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Audiophile newbie Part 2

I posted this thread not too long ago about equipment and things to consider for a young up-and-coming audiophile. Thanks to those you responded with helpful info!

I tend to be drawn towards digital media formats. And less towards the idea of vinyl. (Think scratches and dust and moving parts)

Questions:
What is your optimal bit-rate when playing a digital file?
What's your favorite way to send music from a computer to a hi-fi system? (USB?)

Thanks!
128x128jwilsco
elevick
2,636 posts
 
Akg, I agree with most of what you say. Red Book 44/16 is the minimum of what I want to listen to.
HOWEVER, I will argue the point about a high end player vs a pc. A group of friends and I just compared 2 units playing and identical cd (did this with several albums). Ripped a Patricia Barber Cd onto my pc. From there it went to a nice USB cable to a MF VLink to a Shiit Bifrost. This sounded amazing.
Then we played the same cd on a Heavily Modded Music Hall (by parts connection) just as the transport with an nice MIT toslink into the bifrost. There was virtually no difference.
Yes, if I had a $10k transport and a $5k DAC we may have noticed something but not at this level. We are all quite surprised at what lossless on an average pc could do as a digital source.
jwilsco's avatar
jwilsco OP
30 posts
 
16-bit 44.1kHz (CD-quality)
lewinskih01
909 posts
 
jwilsco, please look into the pc audio section in this forum. Including a recent thread were we went into this. Use the search engine, and you can look for my user-id. Computers can take you a long way. You can start super simple (laptop and asynch usb DAc), and tweak/complicate it as much as you deem worth it.

Take a look into computeraudiophile.com too. Check out what people are saying about using windows server 2012 and AudioPhil's Optimizer. I am doing this and I'm amazed at the sound improvement.
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Wow so many questions!!
phduncanson
73 posts
 
Jwil, I have gone pure analogue in the past two years but up till then I ran digital files via Mac , iPod, iPad etc... Into several DAC's. You'll want to explore DAC's that have a USB. My favorite which to my ears in my modest system was MHDT paradisea - I also had a very inexpensive Lite DAC-Ah (about $130) that was awesome - not as smooth or dimensional as the MHDT but deep bass and dynamics galore. These did not have USB but I ran them with a USB adapter from Mapleshade. I believe the current model MHDT Havana has a USB input. Also the Mapleshade digital interconnect was paramount in delivering warm detailed and grain free sound - I suspect their USB cable would do the same.

So look for a great DAC and USB cable. - simple, I should have said that first!

Cheers
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