axle_69

All good except... have to agree with tobes, there is less real estate, too much wasted space and some fonts are too big and don't work well with retina displays scaled to half the physical resolution. And that blue theme, the background of the albums shouts at you, maybe should be darker and greyish, definitely much worse than the old grey.

I didn't say I had. Trying to make a decision between the Spring and another DAC. It seems some people feel the need to put something like the Singxer SU-1 DDC in the middle. In the case of the other DAC it would be computer without upsampling > Toslink up to 96 > upsampling in the other DAC, whereas in the case of the Spring it would have to be upsampling in the computer > USB > ? > Spring. The Spring may take the lead on the DAC itself, the other DAC will take the lead on the upsampling algorithm (probably even compared with upsampling in the computer), but what happens in the middle is important as well. I could upsample 44.1 to 88.2 and use Toslink with the Spring but my guess is that the analogue low pass has a gentle slope and a higher sampling rate will be better. So it ends up being a question about upsampling algorithms and digital connections as well. How does the USB input (with output directly from the computer) compares with the others?

"(not sure why, myself and others love it, given enough care with the input stream)". Exactly because of that, USB output directly from the computer to the DAC depends a lot on what the USB board in the DAC does.

Thanks for the reply. I was asking about the analogue filter. If it was designed as a NOS DAC normally it would be a filterless DAC or have a relatively sharp filter. From your reply it seems to have an analogue filter with a gentle slope (probably designed for upsampling in the DAC or in the computer), that works well with high res files or upsampling in the computer. This brings another issue in my case, 176.4, 192, 352.8, 384 would have to go through USB, and if the USB implementation in the DAC isn't good enough that is another can of worms.

Some people preferred the basic level Spring in NOS mode compared to other reference DACs and the inverse in OS mode, and most agree the Spring sounds best in NOS mode. Do you know if the Spring has an analog low-pass (reconstruction filter), and what type of filter it is (curious if it is a sharp filter between 20 and 22.05 with ripples or something more gentle that would work well if upsampling in the computer)? I don't care much about DSD, and would probably not use OS. Many may think the same. In that case wouldn't it be better to transfer the cost of something that a lot of people may not use to a better USB implementation? Or remove the USB completely and sell it as a separate module...

http://www.aqvox.de/micamp.html Does not have USB output but goes to 24 bits 192 kHz and has balanced inputs. Their DAC has an ADC with USB output, but only at 44.1/48 kHz and unbalanced inputs.

Take a look at the AQVOX, handles up to 192 kHz/24 bits, has the option to defeat upsampling and a good headphone amplifier. However, like in many other DACs the maximum transfer rate will depend on the type of connection used. Usually USB is used only up to 48 kHz (can go higher in USB 2.0 protocol but manufacturers avoid this because needs specific drivers), Firewire 800 goes to 192 kHz like in the Weiss Minerva, Toslink up to 96 kHz although it can handle 192 kHz in certain cases, coax 75 ohms and AES/EBU 110 ohms up to 192 kHz).

I guess no. Either separated, or inside the CD player, they are DACs. However, most CD players only have a digital output, and not a digital input.

You can not rip to WAV on PS3 but you can play WAV files. The main problem is that PS3 has poor folder management so all the files end up mixed in the same folder. I changed the hard disk and installed a second OS in order to output data from the USB port, but I ended up returning to the original configuration. If you format an external drive in FAT32 and plug it to the USB port, PS3 recognizes it and its file structure. I ripped my CDs on a computer and organized everything on a external disk, one folder for jazz, another for pop-rock and another for classical music, inside, a folder per album with the name of the artist and the album, and files have the number in the album and the name of the music (folders and files automatically generated by the ripping software). In order to format in FAT32 you need to use a workaround for windows or use linux because the maximum size allowed by windows is something like 32 GB. Sorry, my mistake, upsampling to 88 or 176 kHz takes place when playing a CD, but it is possible to disable it, and play at 44.1 kHz. However, files are always upsampled from 44.1 kHz to 48 kHz, which is something I do not like. I am using the toslink output from the PS3. 96 kHz and 192 kHz are available only on HDMI, I didn't use this port so I did not check if PS3 upsamples or not. I was thinking in using a converter to get SPDIF coax from HDMI to the external DAC, but there isn't much point in doing that if PS3 does not support FLAC (who knows in future software updates?).

