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Ways to improve DAC performance???

Hello fellow A'goners,

I recently changed my system by selling my tube CD player and storing all of my CDs onto iTunes on my Macbook Pro laptop. I also subscribe to premium Spotify and really enjoy the quality of the sound.

I'm using a fairly inexpensive Ross Martin DAC, and the noise floor and detail are really excellent.

I'm new to this "music server" approach and I was wondering if there is additional software that would improve the quality of this setup.
It has to be Apple, not PC.

I've read of various programs and downloads that help, but I'm not sure if they are a substitute for a good DAC or something that can enhance a DAC's performance?

Any suggestions or advice is much appreciated, as I am a newbie in this new digital realm.

Thanks! Lincoln
lincnabby
cerrot's avatar
cerrot
1,700 posts
 
...and look at the incredible expense to add a highend usb converter (oxymoron?)? at least $2,000! Just for the converter! A GREAT soundcard is $150. Why are we doing it bassackwards?
cerrot's avatar
cerrot
1,700 posts
 
One issue with USB is that it sends regular bursts of info like the start of frame packet - "The SOF packet consisting of an 11-bit frame number is sent by the host every 1ms ± 500ns on a full speed bus or every 125 µs ± 0.0625 µs on a high speed bus". If the timing of this shifts or is variable, this could elicit a different & variable reaction from the USB receiver & translate into a different & varying jitter or noise spectrum.

We audiophiles who spend thousands to squeeze out every last bit of performance out of a component are trying to squeeze music out of an USB rock. The interface is grossly flawed for music.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Cerrot - you still didn't answer my question. If you tried one of mine, which one? And what player software and platform did you use? All of this matters.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
""The SOF packet consisting of an 11-bit frame number is sent by the host every 1ms ± 500ns on a full speed bus or every 125 µs ± 0.0625 µs on a high speed bus". If the timing of this shifts or is variable, this could elicit a different & variable reaction from the USB receiver & translate into a different & varying jitter or noise spectrum."

Certainly possible, but this does not matter. The data is reclocked externally with a free-running clock, eliminating all of the jitter from the USB receiver.

USB and networked interfaces can be virtually identical in performance. They both have buffered packetized data that is slaved from the source computer. They both have a free-running clock that retimes the data. Either one is the optimum way to do audio interfaces.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
cerrot's avatar
cerrot
1,700 posts
 
Doesn't matter? Seriously? That's the whole issue.

Heard your rig at a show - didn't impress me. I find USB just poor. Even yours. Makes no matter. And soon the hoax is over. Like I said, all these guys spending thousands on USB converters when USB will be phased out within a few years.
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