The Hawk

Thanks John!

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On what basis does one decide whether to use Null Output or Core Audio? Does one selection sound better than the other?

Thanks for your reply! Dave

With the introduction of hi-res Cat Stevens recently, I thought of buying the download, and realized what a great songwriter he was, but I've hesitated. When Tea For The Tillerman came out, it was a sad time in my life. So I'd like the music in my collection, and yet it's so hard for me to listen to now, so I'm going to pass. It's tough, such great music, but I can't listen to it anymore. Anyone else have these issues with great older music? Dave

Theresa, I just purchased some music from them. Thanks for the tip. I had never heard of them! Dave

One of the best downloads from them. The sound is excellent. But then, so is the copy of the CD I have. Dave

It is a frustrating list. Was this list limited to Rock/Blues/Pop, or what? In general, I would need to see Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Segovia, Almeida, and a host of Jazz guitarists. I recently watched the 'Crossroads Festival', and it opened my eyes (and ears) to so many phenomenal guitarists. Dave

Rolling Stone’s top 10: 1. Jimi Hendrix 2. Eric Clapton 3. Jimmy Page 4. Keith Richards 5. Jeff Beck 6. B.B. King 7. Chuck Berry 8. Eddie Van Halen 9. Duane Allman 10. Pete Townshend Where's Les Paul and Chet Atkins? I'll grab my coat now! Dave

I took computer science courses in 1976. Cobol, Fortran, assembler, etc. Mainframe/punch cards, PCs just came to our university that year, one lab, with 22 computers. I eventually became a retrogrouch. Never owned one until 2006. If you can, read the Chris Thomas interview with the top guy at Naim (Paul Stephenson) at the Audiobeat.com, you'll get a better idea of why a streamer might sound way better (better than laptop/dac/stereo) inserted between your computer/hard drive and your stereo, and why Naim 'merged'. Please, I implore you! Let your ears decide. Some don't hear the differences, but many of us do. Some can't hear the difference between iTunes and Pure Music. Some swear they hear differences between wav and aiff. I thought a streamer like the 'Qute' couldn't sound as great as it does. I thought it was a move down in amp (from my Nait), I thought it was a compromise, etc, but it's way better than it ought to be and defies logic. No B.S. There is holism and synergy that goes on here. You be the judge. I never thought in a million years I would buy a $6100 CD player, but I bought the CDX2 last January, and to me it is reference quality sound. It is a much, much better sounding piece of kit than people give it credit for. I am really enjoying computer sound as well, and the Rega is great for $1000, but side by side with the CDX2, the CDX2 eats it for breakfast. I don't have a 'virgin' computer, but everything is shut off when listening (Mac). No spotlight, only memory play, etc, and CPU is less than 2% on average. Good luck! Dave

Hi Mark! I don't know much about the Cambridge Dacmagic. I have the older CDX2, and in every respect, it blows the doors off of my computer/V-Link/Rega Dac. The computer/V-Link/Rega Dac is about equal to my CD5i when it comes to overall sound quality and musicality. If I burn hi-res and play it back through the CDX2 at obviously redbook quality, it is way better than the computer/dac set up. If the dac were a Naim dac, that would be a different story. Since I can't afford a Naim dac, I'm doing the next best thing. Vinyl! Still waiting for Rega RP3s to be shipped to Canada. As far as one box scenarios, I'm not crazy about them either, but 'the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts' applies here. For instance, ripping and streaming through a Uniti, then on to the Naim dac sounds much better than music ripped and streamed with a computer, to my ears. See Paul Stephenson's most recent interview about Naim and 'holism'. People with much better Naim systems than you or I have been happy buying UnitiQutes and hooking them up to separates like the Naim 250. So it's a bit crazy that $2500 can get you superb digital sound. The dac in the CDX2 is astonishingly good and I can't understand how your computer setup is equal. That is just my opinion. I'm not denying your experience, however. Each of us hears things differently. You may have a lot of dacs already, but the SuperUniti Dac would be the best in your room. Friends in the industry were astonished at the quality of the sound coming from the Naim room at the RMAF. Visitors were amazed at the low box count. My advice would be to try and get a chance to audition the SuperUniti and ND5 XS if you haven't already. Welcome to the forum. I enjoy it a lot, in addition to the Naim Forum and Steve Hoffman. All three are my major audio bookmarks each day. I find this forum to have more info and detail than I need sometimes. Computer audio is a bit complicated. You can let a major stereo manufacturer do the 'computer' part of it, or you can have the freedom of mixing and matching, but the latter is a bit much, at times, IMO. The rate of change is staggering. One week I think Audirvana Plus is the best player. Then it's back to a new version of Pure Music. Then there's a new V-Link. Then another dac. Almost too many choices sometimes. Sometimes I much prefer ripping a greatest hits CD-R and spinning it in my CDX2. Dave

