miatadan

For some background info of my system at this time: Source - Bryston BDP-1 digital player + Bel Canto Dac 1.5 using intel ssd to store music in aiff or flac ( 24 bit files HD Tracks ) Amplifier - McIntosh MC302 power amp Speakers - Martin Logan Ethos electrostatic speakers I use 2 Thermotake Blac X 5G hdd dockingstations - 1 connected to self built pc , other connected to Bryston BDP-1 directly. This makes it easy to add music files using dbpoweramp. Computer is zero noise ( Seasonic fanless X series ( X400 ) power supply, Asus Sabertooth P67 motherboard, Intel i3 2100T/ 35 watt cpu, Asus fanless Nvidia GT520 video card. Up to this week I had to use B&W MM-1 computer speakers to playback you tube videos and the odd tv show or movie on computer. I connected in-expensive 50ft toslink cable ( from Infinite Cables ) connected from pc to Bel Canto Dac directly. Is there any audiophile cable companies making better quality toslink at 50ft? or do most here feel brand of fiber optic does not matter? Would it be better to use 2 short toslink cables between Gefen digital audio extender ( cat 5e to spdif/toslink converters) For streaming internet radio or playing music files, I use Bryston BDP-1. PC only for you tube + tv shows + movies welcome advise Dan

Hi Is it possible to use Amarra software and control volume directly to dac using toslink fiber optic cable. Info on Amarra site seems to indicate that you can control volume to dac using fiber optic out from mac to dac itself. Can anyone here confirm this? thanks Dan Roy

From CES: introducing their new Debussy digital-to-analog converter. Housed in the sleek U-Clock chassis, Debussy features a wide array of inputs, including dCS' patent-pending asynchronous USB, as well as traditional S/PDIF and AEB/EBU. An LED-based display indicates active input, sample rate, and volume level. The control board and Ring DAC are derived from those in the Paganini DAC, with variable output of either 2V or 6V available on either XLR balanced or RCA unbalanced analog connectors. Chris, did you have chance to see this piece? Dan

Need some help in Audio output mode. Can not get ASIO to work with Pro-Ject USB Box DAC. What is second best choice than? Wave Out, Direct Sound? Is this program better for sound quality than Media Monkey? Dan

This is title of new article in "the absolute sound". S/PDIFF is much better than USB, Firewire was also much better than USB. Quote" Yet regardless of which Dac I used, that was never the case. USB was always a pale shadow of S?PDIFF, due the former's tell-tale synthetic glaze, washed out timbers, lackadaisical rhythms and screechy strings" He used Benchmark DAC1 Pre, Bryson BDA-1, Audio Research DAC7, Bel Canto USB Link in this article. He also says quote " Meanwhile, it has long been accepted dogma in the pro recording industry that FireWire sounds better than USB. My own tests, in a completely different context, confirm that consensus" It is no surprise to me in Chris puts Berkeley Audio Design Alpha Dac and Weiss Engineering Minerva as the best sounding dacs he's ever heard as neither uses USB... I do use a Pro-ject USB Box dac at this time as it sounds better then headphone audio out on IBM ThinkPad. Its unfortunate that there is so few audiophile dacs using firewire. Recently with new update to Apple MacBook Pro all Apple computers once again have firewire. I can not afford the Minerva and the Apogee Duet does not have balanced audio out. Will have to wait to see if there will be any new dacs with firewire. Dan

Hi At this time I am using older lenovo thinkpad R51, windows xp pro and 2GB memory. Software I am using is media monkey using waveout output. How much better is Apple Mac Pro desktop ( base model quad core 2.66 Ghz, 3gb memory ) $2699 CAN compared to MacMini ( base model with 4GB memory + displayport to vga ) at $884 CAN as being used for music server. I know you can add Lynx AES16e pci express card to desktop not mac mini. Dac is Bryston BDA-1 which would allow use of AES-EBU input instead of usb. Is there big enough difference sound difference of AES-EBU to consider extra expense to buy Mac Pro desktop. Dan note: I do find it is a disadvantage that the mac mini is limited in upgrades

Its nice that the MacBook Pro 13" now have firewire:))) I am disappointed that in Canada there is not a price drop of $100 like in US. Price here remains at $1399 canadian. I will wait for awhile to see if price gets adjusted in near future. I was thinking of Mac Mini but its easier to upgrade memory and hard drive in laptop. I intend to change hard drive in laptop to SSD and upgrade memory to 4 GB myself. Still have not decided on external dac yet. really do not know how Apogee Duet compares to CA Dac Magic or Musical Fidelity V-Dac

Thanks for the replys, much appreciated. I will use a cost effective pc + windows xp pro as I brought this operating system new ( will have to do service pack 3 ) Chris, you mentioned in other posts that you customized xp pro install - what were the changes compared to default install? Any way to treak media monkey install? I will buy Lynx AES16e as I will put this into Mac Pro desktop, always preferred macs but cannot afford the Pro desktop. At the audio video shop I work for, I am the IT dept as well as custom installer so I am comfortable with both windows and OSX. I do refer your site to all my customers who are interested in music servers. Your site best so far for valuable advise )))) Dan

Its been recommended to use Lynx AES16 pci instead of express version ( Lynx AES16e ). What is disadvantages of using the Lynx AES16e with pc + windows xp pro? I can not afford Apple Pro Mac at this time, but was thinking that if I put in Lynx AES16e into pc tower . Than later date switch the Lynx card into mac. I will use media monkey as suggested here. Rest of audio system McIntosh tube preamp, Anthem statement power amp, Dali speakers and Bryston BDA-1 Dac Any advise be welcome. Dan