lapaix

As everyone knows, blu ray discs are now appearing that have high resolution, 2 channel pcm content. But I do not think any DACs recommended here have the HDMI inputs required to read these discs, and I do not think there is any way to save the 2 channel content to disk either. I certainly do not ant to buy a home theater preprocessor for this purpose because it would undoubtedly be inferior to a top quality DAC. Has anyone figured out how to read such files?

I have a Weiss DAC2, which is of course excellent, but no matter what I do it will not play 24/192 files. I get unlistenable hash on top of the music (24/96 is not a problem). At first I was using an external hard drive with only USB 1.0 connectivity. It did not have enough bandwidth for 24/192 and was therefore it understandable that it would not play 24/192. So I got a Western Digital external drive that has USB 2.0, firewire, and eSATA connectivity. No matter which output I use I get the same lousy results. If I disconnect the hard drive and play the file from the internal hard drive of my Macbook Pro I get the same result. Next I tried with a Musical Fidelity V-DAC (for which I paid $250), and guess what, the 24/192 files played on the older hard drive with a USB connection both to the hard drive and the DAC. Now, I have no idea whether I was actually listening to "real" 24/192 (probably not), but there was no hash on top of the music. It actually sounded quite good through an ancient pair of Meridian M10 active loudspeakers via an ancient Meridian 501 preamp. I am unwilling to purchase expensive 24/192 or 24/176 files if I am not certain they will play properly. While I'm keeping busy being bamboozled (this was supposed to be easy) I generated another problem. When I hooked up the aforementioned hard drive to a MacPro via the V-DAC, iTunes cold not find the drive even though it is set up as the location of my music files. I can play the music on that drive, but the playlists that should be there (I think) are nowhere to be found. It's clear that I'm an aborigine, but this is carrying things too far. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

This is probably a terribly naive question, since my programming skills are modest, at best, but it seems reasonable to suppose that code written for Windows could be ported to Mac. If you did that, XXHighEnd might get lots of new customers. $1500 for Amarra seems very high indeed, especially since a Weiss DAC2 (and many other DACs) is superb with iTunes. Could Amarra even conceivably make a qualitative difference? If it were possible to get Amarra as a 30 (or 10 day, or any day) Demo, then one could do the experiment. With a security key that should be easy; either it expires or one buys the product. A blind purchase (or a deaf one) does not seem to make any sense at all, even assuming one could afford it.

My DAC2 is not happy with 24/192 files, whether they are on the internal drive of my Macbook Pro or on an external firewire or USB 2.0 hard drive. They are essentially unlistenable. 24/96 is no problem. More or less as a last resort I have ordered an eSATA PCI express/34 card so maybe it is firewire and (?!) USB 2.0 that are giving the problem. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks Chris. I set it up with the USB 2.0 cable as you suggested, but strangely, as with my USB 1.0 drive, when I play Kent Poon's 24/192 files I get a tremendous amount of "hash." This does not happen with 24/96 (either drive). I am very reluctant to spend $45 per 24/176 or 24/192 disk until I am certain everything is working perfectly. The DAC2 is certainly great on 24/96 files, and even garden variety CDs are superb, but I'd love to hear it on truly high res music. I found an eSATA PCI express card for ~$31, but still haven't located the right eSATA cable; I think I will go that route. Another question entirely: I have a few Reference Recordings HDCDs and I wonder if the DAC2 is playing them as HDCDs or if that information is lost somewhere in translation.

I just got a 500 GB Western digital firewire drive to upgrade from a USB 1.0 hard drive that is fine for 16/44.1 up to 24/96, but which cannot handle 24/176 or 24/192 files. I cannot figure out the connectivity. There is one firewire port on my Macbook Pro, and it is hooked to a Weiss DAC2. Can I chain the fire wire devices: Macbook Pro -> HD -> DAC2? Can the DAC2, which has two firewire inputs, be linked to the computer and the HD simultaneously, as it were in parallel? There is a provision for a USB 2.0 connector on the hard drive, but the other end of the cable looks like a USB 1.0 connection? What's the story about that? To bamboozle me yet more, there is an input on the HD for eSATA. What kind of a cable goes in that port, and where does the other end of the cable go on the Macbook Pro? Is eSATA faster, slower, or just different from firewire and USB 2.0?

As will be clear in one more sentence, I know absolutely nothing about the construction of DACs. Since the VALAB DAC is so good with ancient chips, why not swap those out with the latest 24/192 D/A chips?

