Getting good sound from MacBook via DAC.


Hello everyone,

I decided to go down the digital path and picked up a Bryston BDA-2.  I hooked up an Audioquest USB 2 cable from my MacBook to the BDA-2  to play music from my Itunes and it sounds awful.  What am I doing wrong?  I tried playing with the sampling rates thru the MacBooks Audio Midi set-up but no help there. it sounds compressed, over extended bass, lack of detail and soundstage, just plain awful.  

Ive been using the DAC with my Simaudio CD player with excellent results. I also have a WADIA 177 hooked thru the DAC for my IPod which sounds surprising good. I like the idea of using the MacBook and was thinking about getting a dedicated Mac Mini for music files.  
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Showing 1 response by kijanki

Itunes should not make any difference, since you're transferring data and not the music.  As long as it is bit-perfect you should be OK.    One possibility is that there is something in the MACs software (or USB) settings (or Bryston settings) that is not right.  Perhaps USB port is faulty - try different one.  It is always possible that you're injecting noise into the DAC (try 2 wire USB cable), but it is not very likely.  It would not make it sound that awful.
You can always borrow another Mac and repeat it.  Async USB should give you the best sound available.