DACs: Airport Express vs waveterminal vs mini-dac

If I were using the analogue out for these cards, I think the quality and what you pay would pretty much determine it.

Where I am unsure, is if you are just passing the signal through to a DAC, can these units make that much of a difference in sound quality? It sounds from Edumke that the answer is definitely yes. I love the description of the Transit as castrated, that's a good one :)

Edumke I am glad you are able to do some testing for us, how would you describe the waveterminal and edirol sound, as compared to the M-audio? (I would assume the mini-DAC would blow these away because it is five times the price.) I like the sound I am getting now with my Transit, because I don't know anything different, but I would love to get a little more space in music. I mainly listen to classical music. I am getting great detail now but would love a tiny bit more soundstage.

If we were there, would you think that we would throw up our arms, disown our Transits and immediately order an Edirol or Waveterminal? Is this a fairly no brainer upgrade?

Sorry for the length, but you are the first person I have found that has had access to these units and has been able to do some comparison.

Cheers,

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.

Thanks for the information Edumke! What adds so much to it is that you said that initially you liked the Transit. I recently plugged my headphone amp and AOS Piccolo DAC into a Nakamichi CD player (although 10 years old), and noticed the same thing. The Transit was good, but when I heard the standalone CD player, the laptop setup seemed to be missing a natural and musical sense of space. Not a huge difference but definitely a difference. This is what has inspired me to see if I can upgrade the system. My amp, cans are good, and the Piccolo DAC is source dependant and a great little unit for the money. It seemed that the Transit was the weak link.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could setup your waveterminal when you get back. I really think I am approaching the point where I will buy one of these two units. Could you also give us some impressions on the size of the two units. From the pictures, it seems that the waveterminal might be smaller. Since I like to throw my audio gear in my computer bag when I travel and when I go to and from my office, portability is a nice bonus.

Thanks again for your insights.

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

One thing about the Transit - I use it with Foobar player and ASIO plug-in. These are critical on a PC to get the quality out of it. I also playback exclusively with 24/96 through my DAC. This makes all the difference. Leaves all transports in the dust.

I am thinking hard about buying an Airport Express and modding it to have a S/PDIF coax out. This might be the best solution for iMac, although I prefer a wired USB connection.