past couple years. He is now a dealer for Weiss, a manufacturere of high end Dacs. Like 6 or 7 K!!! Anyways, I just learned of how these high res masters come. With the Weiss Dac a DVD disc with 24/176 files. No player can play these files, so they have to be downloaded to a computer and played through some type of media player of some sort to utilize these files. I must say they sound absolutley fantastic. The best digital sound i have ever heard, hands down. Mind you this is played on a $7,000 dollar Dac with files that have been mastered utilizing this high bit/res rate. From what he understands alot of the material available is not originally mastered at this high level which in turn goes through an upsampling process. Apparently some of these files do not sound all that good and are not worth the cost over its 16/44 counterparts. So buyer beware. Well i am going to have to press on further and actually to a sound test. I can't believe the digital realm has me mildy stoked. lol
vinylmad814 OP
62 posts
 
Been on a rather lengthy hiatus from the digital world. It seems Apple works very well as a USB driven system such as a Imac mini integrated with an IPAD or IPOD touch if you want remotely access your files. If you try to use an external hard drive for extra storage to access whether you are using a MAc mini or PC laptop, does this add an unwanted signal path that can affect overall clock speed timing or any other audio performance issues?
vinylmad814 OP
62 posts
 
So I gather that if you do use a Mac Mini, you would need an external drive device given that you will want more 2 TB of storage. I did not realize these drives had a firewire or SATA connections. Also I was wondering if USB 3 connections make a difference for overall performance(ie SQ, Jitter correction etc etc). I know some of external drives have USB3 out but do DACS have USB 3 compatability? Does it matter?
vinylmad814 OP
62 posts
 
hello again,

So I am looking at buying a very entry level DAC no more than $500 tops. Like I said, I prefer listening to my Lp's and have invested quite a bit of money on my TT rig and Line stage but I do want to play some Cd's since I do have an older Cal Labs Cd player with a working Digital Coax. I also would like to try out some of the 24/192 music that is out there. Oh yeah and another thing,the CALABS inboard DAC has packed it in.I have seen a couple of units on EBAY that have caught my attention. One for around $400.00, the TEAC UD-H01 and a VALAB Dual WM8471 24/192 for around $340.00. Yeah I know, cheap ass units but that is what I want to spend, period. Brand wise TEAC is probably the unit that will most likely stand out the most of the 2. The Valab being an Asian offshore product will most likely raise a few red flags for most. Mind you the specs that were listed and from what I have seen by viewing the photos of the unit on EBAY, the configuration of the circuitry and the general esthetics of the Valab, makes it look quite attractive. Both units have balanced outputs which is what I need since my Preamp is a BAT tube unit. ANy thoughts on these 2 units?
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