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The Newb

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  1. Thanks Darren for your comment about Async USB. Yes the power supply in the PC should be fine. I can’t remember the Voltage but it has something like 800~900W in Wattage. I am willing to upgrade that if needed – power supply should never be the weakest link of the chain. I bought this computer in december-2009 (the USB3.0 motherboard came out just a week before) and chose the components so it will stay strong for as long as possible. Heat sinks, fans, case quality & power supply were important topics. My previous desktop dates back to spring-2005 and is still working !!! I had to change the board once and it is now used mainly for downloading or simple MS Word / Excel. For DAC, finally I think I will go ahead with the following solution: First-time purchase: Buy the MF V-DAC II and connect it to the PC via USB (USD 385 here in China; converted from CNY today with Xe.com). I have read good things about the Async USB connection and it should match the S/PDIF solution in terms of sound quality out of the PC; at least at this budget. This DAC seems to be the better value-for-money because it can decode 24bits/192kHz and fits my profile: entry-level user conscious about his sound quality.. Also I do not think I have the hearing ‘skills’ required to really tell the difference between the V-DAC II and the Peachtree DACit. Again I will not be able to test both devices before I make a purchase decision so I have to draw a line somewhere and the Peachtree’s extra cost (USD 650 against USD 385 for the V-DAC here) is hard to justify in my personal case.. and the price difference could go into buying better cables. First upgrade: Get better cables. Second upgrade: Choice-1: get a USB to S/PDIF converter cable to see how the sounds could be improved. Choice-2 (preferred): get a Xonar Essence STX card (PCIe, USD 170 here) and connect it to the V-DAC II to see how the sound could be improved. Or use any good audiophile-oriented card at the time of upgrade. Third upgrade: Choice-1: get a better DAC in the sub-USD 1,000 category. Maybe an Essence One or something like the Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus (USD 548 here) Choice-2: learn more about tubes and start to think about swapping them on the amp – although that seems totally crazy and un-reasonable right now. Between the Second and Third upgrade, we are back to my previous post’s 2 solutions of going either with a souncard + external DAC or with something like the Essence One (same overall price for both solutions). Using the V-DAC II through async USB, at first, will buy me some time and help me to better orientate the future upgrades – I think. Any further comments or ideas guys? I have one more question: From this webpage: The Well-Tempered Computer And this sentence down at the bottom of the page: YMMV as they say on the audio forums. Now what the hell (WTH) does ‘YMMV’ means?? On another side-note, I do want to apologize for the length of my posts and for my thoughts-process which, as shown on this thread, can get pretty messy for other people to read J I do like to write-down & organize ideas yet I can jump from solutions to solutions whenever I read something new J All in all I enjoy the process as much as the result and, when I decide something, I know I can finally commit to it! Cheers, Newb
  2. Lou, Don't quit !! these things takes time to figure out. I have been hunting for my perfect first system for close to 1 year.. and savings for close to 10 years. Barrows, Your answer to Lou is very interesting. i am still trying to figure out what is my best option for connecting my PC to my amp. thread here: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/asus-xonar-essence-stx-internal-or-musical-fidelity-v-dacii-external-12419/#post162569 I am looking at: 1) Async USB connected to an external DAC 2) Mobo coaxial connect to an external DAC (my mobo is an ASUS P6X58D) 3) Internal soundcard's coaxial connected to an external DAC.. or directly to the amp at first if i don't bypass the DAC stage on the soundcard. Following-up on your previous answer to Lou, would you recommend the 1) or the 3) solution for sound quality?? is the 2) solution really that bad if you use an external DAC with it AND bypass the Windows mixer?? Thanks, Newb
  3. Also.. yes i checked the Foobar2000 software. Heard the name before but never really read anything about it before today. It seems OK for what i need and i could sync my iPod Touch by installing a dedicated plug-in. Think i will search this forum to see if the latest firmware update has also blocked Foobar like it did JRiver. Apple is really not earning extra points by closing down their systems even more but this is another topic.
