gdcdr

Thanks for the suggestion. I guess I am looking for something 'cheap and cheerful' as my first experimental step towards what I am sure will become a future dedicated music server which would then be worthy of the $450 Halide Design Bridge. There are various domestic logistal challenges that need to be resolved first, hence my plan to experiment with the laptop for now. The prospect of an optical output from the laptop for $20 was too good to pass up (the Terratec Aureon Dual USB) but it seems that, as always, you get what you pay for. It sounds like this is never going to work? So is there an alternative budget solution that would help get me started? Thanks!

I'm new to the forum so apologies if this question has been posted in the wrong forum or has been answered many times before. I looked but I didnt find anything specific. I have a Windows 7 laptop with a collection of lossless and lossy audio files that I play with Windows Media Player, Microsoft Zune and sometimes Fubar. I also have a stack of Audiolab HiFi that includes the '8000DAX' dedicated DAC with Coaxial and Optical inputs. I am looking for a simple good quality route to get digital audio from the laptop (which only has headphone jack) into the DAC. I recently purchased the Terratec Aureon Dual USB which boasts an optical output plus a standard 2M Toslink Cable from Amazon and plugged into the optical input of the DAC. The sound quality shows great potential but … at frequent intervals playback starts suffering from dropouts every 5-10 seconds or so - momentary split-second cuts in the music. The only clue to what might be going on is that the red ‘x-tal’ light on the DAC comes on whilst this is happening. After a minute or two, the light goes off as playback continues uninterrupted for a short time before the light comes back on and the dropouts start again. I don’t know what the ‘x-tal‘ light means and I am sure that it is usually on when I am using the separate CD transport. All it says in the Audiolab handbook is “Red = low noise master clock active”. I tried the Terratec stick with a second laptop and got the same result. So I am wondering what this tells me: • Is there some special audio or USB setting that I need to check within Windows on the PC? • Is the cheap Terratec solution just too cheap, does this type of system require sophisticated electronics like, say, the Firestone Bravo USB to SPDIF or Hagerman's HagUSB? • Do I need to invest in an expensive fancy Toslink cable instead? I tried using all three optical inputs on the Audiolab but there was no change. • Is there some incompatibility at the Audiolab DAC end that means it will never accept steady input from a PC? I don’t know what to do. Is there a way that I can get this Terratec set up to work? If not, how do I know that a more expensive solution will not exhibit the same problems? And how much do I really need to spend to get out of the woods? Any advice will be gratefully received. Thanks very much! Richard