Did you connect the Minerva DAC to your Macbook pro via firewire?

Hi Chris, did you by chance also try listening with your Grado RS1 to these HRx recordings through the Minerva? As an RS1 owner looking for a hi-res DAC I'm very interested in how well the RS1's can reproduce all that hi-res goodness.

Thx, VincentH

Chris
I have just received my Minerva, but without any software drivers. My dealer tells me no drivers are needed but my dedicated Vista system will recognize the device but not its audio function.
Did you receive drivers? If so, where can I get them?
Like you, my goal with Minerva is to get high quality high resolution replay from all the new formats that are out there.
Thanks, Peter

Hey PNCD - I talked to Daniel Weiss who reiterated that software is indeed require for the Minerva. The disc should be in the back of the manual connected to the inside back cover. Let me know if you don't find it there and I will upload the disc to the site here so you can download it.

Apple Corp. claims its Macs support up to 24/192 through the built-in optical outputs. This would be a fairly good option for listening to HRx releases through a wider array DACs, but to the best of my knowledge nobody has been able to adjust the Audio Midi settings above 24/96.

Chris, I have come across this limitation too, maybe Mark can jump in here and let us know how the RME FF400 handles this?

The people at Reference Recordings strongly suggest using a computer with the Lynx Studio AES 16e PCIexpress card connected via AES/EBU to a Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC.

I assume that the only Mac that can achieve this is a Mac Pro, or can a MacBook Pro do this via the ExpressCard/34 slot?

I can only confirm that with the FF400 connected, that both the control panel for the FF and the Audio Midi utility will allow me to select 192 kHz. - or any other setting I've yet heard of up to that. The FF user's manual states that ADAT and SPDIF operation is switched down to a reduced channel count (never less that 2 channel digital out) as the sample rates rise. That has to do with operating the hardware at higher multiples of standard frequencies - it is called bit splitting or S/MUX -. The analog output sounds perfect to me at 24/96 (the point where S/MUX is switched in for the digital outs) I cannot confirm the analog playback quality of higher sampling rates at this point. I need to get some HRx tracks music to confirm this. On a side note, the FF manual mentions that Core Audio begins reducing it's available channel count as the sample rate climbs as well.

As for Core Audio supporting 192kHz without an external DAC, I don't see it there. 24/96 is the best my MacBook Pro will do natively. It isn't one of the newest ones though, it is from the last generation of MBP's.

markr

... while you were posting your request for clarification - I realized that I hadn't answered the question fully. AFTER the post. 8^)

markr

Thanks Chris and Mark!

Hey Jim - Good questions. I would not expect a Windows XP machine with a Lynx card to sound better than my Mac with the Minerva FireWire DAC. Windows has so many variables and tweaks with each playback application that I would be willing to put a Mac with the Minerva up against any Windows setup any day. In my opinion the Mac/Minerva combo would come out on top every time.

The HRx files can surely be played in all their glory with a wireless NAS drive containing all the tracks. I use a NAS drive connected to an Apple Airport Extreme which wirelessly send the data on my MacBook Pro music server. There are no issues doing this because the data flowing via wireless is pre-iTunes and the MacBook Pro processes the data just like it was coming from the local hard drive. It is a different story if iTunes is sending the data to a wireless DAC. The state of wireless DACs is subpar in my opinion and limited to lower resolutions. So, to answer your question straight forward :-) there is no sonic degradation by accessing your music files via wireless router connected to a network drive. Just dont send your music to the DAC via wireless (yet).

I use iTunes. Bit perfect on a Mac right out of the box.

Chris: have you spotted an adapter for a laptop to accept a pci soundcard like the Lynx card? all of the adapters I found were for use in a pc to enable them to use laptop express cards. Am beginning to think about an XP laptop, Lynx soundcard, new DAC with wireless file access. I have not been able to find the necessary adapter so a laptop can use the Lynx card.

Second, would the Benchmark DAC1 connected to a Lynx soundcard via AES/EBU resolve the RR HRx recordings at full 24/176.4 resolution? am hoping it would do so with an XP laptop running iTunes.

According to Benchmark yes this would allow you to play the HRx albums at full resolution. I have not tested this personally but I see absolutely no reason why this wouldn't work.

Chris, how are you bringing the RR albums into iTunes? Originally I had just copied the RR WAV files from the CD into my Music Directory and I was using Cog to play back the WAV files. Later I decided to import the WAV files into iTunes so I could use the Apple Remote and Front Row. But then I had to type in some of the typical track info I get automatically when ripping my CDs into iTunes. Anyway the bit rate for the WAV file shows 8467 kbps and the sample rate shows 176.400 kHz in iTunes. I then converted the WAV file to AIFF so that I could add the artwork supplied on the RR CD. That worked fine except that the files size decreased and the AIFF files shows a 5644 kbps bit rate and the sample rate shows 176.400 kHz. I didn't expect the bit rate to change so I will probably forgo the artwork and just leave the files as WAV files rather than risk downgrading the files. I thought you might know the best way of minimizing effort and maximizing playback quality or have you been just enjoying the music like me and not caring about these little details. iTunes is so damn easy and, at least on the Mac, so good that I wish digital providers such as RR and Linn would offer AIFF files in addition to the WAV or FLAC files they provide, even if there had to be a slight surcharge.

