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Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Hi All.

Putting together a reference level system.
My Source is predominantly standard 16/44 played from a MacMini using iTunes and Amarra. Some of my music is purchased from iTunes and the rest is ripped from standard CD's.
For my tastes in music, my high def catalogues are still limited; so Redbook 16/44 will be my primary source for quite some time.

I'm not spending DCS or MSB money. But $15-20k retail is not out of the question.

Upsampling vs non-upsampling?
USB input vs SPDIF?

All opinions welcome.

And I know I need to hear them, but getting these ultra $$$ DAC's into your house for an audition ain't easy.

Looking for musical, emotional, engaging, accurate , with great dimension. Not looking for analytical and sterile.
mattnshilp
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

Here is a good test to see if your system is "truly resolving":

Take a FLAC, uncompressed FLAC, ALAC or AIFF track and convert it to .wav using DBpoweramp or XLD. Play both tracks alternately.

If you cannot hear any difference and the .wav does not sound better, you need to tune the position of your speakers or add acoustic treatments. If you still don’t hear any difference, you have an offending component or cable in your system, maybe more than one.

When I hear people say that all DACs sound very close, I have to wonder about their system.

BTW, Baja - that Antipodes is a very good server. IMO, to get the best out of it, you should be using a good USB converter or USB DAC, not S/PDIF from it.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
And if THAT doesn’t work - the room acoustics and the speaker location things - or if you just want to see just how far you take this stuff, you probably need to get into vibration isolation, aftermarket fuses, wire and cable and power cord directionality, CD treatments, CD bevelers, coloring CDs, demagnetizing CDs and interconnects, silver holographic foil, crystals, Mpingo discs, and whatever else you can think of.

The only constraints are the ones you bring with you. Extracting ALL the information that’s buried there in the recordings is not at all unlike an archaeological dig of massive proportions. ⛏ Time to pull out all the stops.

"When the going gets tough....the tough get going." - Blutarsky

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,969 posts
 
DACs in newer better smart phones are not bad. As is the case with many good quality products at various price points these days. Need not cost much. You might need a good outboard amp to drive many good quality headphones well. At that point an external DAC may often come into play as well. I very much like the Chord Mojo. Its just very cool looking and different in addition to sounding good and not expensive by high end audio standards.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

geoffkait - you got it, however, I would start by selling the CD transport and look for a good computer audio source.  Too much mucking constantly with CD's, besides you end up listening to tracks that you don't want to hear, and only 10 or 12 of them.

Then, of course, you have servers or playback software and digital cabling and Ethernet cabling and isolators and LPS for this and that, and then there is format....

I don't consider these tweaks, but they are essential to getting the best sound from a computer source.

There is one tweak that I actually use:

Plasmatron from VHAudio.  Highly recommended AC regulator.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

audioengr
3,282 posts
 

Willemj - I’m trying my Hifi-Man phones with my iPhone 6S today!!

The one thing that I’m leery of is using that much digital volume control.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

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