I think the easiest way to dip a toe it to get a free player (jriver - free, itunes if a mac, or foobar) and get a audioquest dragonfly outboard dac. output this to a amp, receiver or what do you have? and try it out. I'd skip worrying about sacd or dsd or many other acronyms and see if you like it. I would take some care in ripping your cd's to your laptop. a couple minutes ahead of time may pay dividends later if you continue. several free programs like Exact Audio Copy will work just fine for you. If your a MAC guy consider ALAC and if a windows guy maybe FLAC. both are compressed but also lossless. Avoid mp3. very lossy. you can always go there later if you dont care but you cant go from mp3 to lossless unless you like fooling yourself! total cost about $250. option that may (depending on your system) would be other dacs like the HRT or peachtree idac. too many others to list here. just have fun.
Need advice on how to dip a toe into digital
There are so many A'gon posts about digital, I think I'd like to dip a toe into the media. You can check my System tab to see what I use. In short, my only experience with digital is redbook CD.
So .... I have a new laptop PC and am willing to pick up a DAC or whatever gizmo I need. Is it worth spending any time with SACD? As the question implies, I just want to dip a toe -- not take a plunge. Suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.
So .... I have a new laptop PC and am willing to pick up a DAC or whatever gizmo I need. Is it worth spending any time with SACD? As the question implies, I just want to dip a toe -- not take a plunge. Suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.