AT0MAC

I stumbled upon a deal I could not let go - a brand new Denon DA-300USB DAC for $230! Normal price is a little more than twice that around here (im from Denmark), but because its on end-of-life they need to make the shelves ready for the just released successor (can be found on Denon Japans website). Now my problem is, I want to maximize the throughput of this quite amazing DAC, I have 8 different headphones and 3 different setups to use it in, so cant decide which one it will be in the end, therefor the connection from the computer to DAC needs to be the best I can make, but not better than what good sense is, it is not the worlds best DAC, but close to the worlds best deal... I already own different cables I have in mind for connecting it via Coax, then I just need a Coax "bridge" and have been looking at the HiFace 2 from m2Tech. My Coax cables are Van Den Hul The Second, its actually a RCA Phono set, but have worked wonders as a Coax cable for me in earlier setups. I also own a QED Signature Audio Coax cable, as true to 75ohm as possible with RCA plugs, similar to this but different inside. So in that setup it could be PC -> HiFace2 -> *COAX CABLE* -> DAC -> output what ever I choose in the end Another solution could be to use the actual USB, which this DAC seems to very much focus on, as its even mentioned in the name. I have for some time ago tested a long list of great cables and came out with AQvox High-End USB cable as the winner. Some of the competitors that time was WireWorld Starlight and Van den Hul Ultimate USB, but AQvox had more punch. Problem is though that the same shop as who sold me the DAC also sells AudioQuest and the guys there recommended AQ Carbon USB which is a little cheaper than AQvox... If im going to use USB straight to the DAC I will put a AQ Jitterbug in between first, as I have good experiences with that little add on. So in that setup it could be PC -> jitterbug -> *USB CABLE* -> DAC -> output what ever I choose in the end What setup would sound the best? The cost is close to similar in the end so that does not really matter. Or any of you guys have a better way of doing it? I don't need cables longer than 0.5 m, if USB it needs to be USB A-B and my budget is in the neighborhood of $200.

Actually now when I look around I find two that look promising, the MinimServer is a pure music server and the Serviio is a multipurpose server. I don't mind if I end up with a multipurpose server in the end, because I might have the need some day... Any of those programs good?

I don't seem to find a version with Mac support - but actually I have tried this product before when I had trouble with DLNA under WinXP. They say it can run in Parallels, which I also have, but trouble with that is that you have to virtualize a full Windows machine with separate RAM resources, Windows license, antivirus and so on... Not really worth it I am pretty damn sure... If there are no better way than Asset, then they mention in their Forum that it can be run in CrossOver, which is more a 1-application solution to run Windows apps without a full working Windows OS running. So, is there any other DLNA/UPnP software clients you can recommend, preferably that can run in CrossOver or directly in OS X? I have seen that Plex app can also work with many DLNA products, but does it also share music files, as in HD-FLAC files like mine?

I am currently waiting for my new "Apple" OSX Server to be done but have stumbled upon a thing I did not think about... I am going to use it for Plex on my TV, Sonos in a bunch of rooms and DLNA on my two Internet radios - but that last part don't seem to be possible... Any way I can make my OS X DLNA capable so it can share to "normal" devices like a DLNA Internet radio?? Any software I can run that you guys have knowledge about is any good?

Dear fellow music lovers, I think it's about time to start a Cambridge DAC Magic Plus, also called DM+, thread. I have one of them, and I can see when I search there are many others who also have it. Why not combine our knowledge of this little gem in one simple thread... ------------- Let me start off with a little test I conducted just now, I have listened to a 1.5 meter QED Profile Precision USB cable up against my "no-name" 1.5m gold-plated cheap cable - both on my Cambridge DAC using my Denon AH-A100 headphones. I must say, there were no difference at all! Can't recommend the QED (wich is by the way funny as it is no were to be found on their website, might reflect the quality) Last year I did the same with a AQVOX high-end USB cable and that made a very noticeable difference, but was only for testing so had to return it. Now when I was at it anyway, I listened to the difference on iTunes and iTunes+Amarra Hifi and oh my, there is a huge differance - Amarra really cleared everything up and tightened my bass, gave me more in both ends of the signal. ------------ How are you using your DM+ and what discoveries have you made?

I have just listened to a 1.5 meter QED Profile Precision USB cable up against my "no-name" 1.5m gold-plated cheap cable - both on my Cambridge DAC Magic Plus, using my Denon AH-A100 headphones. I must say, there were no difference at all! Can't recommend the QED (wich is by the way funny as it is no were to be found on their website, might reflect the quality) Last year I did the same with a AQVOX high-end USB cable and that made a very noticeable difference, but was only for testing so had to return it. Now when I was at it anyway, I listened to the difference on iTunes and iTunes+Amarra Hifi and oh my, there is a huge differance - Amarra really cleared everything up and tightened my bass, gave me more in both ends of the signal.

Some time back I looked into that and found some guy explaining that the PSU design in the DM+ would not change the sound if you changed to another adapter, don't remember what the difference is but the original had a different type of PSU that could really do wonders if switched to a better. Don't seem to find the thread now, but it's out there....

I have the Cambridge Audio DAC Magic+ Am currently running it off USB A-B cable of a decent quality, directly to the DAC in async 24bit/192KHz mode from my Mac (wich is equipped with SSD and enough RAM so jitter should not be too bad). I really really like the DM+, but sometimes it's a little too bright and wish it had more of the warmth I was used to when I replaced my Arcam rDAC with it (I needed the headphone out in the DM+). I have a VDH DigiCoupler 75Ohm COAX digital cable laying around and wondering if I should buy the newly released HiFace2 from M2Tech to bridge from USB to coax and then from coax to DAC. Anyone here have anything to say about that combination, what should I expect and does it actually make any difference?

It's now a while ago this thread started, any new products that have Apt-X? I do have the 2011 Mac Mini and the Cambridge Dac Magic Plus with a BT100 dongle in it, so I am currently using the technology, but now I want to give my good old windows laptop the same audio magic. Any good USB dongles out there that make me use AptX on a windows PC?

No, that's right - it's just wrong to add the word extra. The only difference is the order of the conversions - the M51/M3 does the digital conversion before it enters the amp, were the C390 does the digital/analoge conversion after the signal have been digitally amplified before it enters the analog gain stages. Same work, just different route.

Maybe I missed something here, but what extra digital-analog conversion is there in a C390 compared to a M51?

I had the chance to play around with a Classe CA-2300 stereo power amplifier and using the DAC Magic Plus as pre-amp over the weekend. Thats a whole other story... When I unpacked the sparkling new CA-2300 I noticed a thing, a small golden arc connecting the ground and one of the other pins in it's XLR terminals, was it connected to the - or the + and why? Didn't think about it until I had already unplugged them...

I had my DM+ switched to a new about a week ago, so as soon as I am sure this unit does not buzz and is run-in then I will start testing it out properly with my Denon AH-A100 headphones. Have now only used it to feed my low-end computer monitors with sound so have no idea about the real potential of this DAC.

I have not tried it on the M51, but I have some knowledge about other products that have both XLR and RCA. Be aware that the XLR have a much higher output gain so therefor you have to tweak your subwoofers local volume a lot to find a sweetspot were it matches the natural gain from the RCA out's. When I was playing with the M51 I didn't see any off switch for either output, so I'm pretty sure they are both on at the same time. A totally different matter is if they are in sync?

Its funny on the 360 speaker they dont write anything, I haven't seen the essence before, but there they advertise for aptX. Thank you for the replies, that was really helpfull