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Steven Latch

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  1. Resolved! It turns out I only had to go back to the devices selection on the remote app. What I was doing was accessing the same library through Apple TV. All is, good, I'm back in HR.
  2. Hi, I have been streaming music from a PC equipped with a Xona Essence XT and Itunes, feeding the signal to a Rega Dac through a coaxial cable with very good results. As the PC is not in the room where the stereo is (cable through the wall), I have been using a WIFI remote to control Itunes with an iPhone. I am going through a little hickup right now. I got an Apple TV box, with the purpose of streaming digital radios from the Iphone. Using the home sharing function it works fine. But.... as soon as home sharing is engaged, when I use the Apple remote to stream the music, rather than commanding iTunes on the computer and sending the signal to the DAC, the Iphone sends the data through WIFI to the Apple TV module. It seems to sounds good but all my HR material is downgraded from 96Khz to 44Khz. Turning off home sharing gets things back to normal, but it's still annoying. Would anyone know a way around this? Thanks in advance
  3. SORTED!!!! I ended up retiring my 10 years old midiman audiophile in favor of an ASUS Xonar Essence SP. This sorted all the issues above: - The REGA DAC is now identified as an output speaker - I get perfectly clean output from the S/PDIF to the Rega DAC with no pops and ticks One of these weird incompatibility issues I guess. Always a little annoying to have to upgrade some otherwise fully functional hardware due to some other hardware but at least all is working fine now!
  4. Back here after a while.... I am STILL struggling with the same issue. - Windows Vista still unable to recognize the Rega DAC so unable to use the USB output - DAC still unable to lock in properly to the SPDIF out of my midiman audiophile 24/96 - The DAC ALMOST perfectly locks to the SPDIF out of the midiman WHEN AND ONLY WHEN a USB cable is also connected between the DAC and the computer. However, some annoying "pops" and "ticks" show up either regularly or not at all depending on the time and day. Curious to know if anyone else since has had similar troubles with the DAC
  5. Well, the ground loop thing is really something that sounds plausible, thanks for pointing me in this direction. I do have a guitar rack at home to and have been subjected to many, many, noisy and WEIRD issues in the past. This could be one of the occurences. I have reinstalled windows so as to rule out any lingering virus with no effect. At this point, I actually get a good sound with both cables plugged in and lose the spdif signal as soon as I unplug the usb cable. No explanation so far.
  6. Hello, First, thank you very much for having taken the time to mention this issue to a distributor of the product. It turns out however that my issue is more complex. In actual facts, I simply cannot use the USB connection alone. As I am writing this message, I have messages regularly popping at the bottom of my screen, telling me that windows has failed to install the DAC properly. I have tried two different cables with the same results. However, I did manage to susccesfully get the DAC recognised by a laptop. So there seems to be a conflict between my windows vista equipped PC and the Rega DAC. And it is still insanely weird that the only way to get a clean signal is to have both the coaxial and usb plugged in, even if the usb fails to install????
  7. Thanks for trying to help anyway! Could be many things. I did the obvious such as trying to update the drivers and try all possible settings. Not ready or willing to give up! :-)
  8. Well the spdif coaxial works fine with other devices and since the signal passing through it is sorted as soon as a PC to DAC USB connection is also established, the cable itself doesn't seem to be the fault. Lack of USB detection is also not cable dependent as two cables were tested. So there seems to be some sort of conflict between the DAC and soundcard. Weird...
  9. Hello, First attempts to connect my PC equipped with an M-audio 24/96 soundcard are rather puzzling... Here is what happens: - Using the S/PDIF output of the M-Audio into the S/PDIF input of the Rega, I get a very weak, crackling signal with the "locking" led flashing in and out - Using a USB to USB connection, I get no signal at all and the DAC is not recognized by windows that keeps tying and fails to indentify it However... When both cables are connected (USB and S/PDIF), the S/PDIF signal does lock. As soon as the USB connector is plugged in, the sound becomes stable. There are still nuisances since the constant attemps of windows to identify the DAC seems to disturb the signal transmission which results in ticks in the sound, and windows sound alerts. Any idea how to get beyond this?
  10. Thanks for your advice Paul. The Rega is actually on its way. Ideally I would have liked to test a few DACs but didn't have that option. I know the Rega is colored. My "bet", based on several reviews is that the tone of the Rega should fit within my current system. The Marantz and Triangle tends to have sharp treble, and that mates well with the Rega P3 which has a mellower sound, but not so well with several digital sources I tried. For this reason, a very transparent DAC may not be the best choice, for my taste at least. I will know for sure once I will have tried. I have a variety of sources, CD player, computer, blu-ray at hand so will be able to A/B how each source sounds with the different inputs available. First step is to define whether computer + DAC will be a noticeable improvment over my Marantz CD6000OSE KI.
  11. Well, after browsing lots of reviews and comments, the consensus seems to be that all resolutions aside, best results are obtained by sending the best signal to the Rega's SPDIF input, with a converter from the mac's USB input. An investment but it seems to give better results than using the mac's digital output. Both are worth a try.
  12. I would but so far I use my current PC as a test music server before switching to a mini mac if the results are good enough. And it doesn't seem the three software mentionned are available on windows.
  13. Thanks Matt, I have since done some research and have settled for the Rega Dac as I intend to stay within a mid market setup. Before going Mac Mini I will first give my existing PC a shot through it's midiman audiophile spdif output with J River as a player. Should it sound good to me, I would not necessarily switch over. I get a key factor here will be the quality of the spdif signal. Another option would be a USB to Spdif converter as you suggested so I may go that route too before ruling out my current PC altogether.
  14. Hello, Just curious to know if the limitations of Itunes in terms of sound quality are obvious even in standard CD-res in lossless formats, or if this is more noticeable with high-res formats. Just asking as I am toying with the idea of switching to J-River, but only if there is a noticeable difference in this format since I will barely use anything else. Thanks!
  15. Hello all. First message for me on this very instructive forum. A little bit of background before my questions. I have been using for ten years a mid market configuration. A Rega P3 turntable with an horizon arm and a Marantz CD6000OSE KI are my sources. They feed a Marantz 7200PM and Triangle Zays speakers. The Rega has and still gives me a great sound but I was always displeased with the CD player (I have also tried several mid priced players). It has to do with a stiffer sound than the P3 and a definite harsness, shrillness in vocals. In one word, the P3 just sounds more natural. I am considering a mid-priced server based solution that would sound better. So far I have defined the following : - A mac mini as a source sounds good to me because I really like the itunes interface, the device is more discrete than a full blown laptop and I like the idea of piloting it with an iphone witouth having the TV screen on. - The Rega DAC sound like a good match according to some user reviews on this forum and others. I admit I am biased towards the brand, which is not necessarily good to make an informed choice - I will mainly, if not exclusively play ripped CDs at 16bits/44.1Khz What I would like to know is the following : - A direct USB to USB connexion doesn’t apparently give the best results with this combo and using a toslink cable on the digital output is preferred. Would using an audiophilleo or an Hiface on the USB output or an Halide Bridge on the optical output yield better results ? Or would this be overkill given the rest of my setup ? - Is there another DAC that is known for beeing a great match for the mac mini ? - Alternatively, I have a desktop computer with a semi-pro sound card with an spdif output. As a starter solution, would this signal plugged to a DAC give me better result than my current turntable ? All in all, I am trying to upgrade to get a significant improvment over the my current digital playback, without acquirring equipment that would make no difference past a point given my current amp and speakers. Thanks all !
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