tankpopper

Hi guys. A couple of years ago I made an audio-PC based on the caps computer. i used the Intel DN2800MT motherboard, an SSD drive and 4gb ram. it worked well for audio but video was always a problem, even after i added the CrystalHD chip. General use (beyond turning foobar and pressing play) was a nightmare, web surfing was slow and it's always felt like I it's a computer from the 90's. Therefore, per the wife's request, it is time to move on to something just as discreet but with decent Video capabilities. I have two main candidates. The expensive one is the NUC, and the cheaper one is the MINIX NEO Z64W. Here are my questions: * if Nuc - Why not the cheaper Celeron version? * If Minix - should I expect better performance then what i have now? The bottom line? Which one do you people think I should get? (The price difference is steep enough for me to really look into this; otherwise, I would have just gotten the Nuc). Another option I though about was to stay with my current computer but try a different operating system. I tried windows 10 only to find out it has no drivers for the DN2800MT, maybe UBUNTU? My system is: JL sound USB over I2S EAD DSP7000 DAC DIY tube preamp Dynaco st70 Modified PureAudioProject speakers (with Tannoy 15 inch DC drivers) Thank you very much! Omri from Israel

thank you for the reply pooger. after some extensive reaserch it seems i have a couple of options available localy.. 1. Line Magnetic 502 dac 2. Blacknote DSS 30 any insite on this two? the LM seems to get incredible reviews. Thanks!

Hey guys. Well.. building the digital side of my system isnt as easy as i hoped. my TT always sounds great no matter what i do, but my dedicated computer and DAC are just not fun enough. i strated off with a HEGEL HD2, moved on to the GEEK out 720 (used it as a dac and not headphone amp) and right now im using the TeddyDac (older model, non asynch USB). all of them sounded good, all of them lacked something. clearly, the Teddy is the best of the bunch by a mile but still.. the soundstage is not exactly what i want and the the sound is too laid back. im looking for something more engaging, more dynamic with a much more frontal soundstage. now, i know im asking for a lot here.. but im willing to play around to get there. DIY is fine by me, but im yet to find a kit the looked interesting enough. also, TD1541 nos dacs look interesting (i dont have any HIrez files). a local guy is actually selling an Audial aya 2 dac that might be good. tube output is also very much welcomed, actually, i prefer it. the Line Magnetic 502ca looks good also and should be well in my price range. so, any suggestion guys? my setup is DIY tube preamp with 12au7 tubes and UTC output transformers. Dynaco ST70 amp with upgraded driver board. Tannoy Dual Concetrics 15 inch in an open baffle setup. Thank you all for reading!

Hey guys! Finally managed to get my hand on a real DAC! the TeddyDac landed here yesterday and i am very pleased with the resault! this is far better then all the toys i had before (Geek, Vdac2, Hegel HD2). but alas, nothing can ever go smooth and i am having some driver problems. mind you this is the older version dac with the synchronus usb. The first problem is latency.. im getting alot of pops and jumps (sort of cuts in the music). not as much as with my Vdac2, i CAN listen to music - but every once in a few minutes things will jump for a minute and then settle. second problem - it seems my computer dosnt like this DAC and always finds reasons not to work with him! if i switch the DAC from USB to SPDIF to play my transport and then back to USB - it wont work! Foobar will give me an error and i will have to restart my computer. also, if i try to use Kernel streaming it will work with the current play list but once i try to add more songs i get another error and again need to restart. I do have a bunch of drivers from different dacs i had over the years, maybe i should remove all of them and install only one driver (that you guys reccomend..) anyway - thank you very much for your time! Tank Out!

OK.. something exotic popped up locally - resolution audio quantom dac! Data online is very scares so I was hoping someone could shed light on its quality.. also, would it be a le to play hi Res files if ill add HiFace?

first of all - thank you all for your help.. when i decided to upgrade my source the path was very clear.. thats why i opened this thread! but now, things look very different. i now understand that a CDP with USB input is not the best of ideas because i will be very limited with my option down the line.. also, i want most of my money to go for the DAC part, the cd trasnport's quality is less important for me right now. so i strated lookin outside the box and units like the Benchmark dac1 or apogee minidac look far more interesting.. im also considering going STUDIO all the way.. the recording studio units usually work just as good as cost far less (or thats what i learned from my reaserch, i may be wrong..). so, guys, any new recomendations?

here's another candidate that poped up locally - quad 99 cd.. together with HiFace it should give me what i need.. what do you guys think?

A KRELL s350 CD DVD player came up locally.. what do you guys think? It has spdif input so ill have to get a hiface also.

choosing a dac is becoming a much harder businness then i anticipated im starting to understand that a cd player and dac in one unit, while cool, is very limiting given my budget.. so time to change direction! time a proper dac.. im done playing in the minor league.. the Hegel hd2 was the best i had, the MF Vdac2 was just ok and the geekout was pretty good also.. but a friend who owns a recording studio told me something which made me think - if you want to add color let your amp do it, let your preamp do it, let your speakers do it - but your source needs to be as clean as possible so you will never be limited with what you can do with it! and i agree.. also, he claims that studio dacs and external sound cards, even old ones based on firewire, are just as good as super expensive dacs and that Dynamic range is the most important factor to look at - interesting.. with that in mind, i started looking at the benchark dac1 or maybe an Apogee mini dac.. any other ideas for me? i will get a cd transport as well and hook it up to the dac (together with my audio pc)

Hi guys. after toying around with the Hegel hd2 (which i loved) and the Geekout as dac in my system its time for me to move on to more serious dacs.. now, i have a serious CD collection which i never listen to because i dont have a cd player so i thought its time to get a propper CD TRANSPORT.. so which unit has both (similair to the EAR ACUTE) for up to 1000$ ? i saw the Teac CD-3000 but its a bit too expensive and i dont think i can listen to it localy. the music hall 15.3 cd player also has USB input but alas it is not available localy as well.. any other recomendations? tube output would be a big plus as well!

correct me if im wrong but a cd-rom is far from ideal for Music..? shouldnt i expect better quality from a dedicated cd transport?

Hey guys.. I have a question (or a thought) to share with you.. i currently have an all pc setup.. i use the HEGEL HD2 DAC which only has USB input. lets say i want to add a CD transport - can i hook up the transport to the computer via spdif and from there to the dac? the computer in this case will just be w medium between the transport and the dac. the best way to put it - could a good cd transport be used as a pc's cd drive? what are your thoughts? Tank out!

wait. im confused. i can see why a dedicated Blueray player will give better results on video, but will it give better result for Flac based audio as well? most of my music is flac and on a 2TB external drive. before i built the caps i had a streamer called DVD Xtreamer. the sound caps smoked that player on sound quality, so from my experience a caps gives better results then a dedicated player for music. this way or another, my dac is usb only so a move to a dedicated player all together is out of the question right as it require a new dac as well.

i guess you are right, maybe i am asking too much of this little guy.

windows 7 it is one last issue i have though.. if i turn my amp and preamp amp with no input there is absolutly 0 noise from speaker, which is good. the second i hook my DAC to the preamp (only source hooked up) a strong hum starts (even though the volume in my preamp and amp is on 0). i reckon this is a power issue. would an outside power source for my dac solve this? (hegel hd2)