cvision123

I didn't use all the USB to S/PDIF converters so I can't give a definitive answer. The Hiface, Young and probably the Vaughan from M2Tech use USB bulk mode with a proprietary driver. Their buffering mechanism leads to the synchronization problem when using the device for video. That's the reason. The Hiface 2 uses XMOS chip for usb connection and does not require driver on Mac. As a result, you won't have problem with Hiface 2. For other converters I didn't notice the issue. This is probably a "bonus" feature from M2Rech :-(

I don't think there is a good solution for this problem yet. I'm using the Young dac but it is strictly for audio purposes because of the delay when playing video. One ugly solution is to use VLC player and manually set the delay for audio to have audio and video synced. However, the delay will be accumulated over time so you have to increase the delay along the movie. This is very inconvenience but sometimes it's fun :-)

Basically AIFF and ALAC store the same information except that the original PCM data is compressed in the later format. With AIFF you don't have to decompress the data but the player needs to access the hard drive more to retrieve data. On the other hand the player has to decompress the data when using ALAC but reads less as the file size is about 40% smaller. It totally makes sense when people reports that they hear differences. The reasons could be: - On an old/not strong enough PC, the decompression process may stress the CPU and lead to some delay thus audible differences. - When using a hard drive that has large latency between read commands also affect data retrieval process However, on a strong enough computer such as the one with core i5, i7 and new hdd I doubt that audible differences exist since the computer can stably provide the same PCM stream to the DAC.

What headphones are you using? What about output impedance? I think you can find interesting information at Home Page | InnerFidelity

I've been using TuneUp to clean up my iTunes library for a couple of months. This software is not 100% stable and it crashed on me sometimes. However, when it work, the result if satisfactory, IMO. TuneUp allows you to automatically look for metadata from the Internet. It also helps you to identify and remove duplicates in your library. The lyrics/YouTube search based on the current playing song is not really stable.

I'm using a Mac mini late 2012 as a media server and I'm very happy with it. However you already have a PC, I don't think it is necessary to change to MAC. In my experience, with the correct setup, there is not much (if any) real differences between the two systems. Of course your brains are very sophisticated and usually work in a biased way :-) I don't buy into the idea of investing into usb cable. If two well built cables sound differently then the designer of the DAC did not do a good job (prone to noise, ...)

I read somewhere that M2Tech mentioned about testing direct mode with the Evo and Young then could not see any real benefit of using direct mode in these products. Hence, they didn't work on changing the driver to support direct mode. I'm looking forward to be able to try out direct mode in A+ with the Young

In my opinion, the DacMagic Plus is worth a try.

The problem with Cambridge Audio is that they don't set the price "right" :-). Looking at the measurement of the DacMagic Plus you can see that it is very good. However, the price was not "correctly" set so that many people don't even consider it a quality DAC. Since the DAC in the CA Stream Magic 6 is basically the DacMagic Plus + good power supply, the sound quality is really good. However, the resolution in the higher frequency range is not as good as the M2Tech Young, IMO. The difference is not big (or at all) when using my low-fi Polk LSI9 but through the Sennheiser HD800, I can hear clearly the differences.

I agree with some points from OP. Since most of reviewers make their living writing reviews about product, they have to make things out of proportion to emphasize the pros and cons on of a product. Will you buy a new DAC which was reviewed as a little bit better in the high frequency range and you have to focus really hard to notice the differences? I'm sorry to say but in my opinion I don't trust reviewers and I rather read posts here for personal review of ones own equipment. It doesn't matter if you have an excellent DAC but don't provide good input and your speakers can't reveal all the information from it. I don't have much knowledge about DAC comparison but experience shows me that you should listen for the new DAC for a while the. Go back to the old one. Then you'll notice the differences very clearly. Switching back and forth in a short period of time does not reveal much.

In my understanding, the integer mode provide the ability to directly send the pcm steam from pc to dac without any intervention (mixing, volume control from the base later in the operating system). I tried it with DacMagic plus but could not discern the any differences.y other DAC, the M2Tech Young, does not support integer mode so I can't have a real conclusion. However I think that as long as you fix the volume to maximum and use hog mode, there should not be any differences as the original pcm is just converted to float and then converted back to integer on the DAC side. This process should not introduce any rounding errors that might change the original values.

I had this problem before. I tried to power off the Young before shutting down and the problem is gone. I guess that there is a bug in the driver of the Young that prevent the Mac to release the driver and shutdown properly.

From my experience, you can't make the right choice from the beginning, ever :-( ! You can read reviews, forum threads, ... but everyone has his/her own musical taste. My advice is that you should start with the one in your budget that has favorable reviews (good points that suite your musical taste). Then you live with it for a couple of months. If it totally satisfies your listening then stop the quest :-) (your wallet will thank you for this). Otherwise, you will then know for sure your requirements for the next DAC. But then ... the quest will continue, ...

You can configure LMS to handle all the PCM data extraction on your Mac before sending them to your SBT. This can help to improve the sound quality since the SBT does not have to any decompression (if required). However, the amount of data being sent over the network will increase and stress more on the network interface of the SBT. Therefore, you should listen for yourself to decide. The processor in your Mac is much more powerful than the processor in NAS on the market and it can handle streaming with ease. I tried SBT not long ago. By using Ethernet connection, I can stream 24/192 stably without and re-buffering issue (using WIFI on the SBT is another story).

Except the file name changing requirement, iTunes can easily caries out the tasks you want. I've been using TuneUp for my whole library and I'm quite happy with it. This software is not 100% stable, it crashed several times on me. However, it can provide quite good meta data matching. Another software to consider is Musicbrainz Picard. It's a freeware that can search for meta data from the server using the acoustic fingerprint of your audio. In addition, it also provides the ability to manually edit tags yourself.