2. pc-audio
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Computer audio, I am not convinced yet ......

I am extremely interested in using the computer (Mac or PC) as a source for a digital playback. It seems to be the right direction for modern digital playback, a good alternative to the age old CDP, has endless potential and most convenient. So, I got an EMM DAC2 (retail $10000) with USB input and connected it to an Windows laptop via USB. My preamp, amp, speakers and cables are also of very good quality. Played some track on my system from the PC (used Audacity software, a very good and high quality software for sound processing). In 2 minutes I had to turn it off. It is just mediocre sound compared to playing the same track through a $1000 CDP(Sony SCD XA5400ES). It is almost like listening to an internet-radio through my PC speakers. I was wondering what happened to my first rate sound system ? Later I replaced the Windows PC with a Linux based MacMini, hoping that I will get the result I wanted. But it did not improve much. I did not like the outcome. My listening experience with the computer set up was 4 minutes(2 with PC and 2 with Mac) total. Since then I have gone back to using the same old CDP. I think I blame on the USB interface for this failure. The USB interface has not come up to the state of the art of a modern CD player. I did not try other interfaces purposely. No High-Res, only 16bit/44.1 audio files. I dont listen to SACD. Fire Wire to USB, USB to SPDI/F, Fire wire to HDMI, Firewire to SPDI/F, and almost an infinite combinations of patch up ideas are out there. But I dont like a patch up solution nor do I like to compromise the sound in favor of convenience.

I have heard many audiophile friends changed to computer based playback system many years ago for good and they are happy too. But I am not convinced yet. I am eagerly waiting for computer audio to catch up. I am sure it is in the making but it still has to go quiet a long distance.

Your thoughts are most welcome.
topmostaudio
doggiehowser
672 posts
 
EMM Labs DAC2 USB port was designed almost 5 years ago when computer audio was at its infancy. Its USB port was almost an after though, and only capable of running 44.1kHz or 48kHz only and very likely used a synchronous USB connection (par for the course of that era).

The real beauty of that DAC would not be fully realised with the USB port. You should see a big improvement going to an asynchronous USB-SPDIF device like Wavelink HS, or Berkeley Alpha USB which also support Integer/Direct Mode with AudirvanaPlus on the Mac platform, and hooking the SPDIF to the coax/AES input on the EMM Labs DAC2.

You will find a marked improvement too if you use a dedicated computer that runs without the multiple processes running in the background. You will also find that stuff that improves hifi components (power supplies/vibrations) will also have an effect on your PC audio. There are linear power supplies, Solid State drives (no vibrations) that can be used on modified or custom built PCs/Macs.

That said, I find that spinning a disc still sounds marginally better than computer audio but with the leaps and bounds of computer software and technology, it's much closer today than it ever was.
billbartuska
83 posts
 
As for software:
JPlay, a kernel streaming driver and hibernate mode.
Some say win8 is best but haven't tried that yet.
topmostaudio OP
28 posts
 
Hfisher3380, I am not dead set on the USB per se. I will be perfectly happy with an interface from the computer (PC/MAC) which is reliable and gives best audio output without any compromise.
billbartuska
83 posts
 
Re: USB

With true asynchronous transmission the DAC is remarkably immune to jitter because a buffer in the DAC controls the flow of the data. The DAC controls the audio transfer from the computer, ignoring the computer’s USB bus clock and instead slaving the computer to the buffer in the DAC. The DAC requests the packets of audio data from the computer and stores this data in the buffer. The DAC’s buffer and the digital converter chip itself are then sync’d with a single fixed-frequency clock. This method assures a irtually jitter-free transmission.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,399 posts
 
Top, have you considered any networked player type devices? I use Squeezebox Touch currently, which is unfortunately no longer in production, but there are others. I used older technology Roku Soundbridge prior. Both performed similarly well via the same external DAC. Other current similar devices may as well. Wifi connection helps keep stereo and noisy computer isolated. A pretty optimal architecture for computer audio IMHO.
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