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Computer, software, USB cable or ?

Had some friends over for the holiday weekend and was playing a bunch of different stuff.  Started with some cable radio @ 48K via TOSLINK into my C50 DAC.  Sounded about as you would expect; good but not great.  Standard streaming, IOW.  Moved on to digital from my laptop via USB.  It's a MacBook Pro from 2012 with OS X 10.11.6 (El Capitan), 2.5 GHz i5 processor and 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM.  I have the audio MIDI interface set to upscale everything to 32 bit 192 KHz so I can use iTunes as the file serving app for both standard and hi-rez files.  The USB cable is a decent quality computer cable, not an "audiophile" cable.  The sound was again good, but not great.  All files are ripped in WAV at source resolution (e.g. 16/44.1, 24/96 etc.). Bluntly, it just doesn't compare to my MVP 881 BR disc player.

I'm not expecting my computer source to rock my world, but I am wondering if there might be some way to get better performance.  Thanks in advance and I'll look forward to your input!
effischer
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almarg
8,673 posts
 
If you were running the laptop on AC a worthwhile experiment might be to try running it on its battery.  I'm envisioning not only that the AC power supply might be introducing noise into the system, but when on battery power the computer might operate in a somewhat different manner internally, in the interests of conserving power, conceivably resulting in less digital noise and/or jitter on its USB output.  And if the USB interface of the DAC in your C50 is not asynchronous, it might be particularly susceptible to that kind of issue.

Best regards,
-- Al
 
auxinput
1,538 posts
 

Also, I’ve found laptop USB interfaces are usually very poor quality when compared to desktop. Another suggestions would be reclocker (such as Remedy Reclocker by Wyred 4 Sound). This may make the audio much more solid and better.

Moving up to better silver/silver-plated based USB cables can also improve things.

That being said, it’s going to be extremely hard to beat your McIntosh MVP 881 as both a transport and a DAC/player.

Also, what DAC are you feeding the laptop into?

randy-11
1,913 posts
 
could be lack of galvanic isolation

some say SSDs sound better than a HDD - which did you use?

I suggest you post on https://www.computeraudiophile.com

where a lot of engineers involved in designing DACs and related products hang out
williewonka
1,826 posts
 
i’ve used lots of different approaches when streaming via computer, but here’s the best combination of solutions I’ve found to date

If the DAC utilizes the USB power (many do)
- I found the best cable solution to be a dual lead USB cable - this has separate cables for power and signal.
- get a separate power supply - Enercell does a really affordable 5v USB power supply that performs well
- Pangea and Doukmall(Ebat) sells reasonably priced cables ($50-60)

Get Audirvana streaming software - it bypasses the Apple routines which "colour" the sound.

Copy CD’s using DBpoweramp - it does a great job and let’s you know if data errors are present

Next I would consider getting a V-link192 USB/SPDIF converter - it has a superb USB interface and improved quality a lot. They are no longer made, so you’ll have to look at used

I’ve since done away with the computer/DAC/V-Link and opted to go with the Blusound Node 2 connected via Ethernet cable to a router and NAS drive.
- it’s simple(even my wife can use it), great sounding and by comparison to the computer/DAC/V-link/cables/powersupply combo - it’s affordable

The Node 2 is the best streaming solution I’ve experienced to date, but there are many similar products out there - so find one that fits you

Hope this helps - Steve

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