Up to the Minute: Streaming Bits to Audiophile DAC

Good questions. One persons opinion. From the top:

Pro audio people don't see DACs as playback devices. They seem them as a way to get digital into the analogue world and onto their master tapes - I think... Very important to distinguish between true high-end studios and prosumers where most of the action is.

Best ways to export are USB and Ethernet.

Streaming the bits does not require all that much - the whole thing is all about decoding/reconstituting them. Up to that point all you need to do is deliver the bits - something every computer in the world does every day.

No known reason on earth to buy a soundcard. Definitely not recommended. You want to get the bits away from the electronic nastiness that is a computer before you make waves.

Optical=toslink. The best is I2S but almost no DAC manufacturers uses it. Look at the Empirical Audio website for a lot of good info.

IMHO the number one source of jitter is the least then perfect CD transport/player. Simply to hard to solve all the opto-electic-mechanical problems without spending megabux. Ripping to HD eliminates the transport as a problem.

Next, getting the data out of the computer eliminates the computer as a source of electrical/ground problems. Things like the Opticis USB cable provide a very high degree of isolation from the computer electronics.

Poor SPDIF / Toslink implementation is the next source of trouble. Not quite such a big deal. Good implementations are around - true 75ohms etc. I2S makes those problems go away.

IMHO the two SOTA solutions are USB to an I2S DAC, and a modified Squeezebox.

From my fairly limited experience, I agree Ckorody's thoughts.

Depending upon your budget, hardware, and needs, I believe an outboard USB DAC is the way to go.

I was in your boat a few months ago, and recently acquired a USB DAC -- the Wavelength Brick. After the fact, I can honestly say that this is one of the most prudent decisions that I've made during my many years in this hobby.

I divested myself of a $6K CDP ($8K if it had outputs; transport & DAC were identical).

My primary front end is a turntable, so CD playback is for media not available on vinyl, or simply for convenience. And PC audio is convenience PLUS! For the few weeks I’ve had the DAC, I’ve had more fun than I would have imagined – playing more varied music as the mood strikes me, than I ever thought possible!

Because of vinyl, my goal was to improve music access, and if the USB DAC didn’t quite achieve the same level of reproduction as my CDP, I wouldn’t have minded. But much to my surprise, the opposite was true. Absolutely wonderful sonics; I believe better than before, with the added bonus of supreme convenience!

Believe it or not, the computer I originally used was an ancient PII 300mghz, with a 160GB HD.

State of the art hardware is absolutely overkill! However, depending upon how you plan to configure you system, silence IS important.

I have since bought a MacBook because of the funds I had left over after my CDP sale and the DAC purchase. Getting a multifunction PC (laptop), plus a music server, was the incentive, and this was my first non-Windoz based machine. So far, I love it.

Yep, there has been a learning curve for both the hardware and software components of my transition. However, this old dog finds learning new tricks to be fun.

Gordon Rankin’s Wavelength Audio website has some very helpful information about PC audio – take a peek if you haven’t already done so.

Lastly, if you’re going to use a Windoz based PC, your media player and hardware configuration is important. You need to bypass Windoz K-mixer. ASIO and plugins will help you do so with a player like Foobar. The same is true for J River’s Media Center, however, the plugins are built-in and less difficult to acquire and install.

On the other hand, if you have an Apple and iTunes, just plug ‘er in and let ‘er go.

I hope this helps…..

The best digital connectivity solutions are (best to worst):

I2S
AES/EBU
S/PDIF
Toslink

I2S DAC's include:

Perpetual P-3A
Benchmark DAC-1 (with mods)
Northstar 192
Lite Dac-60 (with mods)