Accuphase dac 60

@rms456 

thanks, I don’t have streaming setup yet. Was looking into a MacBook. Cheap as possible, just for music. I guess I could look into a windows based laptop. I basically use my iPhone 12pro for everything now.

The only thing I use besides the iPhone is a chrome book. I don’t think I can use that for music.

What are my cheapest options computer wise with a usb? Was thinking about a bluesound node.. idk, just getting into the streaming thing and not sure which direction to go that isn’t a fortune.

I was thinking just a bluesound node and use the bluOS app on my phone to control qobuz?

@duketbrd88 , an iPhone, bluesound is not the choice of source for the DAC60. A laptop is not close either, too much noise in the USB, which needs a lot of clean up hardware, like the ifi micro usb3.

The sound will be shrill, the treble will splash, and bass drum will be like hitting a paper bag if a laptop iPhone or bluesound is used as a source. 

I can't offer any other suggestions, as a media server topic is beyond this thread and I'm still experimenting, there's no silver bullet here for now.

@rms456 

Thanks, I decided to not keep the dac 60. I want to get something with more inputs and xlr outputs. I feel like there is a lot to choose from in the $1,000 to $2,000 price range. Now I don't know what to look at. I see the denafrips pontus ii is pretty popular. IDK and there is a lot on the used market. So any suggestions?

Well guys after looking around and getting sick of looking around at dac's, I decided to give the Accuphase dac 60 card another try and so far sounds great. Just glad I found the original cable problem and everything is fixed and sounding great. After this long thread, just wanted to say thanks to everyone for your help. I also learned how much louder and about voltage of xlr outputs on dac's and level matching at least. Never knew that before. Not sure if this is the case with all xlr outputs, such as preamps etc..

I learned a lot from all of this and hopefully someone else might have. Still waiting on a streamer, haven't decided, but will probably be a bluesound node. So, thanks again to everyone and everyone I might have not responded to for your help. 

This was never an accuphase or ps audio problem, just me, user error.