Russ, most retailers will give full trade in value for up to one year against the purchase of another product for full retail. Dave

Mark, welcome, especially from a fellow Naimee. You say: "as a 96K converter has a theoretical frequency response up to nearly 48K, way, way past the range of human hearing, I suspect 192K is far more of a marketing exercise than anything else - they are all doing it." Do a search on this forum, and see what Barry Diament of Soundkeeper (and others) have to say about 192. You may be pleasantly surprised at the SQ, especially through a Naim Dac. Try some of the hi-res from HDTracks, but beware, some albums will be amazing, some not so much. Moody Blues ('Nights') and some of the Stone's recordings sound fantastic. 192 from Cookie Marenco (Blue Coast) is outstanding. I have the V-Link. No way I will spend $400 on the new one, given it costs 50% of the price of my Dac (almost $450 with tax versus $900 all in). I'll save that money and put it towards buying a better dac or a Naim ND5 XS streamer/dac. If you need a new amp, you should audition something like the Naim SuperUniti, it's a 192 streamer with 80 watts per side. It's so good, I believe it was part of 'the' main set-up in the 'minimalist' Naim room at the recent Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. Dave ps: which CD player do you own? I have a CDX2 and it outperforms my MacBook/V-Link/Rega Dac quite handily. Does your CD player take advantage of your nDAC?

Chris, thanks for all the info. DVD Audio Extractor worked great, and I'm really enjoying the results.<br /> <br /> The best result so far was the rip from my 2005 Cream Reunion DVD. The sound is simply amazing.<br /> <br /> One thing, I guessed at a bit rate of 24 on some rips, just to be on the safe side. Although I see that you say that most DVDs are 16 bit. Is there any harm in putting the setting at 24 bit, besides wasting hard drive space? Any benefit, sound wise?<br /> <br /> Dave

to give you more details, but the biggest difference is sound quality. Use optical digital (Toslink) out. With just a cheap pair of headphones plugged into my MacBook, the difference in SQ between iTunes as a player versus software like BitPerfect, PM, Amarra, Fidelia, etc, is radical, at least to me. I believe some of these players avoid the Mac's core audio. Audirvana Plus even looks after turning off Spotlight and Time Machine temporarily to improve the sound. Right now, I'm using Audirvana Plus, free to try for two weeks, and you should hear a big difference as compared to iTunes alone. Secondly, these players look after 'Audio MIDI' changes automatically for you, so if the last song played is, let's say 44/16, and the next song in your playlist is 96/24, the player will change it for you on the fly. Finally, if you have an iPhone, players like Fidelia offer amazing remote control of your playlists on your Mac. Finally, watch out for diminishing returns. I personally limited my investment in Amarra to the $99 version, which is limited to 96/24. Otherwise, IMO, it's too expensive. Follow the threads here on difficulties some have had with Amarra. I like Fidelia, but don't buy it on the Apple App Store, that version has updates, but doesn't have the ability to use optional (to purchase) upgrades that you can only accomplish on the version that's purchased directly from the Developer. IMO, there are so many great software player choices now, try not to spend more than $50. Some have a better GUI than others. I have Pure Music, and it's a little tougher to set up than some of the others. Some players are less CPU intensive, and have 'hog' mode and load music into memory as well. Good luck! Your Grado headphones will be enough to hear the difference between iTunes and these other players. As far as a difference between these other players, I have a hard time, I'm not sure which is better. as I type this, I'm listening through Audirvana Plus. Some days I use Fidelia. Some days PM. The point is, stop using iTunes. At least for more critical listening. Enjoy! Dave