busybeingborn

Audirvana ist the first app that shows me the DAC sampling rate, which is - with me - 24/96. Which is surprising to me, as my DAC offers 192. Is the Mac the bottle neck? Thank you! Peter

What I intended was: ruling out one or the other and seriously thing about what remains. I couldn't replace everything even if I wanted to. The Maggies e.g. sound weak to me after all these years, or maybe my taste has changed. I even get a fuller sound at my computer with the MM1 (they sound incredibly good!!). (The stereo is in a 40m2 room, 4m high.)

Hello all, I'm pondering on updating my Stereo equipment after not investing for 30 years. :-) But listening to hi res audio more and more requires at least some additional hardware. What I've been using for the last decades: - Revox B739 preamp - Threshold S150 power amp - Magnepan Magneplanar speakers (the small ones, 160cm high, ±30ys old) What I've got now (new): - iMac i5 - AppleTV 2 - Bowers & Wilkins MM1 - NAS RAID What would be the most effective and cost-saving update / replacement for this equipment? Thanks a lot! Peter

Hi all (if the discussion is still going on), DVDAExplorer works fine for me, but there are a few DVDAs whose ALAC files can't be played by iTunes afterwards like all others (99%). I haven't found out why. And the strangest thing about it is that these files *can* be played by the Finder! I click into the triangle within the file icon and off they go. So after all, it's OK, but only if I don't want to use the Finder at the same time. Does anyone have an idea why some files do not work with iTunes? It's definitely not a bit rate problem; I play files with 6000kb/s (192kHz) in iTunes.

I've just found an explanation: First, you need to point to an AUDIO_TS folder. This may be on a disc you've loaded in your DVD drive, a mounted disc image, or just and AUDIO_TS folder on storage. Click any of the IFO files, it doesn't matter which one you select. DVDAExplorer will then show you the tracks on the left, and on the right you will see useful information for each track, including bit-depth, sample-rate, channel assignment, track size and other detailed information useful for the advanced user. You can also see if the tracks are in MLP format or uncompressed PCM, by the yellow icons in the left pane or the information on in the right pane. The DVD-Audio format allows for some advanced features and playback options, and can be much more complex than a CD. While it may be clearly-laid out in the playback menu on the screen, the way the tracks are actually structured on the disc may be more complex. You will have to look for patterns and figure out which are the album tracks to extract. Sometimes at the end of title groups, there will be 1-second "dummy tracks" which contain silence. 30-second "preview" tracks are also common on some discs, such as in Elton John's Yellow Brick Road. These tracks may also be of a lower resolution than the album tracks. However, some discs will be very clearly laid out, just like a CD, with a simple group of multichannel tracks, and then the stereo tracks.

thank you very much again! The fog is lifting… :-) B.t.w., how is a DAC connected on the Mac side? USB? Peter

thank you for your comments! No, unfortunately I can't change the sampling rate after recording. (They are from DSR - digital satellite radio - that used to provide uncompressed music - unlike today's compressed music streams.) Peter

thanks for your suggestions! The analogue connection is still an option of course, and I guess it will be my last one as long as I don't have a clue what additional hardware for some hundred $ would be good for afterwards. :-)

After finding hi res (24/96) music downloads (FLAC from Linn) I needed a way to listen to them on my Mac. No app allowed me to do so. So I tried a conversion to ALAC with XLD.app. And hey: There is a conversion setting in XLD to use the original file's sampling rate. And the ALAC files I got are played perfectly fine in iTunes and sound absolutely great.<br /> <br /> As I have no idea about the background of this all, I wonder if both iTunes and my iMac's hardware support 24/96 at all - and if there are any losses between the Mac and my preamp. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. But at least I have managed to listen to hi def audio files. :-)<br /> <br /> Peter<br /> <br /> http://tmkk.hp.infoseek.co.jp/xld/index_e.html<br /> http://www.linnrecords.com/<br /> http://www.hdtracks.com/

It would be great if there was a "Computer Audiophile for Dummies" section here. I'm an absolute newbie and I hesitate to ask basic questions like "Ehm... what do I need a DAC for; I can listen to my music without one, too". (Please don't tell me to look at wikipedia; just read the DAC article there. Hardly a word that a non-pro can understand; seems more like bragging with specialism than to inform people with average intelligence and knowledge like me with information they can understand.) E.g., I asked in one of the forums here how I could transfer my DAT tapes to my Mac via optical cable. The recordings have a sampling rate that turned out to be too low; the Mac doesn't recognize any signal coming from the DAT. I was suggested to buy a DAC. - Great: It would cost several hundred bucks, and I have no idea what else I could use it for. So I'm stuck because I lack basic knowledge. I have spent hours googling around and all I can find are offers to buy a DAC and forums where people discuss special issues regarding DACs. I can't find an article that tells me in simple words: "A DAC is... You need one if... and for... Its advantages are...... A reasonable investment for your needs would be...... etc." - Just an example. Thus, a FAQ for Dummies would really be great for a dummy like me. :-) Thanks a lot Peter

Hi all, I wanted to transfer my 70 DAT tapes to hard disk via optical cable. Unfortunately, my MacBook does recognize regular 44kHz sampling rates from the DAT, but NOT recordings done in longplay mode with lower sampling rate. In other words: 99% of my stuff. Anyone any idea how I might get around this? Thanks a lot!