"Quietman": I sold a PS Audio DAC III (unmodified) to help with the purchase of a Weiss DAC2. The sound is, to my ears, qualitatively better, but trying to express that in audiophile lingo can easily lead more or less to nonsense, so I'll pass on that. You can either gamble, as I did, based on the opinions of others (not very clever of me) or try to find a dealer. The only DAC2 dealer in the US is Vintage King Audio, in Detroit; Weiss Minerva dealers are more abundant. At 60% of the price of the Minerva and identical sound, the DAC2, in its pro audio version is more cost effective, but it is expensive. I will hazard the guess, though, that unless you have an SACD player, the DAC2 will outperform your CD player at virtually any price point. So, you can sell your CD player, which will be redundant, to help fund the DAC2. The Berkeley has received rave reviews too, but if you have a Macbook or Macbook Pro, then you have to figure out how to get an AES interface to the Berkeley with another component (a Weiss AFI1, let's say, but that adds a lot of cost). Even if you have a PC or Mac tower you need a sound card like the Lynx, and that adds cost and complexity. So, for me the decision was clear: and I got the DAC2. The sound is phenomenally good.

As one who has thousands of LPs and an excellent vinyl playback system, the answer to the question, "Why does vinyl still exist?" is obvious: because well-recorded vinyl sounds great on a good playback system. Only a handful of my CDs duplicate those in my vinyl collection, and they do not sound as good as their vinyl counterparts, both in my opinion and in the opinions of serious musicians who have listened to comparisons. Perhaps current SACDs and high resolution digital files are as good as vinyl; to my ear they are not better, only different. Of course is it a matter of taste, chacun au son goût, and I am by no means an expert. One thing that is completely unclear to me is why an A/D conversion of vinyl to 24/192 would sound better than the LP. I would think that any distortion that the distortion introduced by the mechanical process of making the LP would be replicated in the digital version. Also, I would think that Shannon's Law would guarantee loss of information in the A/D process. Going from the original analog master tape straight to digital might be a different story since the errors in cutting an LP might be greater than those introduced by the A/D conversion. Macbook Pro â?' Digital (Weiss DAC2, or EMM labs CDSA), or Vinyl (Verdier Platine- SME V - Benz Micro Ebony LP - Einstein phone stage) â?' Viola Cadenza Preamp â?' Viola Symphony Amp â?' Piega C40s

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. The question for which I was seeking an answer is not whether (a) SACD can be converted to PCM or (b) whether it can be played from a computer ((a)yes it can, but at considerable expense, Saracon is expensive, and (b) no it cannot), but whether if one has a decent SACD player, it makes any sense to download a FLAC version or purchase the SACD. Well-recorded SACDs sound great in my system, and I have only a vanishingly low number of high res files, which sound great too, but my basis of comparison is very small. It is really too bad that many sellers of "HD" downloads are really selling the same old stuff in a new package.

Many musical performances are available both as FLAC downloads and as SACDs. For instance many of the files at DGG and 2L are available in either format. Has anyone compared them? If so, which one did you prefer?

One problem with any discussion of digital audio is that the technical description of error requires metaphors that differ from those that describe, however imperfectly, the properties of an analog system. In digital audio there are at least two major variables. One is bandwidth (16 bit/44 kHz, 24 bit/192 kHz, etc). Increasing the information density increases the fidelity of a recording to the original sound. There is an easily perceived video analogy: a bluray dvd delivers a better picture than a standard dvd for the same reason. Second, the quality of a digital audio system also crucially depends upon the fidelity with which the information is retrieved from the source, a CD or a hard drive. This is where jitter comes into play; basically, it is timing error. How does one hear that? We do not hear "jiiter," per se, but if a series of measurements shows that our perception of the sound of a digital audio system varies in a way that is consistent with the amount of this measured property, we are entitled to say, other things equal, that jitter affects sound quality. Here again a video analogy comes to the rescue. Anyone who has watched an old 8 mm home movie made with a cheap camera has probably noticed that the picture flickers. That "flicker" is the film analogy to jitter. An image that flickers causes video fatigue just as listening to a jittery CD player causes audio fatigue, and perhaps one could say that this fatigue is itself evidence for the audibility of jitter. The fact that we are limited to technical descriptions of a phenomenon does not mean that the phenomenon is not real, only that we need a different vocabulary to describe it.

My G4 laptop has the following information. I have not tried to use the optical out yet, but I do not see the digital out function. Where should one look? Built In Sound Card: Devices: Texas Instruments TAS3004: Inputs and Outputs: Internal Microphone: Controls: Left, Right Playthrough: No PluginID: TAS Headphones: Controls: Mute, Left, Right PluginID: TAS Internal Speakers: Controls: Mute, Left, Right PluginID: TAS Formats: PCM 16: Bit Depth: 16 Bit Width: 16 Channels: 2 Mixable: Yes Sample Rates: 32 KHz, 44.1 KHz, 48 KHz PCM 24: Bit Depth: 24 Bit Width: 32 Channels: 2 Mixable: Yes Sample Rates: 32 KHz, 44.1 KHz, 48 KHz

It would be nice if it ran on OS X, but if it doesn't ubuntu (linux) will run on an Intel Mac under parallels.<br /> <br /> Here's the installation link:<br /> <br /> http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/04/27/how-to-install-ubuntu-feisty-fawn-in-os-x-using-parallels-a-complete-walkthrough/#install<br /> <br /> But, did you have a chance to evaluate it?

Chris (or other folks),<br /> <br /> What is the story on this device? It looks impressive.