After I posted my message I noticed that I have a few tracks from a Redbook CD that show a bit rate of 2116 kbps and sample rate of 44.1 kHz. I assume I must have ripped these tracks in Max to playback in Cog but then I later imported them into iTunes. When I directly rip my Redbook CDs into iTunes they show a bit rate of 1411 kbps and sample rate of 44.1 kHz. I assume there is no good reason to rip Redbook CDs to anything higher than 16/44.1 and that ripping to 24/44.1 is a waste of disk space.

Fortunately iTunes plays WAV files so I believe I will leave the RR HRx tracks as WAV files with a bit rate of 8467 kbps and sample rate of 176.4 kHz. Being able to add or retrieve artwork for AIFF files is cute but sonically irrelevant. And horrors of all horrors I noticed that my iTunes library had a few albums that had been ripped to low resolution (128 kbps/44.1kHz) lossy compressed audio files. These albums will have to be re-ripped.

I see that I could have set my preference in Max to automatically add the output files to the iTunes library. You learn something new everyday, which is so great about your site. Other sites may give you informed/uninformed/biased/unbiased opinions/info and reviews. Your site seems to bring over more of the positive and almost none of the negatives of these sites, but more importantly your site seems responsive and dedicated to finding solutions.

Berkeley Audio Design Associates has a DAC called the Alpha that is HDCD compatible. When I play an HDCD recording such as the HRx files the HDCD indicator illuminates only if I am streaming a bit perfect signal. In fact if I move the iTunes volume slider to anything other than 100% the HDCD indicator goes dark meaning the stream is no longer bit perfect.

http://www.berkeleyaudiodesign.com/

Hey Musicalsound - Right now I am using a MacBook Pro but I am always looking at different options. I am thinking about getting a Mac Pro right now.

I'm always using the most current version of OS X and iTunes.

Hey audiozorro - Bit perfect is often used to describe two different concepts in the computer audio world. The wording of your post seems to interweave the two, but I have a feeling I know what you're getting at.

Bit perfect files - An exact digital copy of the original source audio file. If losslessly compressed the track will be exactly the same when uncompressed

Bit perfect playback - Outputting audio without changing the stream one bit. The word bit is used in the literal sense here.

When you asked, "Is there another way to test for bit perfect files?" I assume you are talking about bit perfect playback not necessarily the files. Please let me know if this is incorrect. The HDCD method is really the only real world way I know to test for bit perfect playback in an audio system. Those with home theater receivers can check for perfect DTS playback or other audio formats with indicators that illuminate. In your system I am guessing the playback is bit perfect for everything at 24/96 and below as long as you make the appropriate software adjustments on the Mac when switching resolutions. For 16/44.1 the HDCD light should work for sure and I don't really know of any publicly available 24/96 HDCD recordings off the top of my head.

One of the big topics in the computer audiophile world is the different sound of applications. As long as you're outputting bit perfect streams the applications are a matter of choice. In reality they are always a matter of choice but I like to rule out apps without bit perfect playback in my system. In this next phase of audiophile sound applications will fuel the next Tube v. Solid Sate arguments. iTunes will be the application of the foreseeable future that saves the high-end. Crazy as it sounds! In the not too distant future there is at least one other application in development that may be much better than iTunes. That's all I can say about it for now.

After hearing the HRx 24/196.4 albums through the Minerva and the Berkeley DAC I am very willing to forget about vinyl as a reference source, but not as a source of great sound and enjoyment.

The HDCD light should come on when playing files from your Mac as long as everything is bit perfect. Make sure your iTunes volume is set at 100%. This one got me for the first few minutes I connected an HDCD DAC. I couldn't figure out why the light didn't illuminate. Then the proverbial light went on in my head and I set the volume to max. The people I talk to in the industry whose opinions I respect very much all agree that using the HDCD indicator is a very good way to determine bit perfect playback. bolstering this opinion is that fact that when listening to an HDCD with the light illuminated I can change settings that I know cause the signal to become less than bit perfect. Doing this makes the light go dark every time. then setting everything back to the "correct" settings causes the light to illuminate once again. I think this is a pretty good test although not infallible.

"..I also mentioned that my Redbook CDs ripped in Max and played in Cog were 24/44.1 files versus the 16/44.1 files in iTunes. Is this desirable for better sonics?"

In my opinion this is not desirable unless you are in the business of selling hard drives. You won't get any real benefit, but if you like the sound then I'm totally cool with that.

Hey robjob - Welcome to Computer Audiophile. Are you asking for an opinion on the sound staging and imaging or are you just reviewing my review? Since it's your first post I'm not familiar with your style yet and can't really tell.

I highly suggest you pick up a copy of at least one HRx album as sound staging and imaging are so different from system to system. A huge sound stage on my system may be quite closed in on another system.

Hi GM - The Magma box is really the only way to get AES out of a laptop. Haven't tried it because it seems a little clunky and could be rather loud with a built-in fan (I believe). You could always get a Weiss Engineering Vesta which converts FireWire to AES/EBU. A little expensive, but a very nice way to go.

Are you sold on Macs and laptops?

Hi GM - You may be on to something :-)

Both PC and Mac are capable of great sound and more options to make each sound better continue to be released.

Hi Bassmann - HRx consists of WAV files at 24/176.4 sample rate. There is no such thing as a conversion to HRx. All HRx releases either started in 24/176.4 digital or came from analog tapes digitized at 24/176.4.