I'm relatively new to this but I would say that you can have a good sound without much complication. Congratulations, you have a very good system, and with that system you will certainly notice differences between lossy and lossless formats, and between resolutions. I would start having the source material in a compressed lossless format (e.g. FLAC) or in WAV (LPCM). The real problem with WAV is that the file format does not support additional information in the header like Artist, Album, ... you will wave to structure things in folders. Some people point that WAV takes too much space, but nowadays disk space is cheap. If you are going to rip CDS I would choose a good ripper (EAC for Windows, cdparanoia for Linux, ...). After having good source material (ripped from CDs or high resolution files 96kHz/24bits, 192kHz/24 bits bought and downloaded online) I would worry in having a good DAC. I would point to something in the $1K-2K range (Benchmark, Aqvox, Weiss, Lavry, PS Audio, ...). Consider what kind of digital inputs do you need (USB, Firewire, co-axial 75 ohms, co-axial 110 ohms, toslink) and maximum transfer rate (e.g. in certain DACs toslink may be limited to 96kHz/24 bits, USB to 48 kHz/16 bits, ...). Consider also if you want an headphone amplifier included in the DAC or not. The DAC must be an improvement to the DAC section of your CD player, so you can gain something just from pluging the transport section of the CD player to the new DAC. After that, think about the cable, made of real glass instead of plastic fiber for toslink (like the Wireworld Super Nova 5+), with good shielding and 75 ohm impedance with plugs for co-axial (Stereovox, Kimber, Supra, Aqvox, ...), with good shielding without costing an absurd amount of money for USB (Wireworld, Kimber without ferrites, Aqvox, ...). After this you just plug the laptop or the computer to the DAC and start listening. Then you will find that the computer is probably a little noisy and it needs to be close to the DAC that is close to the amplifier, and you would like to seat in the couch and just press a button on the remote control. Nevertheless, this is a good way to start provided your DAC has all digital inputs that you will need. Later you can go in any direction. I started this way with an laptop connected to an AQVOX MkII. Now I just have all my CD collection ripped in WAV, organized in folders, in an hard disk plugged to the PS3. Since PS3 does not support FLAC and resamples files to a 48 kHz multiple, I will move to a different player. In all the process I'm keeping the source material, the DAC and cables, and never stoped listening to music. And don't forget to backup your data.

From what I know you can not. SACD is encoded in DSD, and can (legally) only be decoded and converted to analogue in SACD players. If you want higher resolution, there are websites that will sell high resolution music files for download or as an optical disc mailed to your door, mostly in FLAC (lossless compressed). However, there is still a reduced range of titles available. Nevertheless, a good recording well ripped from the CD, to WAV or a lossless format, will sound very good (e.g. BIBER Unam Ceylum - John Holloway, Dire Straits and Pink Floyd albums, for studio, also sound very good). I guess that the major recording companies will take a lot of time before allowing a music in high resolution to be handled as a file that you can illegally copy to your friends or make available for torrent download.

The AQVOX DAC is probably at the same level of the Lavry and the Bechmark. Comparing the AA Paganini CD player (at the time, at the level of the Rega) only as a transport, with the PS3 optical drive, used only as a transport, there is no noticeable difference between the two. The difference is much clearer between types of transport, files versus CD transport.

Some years ago I bought an Audio Analogue Paganini MkII CD player, more or less on the same level of the Rega player at the time. Recently I ripped my CDs to WAV. Playing the original CD on my CD player, and using it only as a transport to my DAC (AQVOX MkII), the sound is worse than when playing the WAV files either from the laptop with Wireworld USB cable, or from the PS3 with Wireworld Super Nova 5+ optical cable. Playing files, there is better instrument separation specially in orchestral passages and in rock, for example, it is easier to separate notes coming from an electric guitar, it also seems that extreme frequencies are better represented. Comparing the CD player directly to the amplifier with the CD player used only as a transport, it seems that the AQVOX DAC is more neutral. The AA DAC section of the CD player seems to be tuned to make female vocals sound sweet and velvety, jazz sounds fantastic, but sucks when playing rock. I would add to your list the AQVOX and the WEISS DACs. Please think about the type of connection needed (USB, Firewire, Optical, electrical 75 ohm, electrical 110 ohm), maximum transfer rate for each one, and if you need an headphone amplifier included or not. It also makes a difference if you live in the US or in Europe, a $1000 European DAC (with taxes included) will cost around $1500 in the US with less taxes (transport, distribution, ...). To a $1000 American DAC, bought online in the US, you will have to add around $400 in transport and taxes if living in Europe.

You may want to consider also the Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10Pro. They cost more than what you are willing to spend (around £200) and are in ear phones, but will make your iPod sound fantastic while on the move. I use them manly at the office, with my Sony walkman, but sometimes, at home, I just take the AQVOX DAC from the stereo system, grab the laptop, plug the UE to the DAC and enjoy a few moments of listening pleasure while I'm working in the corner of the living room, with my family running around. I agree with the open back issue, if you have to share the space please be aware that noise coming from the headphones bothers much more than music playing in a speaker system. If that is the case you are limited to closed back or in ear phones. If that is not an issue, you can always take your DAC/headphone amplifier and try to make a listening test with the Grados and the Sennheiser in a store near by, or borrow them from a friend, before buying.

One day my daughter started to make too much noise in the living room, scratched my CDs and broke my Audio Analogue Paganini MkII CD player. That's how it started... I ended up buying a DAC with a good headphone amplifier (AQVOX MkII) and ripping CDs to WAV on my laptop. I was surprised with the results. Unfortunately my laptop's fan is very noisy and I can use it as a source only when listening through headphones. My wife gave me a PS3 which runs relatively quiet, so I decided to use it as source. First, I just copied the files to the PS3 hard disk but WAV files are kept on a single folder, later I changed the hard disk and installed Ubuntu but required too much trouble to access the media player. I ended up connecting an external hard disk to the PS3 and in this way all my ripped CDs are organized in folders. I was a little worried with the toslink connection (PS3 doesn't have coaxial 75 ohms) but using a Wireworld Super Nova 5+ (1m) sounds the same as connecting the laptop through USB with a Wireworld UltraViolet USB cable (2m). Did anyone try this setup? How does it compare to a dedicated music server?