If you are going to use the MacBook pro to a DAC via USB get yourself galvanic isolation. Most good DACs now have a decent clock for asynchronous transfer, so you are OK there, but the noise from the Mac is a real issue. I bought an Intona isolation device and heard a big difference - no AB testing required. Also, and this surprised me, switching from a cheap USB cable mattered. The isolation device helped even with a Qutest DAC, which is supposed to have built in galvanic isolation. Also, getting shielded power cords near the DAC made a difference.
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@philgo01 |
I have a Bryston BDP3 which can be found used quite frequently for a very good price (less than two grand). That unit is basically a glorified Intel computer so it has plenty of processing power to pre-buffer streaming services like Qobuz for truly gapless playback. The one caveat is the interface software supports only Tidal & Qobuz... and is rather archaic to say the least. But it has a nice mini-display with fluorescent read out, a robust linear power supply, and has excellent sound quality. I prefer that to their latest model which combines the streamer with their renowned DAC...but uses a raspberry Pi system with much less processing power and memory.
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- 39 posts total