  4. This confirmation is helping me to move forward. I checked my motherboard and it has a coaxial output (ALC889 codec). Here are the specs: Asus P6X58D Premium Review » Page 7 - Specifications & Features - Overclockers Club Maybe having the coaxial directly on the motherboard could ensure better insulation / resistance to noises than a 'connected' soundcard? Also i checked the ASUS Xonar Essence One that Darren is suggesting and this nice piece of equipment is very geared toward PC users like me: it does 24bits/192kHz, has 2 internal DAC chipsets (read in a review) and uses a software solution called 'Bitperfect' to get the sound out of the PC. When i started this thread i was hesitating between an Internal soundcard and an external DAC (how newbie of me!) and now i find myself thinking about: 1) Xonar Essence STX + MF V-DACII (or MA D2), or 2) Essence One connected to the motherboard via coaxial. Both solution would cost me the same thing here in China (1st solution with the V-DACII). Good news is i am definitely sold on not using USB unless/until i win the lottery. Jim, My girlfriend has a Mr. Ma's CD somewhere she's the one in charge of all the north-asian musical sources! from good old 1930s' Shanghai cabaret to 21st century's ears-splitting Canto-pop. But, in the end, i'll always choose Lama Gyurme for anything buddhist-related. Cheers, Newb
  5. Monday at the office: back online after a weekend in the wild. Really thank you All for the good posts! I knew I came to the right place J This is to try & follow-up on all the good things: My PC system: Windows 7 64 bit Motherboard: ASUS PX58D (from memory) GPU: ATI Radeon 6870 (of 6970? Not 100% sure) Music software: Winamp mainly. I hate iTunes but still use it to sync an iPod Touch Amp choice: Yes it is integrated. There are 2 reasons why I settled with this amp: 1) Listened to it paired with the SCM11s. The shop seller recommended it as a good entry-level amp for these particular speakers (he’s an ATC authorized dealer in Beijing). It did well-enough when my 2 test CDs tried to murder it. 2) Fits in the overall budget. I haven’t bought it yet as I am waiting to get the full equipments list ready and then buy everything at once (my dad says I’m crazy). The company ‘Melody’ is owned by Chinese people based in Australia. DAC choices: Yes I need something with both USB and coax/SPDIF. Good reminder Bill, thanks. >> All choices seem available but, so far, no way to see them in real life before making a purchase decision. >> Both the V-DAC and the Peachtree DACit are available here in China … online. The shops are legit so I would not be getting a copy (if copying a DAC is technically & electrically possible). >> Funnily, I could not find the Maverick Audio’s D1 and D2. But I could always contact the owner directly in Shanghai. Soundcard choices: Yes ASUS is well available here in China. Their customer service is crap but the equipments are good enough so I can hopefully avoid having to contact them again. Where I am standing after reading you guys: Still a bit puzzled but happily-puzzled. If I am not mistaken, a good (minimalist with a tat of cabling madness!!) way of connecting the PC to the amp sould be: Soundcard (anything with a coax/SPDIF output) >>> DAC >>> amp >>> SCM11s Since I do not have an Essence ST lying around J I should still be fine with a cheaper card as long as it has the coaxial/SPDIF connection - correct? I also need to go back home and check what I still have available on the motherboard but I am guessing no coaxial there. Music player / software: Thanks again Jim for the JRiver recommendation. The player looks fantastic.. however it seems it does not support direct syncing with the latest generations of Apple products (since Apple updated firmware and locked databases on their idevices). My only idevices are an iPod Touch (that WILL need syncing) and an iPad (that will NOT need to be synced; I use it for work, news & playing Sudoku mainly). Again I mostly use Winamp because it is a great, non-invasive, non-too-buggy piece of software. Yet it is very ugly. I looked into switching to Zune (great-looking) but it seems it still does not recognize FLAC or ALAC and all my favorite albums are in FLAC. In the end I might just keep using Winamp… any other options out there???? All I need is: · Play lossless files · Sync directly to my Ipod touch (no transfer to iTunes first; using plug-ins) · Not too ugly maybe (willing to forget that one). Thank you All for the good advices. This is priceless!
  6. Tough day, tough choices. Very interesting answer too Jim.. being a minimalist is right in my line of thoughts, although i've been told that i always ask too many questions before ending up with something rather 'minimalist'. So, if i understand correctly, you are using the Xonar soundcard 'only' to get the coaxial connection but you bypass both its DAC and amp stages in order to use the Peachtree as a DAC - correct? If yes, isn't that overkill on the soundcard side? a cheaper card could do the trick maybe.. Now i will try to compare reviews of the following 3 DAC options: 1) Maverick Audio D2 (seems better suited for my need, compared to D1) 2) Peachtree DAC it 3) Musical Fidelity V-DAC II Cheers
  7. Thanks for that Darren! That looks good and quite fits my budget. Would you recommend the D1 '+op-amp upgrade' or the D2 in terms of pure sound quality? The pre-amp stage could prove useful as the pair of ATC speakers could use all the power it can gather.. they are quite demanding. They have a nice comparison chart on the website and it seems they both use a different DAC chip; although i couldn't say which one is of better quality. Also the USB connection on the D2 seems better quality (to 24bit/96kHz instead of 16bit/48kHz for the D1) - ? I'll try to read as much as i can on the Head-fi forum and come back to this thread later today.
  8. Hello everybody! First-time poster here. I have been reading a few threads here and it sounds exactly like the forum i was looking for. Thanks to a few savings, i am now putting together/investing in my first real stereo system. To make a long story short, I am not sure whether i should go with on-board DAC (soundcard) or an external DAC. System: So far i have narrowed down choices to: Speakers: ATC SCM11 (really like the sound) Amp: Melody AstroBlack 50 (tube amp, good combination for my budget) Input-1: old CD player Input-2: desktop computer Budget: My budget is pretty much all used-up by the speakers. I guess i am looking at something in the sub$500 category. Value-for-money is also very important to me. Ideas: soundcard: ASUS Xonar Essence ST or STX external DAC: Musical Fidelity V-DACII (open to ANY other suggestions) Limitations: I live in China and, very unfortunately, i do not have many opportunities to 'listen' to different cards/DAC or to order/return products.... so i guess i am now relying on good suggestions from all the experts i could discuss with. The amp does not include a DAC and, going back to my underlined sentence above, which way would you recommend me to go? knowing that i will not transport the DAC out of my home so a soundcard is acceptable.. however i may (??) one day switch to a home-laptop and i would not want to buy another external DAC at this time. Also i DO apologize if this kind of questions has been asked more than a hundred times already ... I can't stand the poor excuse of a system i now have to listen to on a daily basis (too bad to be described here.. i switch to MP3 player + headphones) and i CAN'T WAIT to put together the final list of equipments and go-ahead on an audio shopping spree. Thank you All in advance, The Newb
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