doggiehowser
Responses from doggiehowser
| MacBook Pro or PC soundcard USB may have started off clumsily but that's the thing with PC audio. It keeps getting better. The async USB interface from Gordon Rankin and Nugent were big strides in getting to a good quality connection from PC to DAC. Most PCs are full of EMI ... | |
| Computer audio, I am not convinced yet ...... Shame, Cerrot. Having the sound card in the computer just means it is susceptible to the EMI/RF noise that is in the computer. USB provides a form of isolation from that noise. Other options include what say Aurender has done which compartmentaliz... | |
| Preamp for Bel Canto DAC3.5 With my old Bel Canto DAC3.5VB, I found that adding the Pre3 added a sense of space and depth to the soundstage. But when I upgraded to the VB MkII, I thought the Pre3 seemed to detract a bit from the increased detail.I have used the VB MkII with ... | |
| Moving from PC to Mac I use iTunes to manage my music library that I use for music server functions as well as syncing with my iOS devicesSo conversion is needed.If I am not running headless (ie when using a notebook with keyboard/mouse rather than a Mac Mini), I tend ... | |
| Moving from PC to Mac I use XLD also because it has an EAC-type ripper for CD ripping. | |
| Focus 160 w/2 JL f113s vs. Focus 380 or C2 II My personal preference is never to run another crossover in front of the main speakers and prefer to run them in full range.The S1 works by telling the sub integrator where the main speakers fall off. What frequency does the speaker drop off in re... | |
| Focus 160 w/2 JL f113s vs. Focus 380 or C2 II I've always maintained that subs are just incredibly fiddly to integrate with the mains. There's never a Goldilocks level: too hot or too cold, depending on the track I am listening to.That is until I used Thiel's S1 Integrator and their Smartsub ... | |
| Moving from PC to Mac You can a. use XLD (free software) to convert all your FLAC to AIFF or Apple LosslessBoth would retain the meta data of the FLAC files. XLD has a setting to "automatically add converted files to iTunes).b. use something like Pure Music or Audirvan... | |
| MacBook Pro or PC soundcard Internal soundcards are susceptible to a lot of noise.A USB DAC is a bit like a soundcard. It's just that the components usually benefit from better isolation from the insides of a PC, and usually have better power supplies as well. | |
| MacBook Pro or PC soundcard USB-DAC with a good asynchronous USB Audio Class 2.0 implementation (not just USB 2.0).Use BitPerfect if you use iTunes for your music library and enable Cache/Memory Play.Better yet, use Audirvana Plus.Use SSD and load up the RAM to as much as yo... | |
| Computer audio, I am not convinced yet ...... @Spectron, have you heard an EMM Labs DAC2?It is a pretty damn fine DAC. It's one of the reasons I broke my own budget and bought the XDS1. | |
| spdif/USB converter vs DAC upgrade I preferred Audirvana Plus to Pure Music. See if you can pick up a second hand Audiophileo or Wavelink HS or OffRamp to experiment. The Audiophileo might be the cheapest of the bunch to try out. | |
| spdif/USB converter vs DAC upgrade Audiophileo supports Direct Mode with Audirvana and Lion/Mountain Lion.If you are running Pure Music on Snow Leopard. No issue. Integer works on Audiophileo on that system too. | |
| spdif/USB converter vs DAC upgrade Pure Music supports Integer mode in Snow Leopard. Apple changed the core audio API in Lion and Mountain Lion which broke Integer mode for Pure Music (and Audirvana Plus). But Audirvana's creator found another way to enable Direct/Integer mode with... | |
| Computer audio, I am not convinced yet ...... EMM Labs DAC2 USB port was designed almost 5 years ago when computer audio was at its infancy. Its USB port was almost an after though, and only capable of running 44.1kHz or 48kHz only and very likely used a synchronous USB connection (par for th... |