Getting good sound from MacBook via DAC.

Jetmek - I had an iMac connected to a V-link192 via USB, connected to a "tricked out" Bifrost DAC and streaming content from a NAS drive. Sound quality was great!

But...

I had to install Audirvana to bypass all the silliness that Apple deems necessary, in order to get the raw data only to the DAC

I purchased a special dual USB cable and separate power supply to eliminate the problems associated to the computers inadequate USB power.

I suffered the various software version upgrades from both Apple and Audirvana.

I suffered spurious glitches during playback

Then recently...

I purchased a Bluesound NODE 2 - loaded the player software onto my various Droid devices - plugged it in - pointed it to the NAS drive’s iTunes configured library - and started playing music.

The Node2 also provides access to various streaming services.

Basically - it took less than one day to achieve the same thing it took weeks, no months, to achieve playback from a NAS drive with a computer - and the quality is better!

I have read of software glitches with the Node 2 software and it’s Library Management features pertaining to playlists are not perfect, but it does play great quality music straight from the LAN - so, no USB issues!

I have experienced dropouts at 24/192 when connected via wireless, but that was when the wireless Lan was very active and my router is old (no "N" mode). I now connect via Ethernet and have no issues.

I recommend the Node 2 based on music quality alone - it may not provide the streaming services you require, but you can look that up on their web site.

Yes - the computer is infinitely more configurable, but I like to listen to music rather than play with settings and web sites.

I was so impressed with the Node2 - I purchase the PowerNode 2 for playback on my A/V system.

Hope that helps

@sbank

Spencer - Thanks for your detailed response and suggestions.

I might well experiment with ethernet via the power line adapters you mention. Odd coincidence, just learned about them last night (another A’gon member is using them to provide signal to a Salk Streamer). Right now, however, am very pleased with the sound quality going wireless. My router is in the same area so have a nice strong signal. Would be interesting (and a little surprising to me) if "co-mingling" signal with the house electricity resulted in an improvement.

I’m not opposed to USB though my Gungnir is not equipped with a USB port. I tried non-USB connections out of the Aries Mini when I first set it up. USB to the V-Link and then via coax to the Gungnir sounded markedly better. Might have had to do with the unit not bing fully burned in...not sure. Regardless, the sound was fuller/more fleshed-out through the V-Link. Haven’t been interested in re-investigating that connection. I did play with a DH Labs Silver Sonic D-750 coax vs Stereovox XV2 SPDIF. I preferred the D-750.

As mentioned previously, I’m pretty content with how things are sounding right now (though curious about ethernet over the house circuitry). 

Thanks again.

@ghosthouse I've no doubt that with your Aries Mini that the USB>spdif adapters yield an improvement over USB, but my point about USB isn't "USB is always better" only that "WITH A SOURCE OPTIMIZED WITH SUPERIOR USB OUTPUT" like the microRendu, then in that case, USB output quality will surpass most coax or spdif and adapters to use them. 

I forget the name of the recommended powerline adapters, but you can search the powerline thread on CA and find it available on amazon for under $100. Cheers,
Spencer

I’ve had good luck running out of my Mac Mini USB out to a Berkeley Audio Designs Alpha USB box.. out of the ALPHA via AES into various DACs. (Berk REF DAC, Pacific Microsonics Model 2, Trinity, CH Precision, etc..)
I run JRiver on the Mac and all files are .WAV or .AIFF.
The Bel Canto USB box sounded great as well.
This combo has always bested any DAC i’ve tried via direct USB input on the DAC.
 Seems a dedicated USB processor to my ears really cleans up a lot of the issues surrounding USB audio..
Just my 2 cents..

Lot's of good points in this dialogue, and I'll try to add a couple more.  I've been running a Mac Mini with a DAC for sometime.  Tried the BlueSound for a while but went back to the Mac.  The glitchiness and the difficultly with accessing my library on my main iMac finally got the best of me.  Sounded great though, and the interface was really nice.

Regarding the Mac...

1) google "improving Mac for audio" and you'll find some great hints, like turning off processes running the background (I'm assuming this is a dedicated computer for audio)
2)  Connect an external hard drive for your music data, preferably on Thunderbolt.  Keep that separate from the USB that is feeding your DAC.  In through the Thunderbolt (or Firewire) and out through the DAC. The NAS approach is equally viable.
3) Run another player software like Roon or Audirvana.  Despite someone's comment above...they definitely sound better than itunes.  Plus, itunes doesn't play back at the resolution of the file, but rather on the computer's settings.  The other players send the full resolution file to the DAC. 

This approach has worked well for me.  Add Tidal to the mix and you've got a very handy music player on your hands.  The newer stand alone streamers/players are definitely coming into their own, but until you spend Auralic money, I don't see that there is a sonic benefit over a clean, well organized Mac.