der_bothaus

You have to make sure you launch the sQ+ with your volume maxed. If it is lower, it stays lower. Bone heads. And you have to make sure all your Applications and hardware are on and connected prior or it shits the bed as well. There is no SS product free from these amazing bugs. I am glad I found this thread. So much solace in collected pain.

64-bit extensions should work. 64-bit kernel will not. Not missing anything there though.

For that amount of money you would be better served with a LIO-8. Best conversion and software out there for a firewire connect. http://www.mhsecure.com/v5mm/LIO-8.html http://www.sonicstudio.com/products/hw/304.html

Hey, no question regarding ram vs HDD playback. My point was if you have enough memory to not starve your current playback setup, throwing more in will not change the sound as you never use it. The issue is starting to defy digital laws. Unless of course your software never recoups the memory and once it is full you hover around 32MB free at all times. Plenty of memory leaks out there. More memory is never really a bad thing unless you are a professional cpu overclocker. I can't argue against anyones opinion I just know there is nothing in the box that would contribute to better sound because of more memory, if, you did not require it in the first place. In your case you sound like you need it for the high rez files you are playing.

It is a reflection of the return for the money you just spent. More ram never makes a computer faster unless you are constantly paging out to the hard disk. I makes it, for lack of a better word, deeper. Smaller well tuned allotments usually are the fastest (= Best, I guess). If you need 8GB to load up audio in memory I guess I could see that but it would never change the sound of your rig. Amarra will eat RAM but only up to maybe 2GB for the largest files and it flushes between loads if you are using cache mode. If you overload your computer and start having glitches in streams then more memory will help your "sound".

Well arguably the best would probably be a FW connection to a Metric Halo ULN-8 or LIO with playback handled by Amarra. Those start at $3900.00 and the ULN-8 is $5999.00. That is an enormous amount to pay though. I have a ULN-2 and it sounds very nice indeed. If you want flat, bit perfect on the cheap and all you need is conversion try some of the RME stuff . They seems less colored than Apogee. But if you want "Wow" the duet is probably better than most (Duet2 even more so). I personally do not like Apogee's top end sizzle (I have not heard the Symphony or the Duet2 with their updated DA). Cheapest RME is the Babyface at $749.00.

Thanks again everyone.

Thanks Frank. That context helps. I thought there had to be a reason why it wasn't being discussed in too much detail here os elsewhere. It doesn't matter. As long as I keep the outputs from peaking, any change I make will not degrade or improve the already degraded (compressed) music. I do hear a slight difference whether the Mac return is set at 0db or not so I'll just do what sounds best to me. 80% of my available library is still in the 192-320kHz AAC range and it all pretty much sounds terrible now. I've got to start re-ripping. Should I use iTunes or are there any others that offer better quality from CD source? Who should i give compression duties to? I appreciate the sharing everyone.

Thanks everyone for your comments. My original intent was focused solely on the best DA conversion level. Nothing about my setup really requires worry about analogue stages or physical pots on the unit. I do use those but don't really care if there is any degradation of sound because they are too handy. I do not use any outboard gear at this time. The ULN-2 is it, either to my monitors or Beyer cans direct out of the phones jack. The monitor controller was a good idea but will not work in my case as I already have it setup that way and I never use it because it does not appear to be able to change the levels that hit the DA converters. Plus I am a musician first and foremost so having some inputs available without re-configuring is nice (even though it is so easy to save out templates). The DA levels will still peak in the RED with hot material even though you can adjust the listening volume. I want to keep the master levels around -6db regardless of source to minimize distortion. So yeah, levels in the MIO console and how hot the DAW returns should be. DAW 1/2 return: the fader does not change the return level displayed when lowered. The Master Fader does. Would the master fader be the only level control to the DA converters because I can't seem to drop the level of the other DAW returns? Please see my pic as it may be easier to explain visually. In a nutshell, do I need to worry at all about the DAW return level clipping and which fader sets the best level for the DA converters? DavidR: No offense taken. It is hard to tell intent through the forums. It does appear that I get good sound with my settings now so maybe I should leave it at that and stop obsessing.

Thanks. That was very unhelpful.

Pretty newb question here. I am trying to find the best setup for general iTunes listening with my ULN-2. I know iTunes should be set to 100% and all sound enhancements off (ie. EQ, SE, and crossfade etc.) My question is on the MIO console and what faders I should use to lower volume. I have the general setup with DAW 1/2 multed to master fader. I also have heard you want to hit the converters at around -6db. Now my DAW output is already around 0db when set at 0 on the fader and just getting straight iTunes playback (not sure if this is what I should be wanting or not) The best sound, to my ears, is setting the DAW return to 0 and lowering the master fader to -6db or whatever the source requires. If I lower the DAW return to -6db and set the master fader to 0 I get very slight warming overtones and harmonic fuzz that is unfavorable. At the same time I do not want to be overloading the converters. Anyone with a iTunes/ ULN-2 setup to show me the way? Thanks.