2. digital
  3. 1186053836

PC-Audio vs. High-end CD Player-GAME OVER

Hi All,
I just auditioned the Wavelength Audio Cosecant DAC on a very nice system at the local dealer. It was run through a Hovland 200 preamp , a Plinius amp and Avalon Eidolon Diamond speakers. This is all in a very well treated, good-sounding room.
It was, in a word spectacular. Beautiful tone, excellent bass, imaging soundstaging, etc. What was really amazing was a sense of space, or ambience that was imparted. We then compared the same CD's (Diana Krall, Jennifer warnes, some jazz), on a Levinson CDP. I'm not saying that the levinson is the last word in players, but it was what he had on the shelf.While it sounded good, it was much more bright, and "constricted".
Control was through an Imac using I-tunes, and the CD's had been nurned using Apple Lossless.
I ordered my Crimson on the spot.

David
deshapiro
deshapiro OP
177 posts
 
Hi Alex,
I would like to hear one. Any in Chicago? As to the technical aspects of computer power supplies, I'm in complete ignorance. I've been down the SACD road, having had 4 differnet players along the way (eg. EMM Labs, Esoteric), and I think, unfortunately , that it's a dead end. It did sound superior to my earss, but there's just not enough of the music that I like to make that a selling point. I am intrigued by the fact that your DAC can accept Hi-res off of a hard drive. The DAC that I'm using, a Wavelength Audio Crimson, can accept up to 96 (?),but I don't have any music that is encoded that way. It would bve great to be able to archive and play higher resolution music.

David
711smilin
513 posts
 
David, I will be upgrading to the NWO 3.0GO in the near future, since I am in your area, let's get together, and play....then we BOTH could write some VALID comments. I happen to love the idea of computer based music, but, have not found "or heard"the love for it, you have. Let's play, and discover. See ya soon.

Steve

BTW, I love Gordon's stuff too.
bigamp
219 posts
 
1. Many digital designers would agree that the noisy switching power supply in a PC-based audio can never come even close to a linear power supply, especially if R-Core power transformers are used. A "nice DAC" (or any other “solution”) can not help eliminating the switching power downsides. This includes a Laptop because the battery feeds a switching power supply inside.

Deshapiro's DAC receives a digital stream from the PC via USB. If a fiber optic USB cable is used, the DAC is electrically isolated from the PC. If a reclocker is used in between (e.g., Empirical Audio Pace Car), then the digital signal is reclocked, reducing or eliminating any effects introduced into the digital stream from the PC. This way, PC power supply is not a factor.
deshapiro OP
177 posts
 
Hi All,
The DAC has a separate power supply. Shouldn't that play a role in isolation? The supplied USB cable is also shielded.

David
vladimir
346 posts
 
Goatwuss, Empirical's solution is a good alternative, but there is still another one: Logitech/SlimDevices Transporter. It is wireless and has a wordclock input, so that you can connect it to a top-quality DAC like LessLoss with wordclock output and you'd be up there with the big boys. I have been using a Bolder-modded wireless SqueezeBox2 for more than a year and recently added a Monarchy Audio M24 preamp/DAC; the sound I'm getting is extremely good.
More to discover