You should be able to get good quality sound from your proposed setup. The external D/A will receive the clock information from the Roland, not the Apple. I have no experience with the Roland or any other USB interface, but if you think it is limiting the sound quality then you might want to consider the Firewire-based MOTU 828 ($799 MSRP).
DAC's and cd rom drives
Hello all, I have a mcintosh mc2102 amp feeding 100w by 2 into living voice avatar obx speakers via nordost blue heaven. I wish to use my apple g4 cube computer as my digital front and would appreciate some suggestions from audiogon experts. Currently I convert all of my cd's to wav files (100gb hard drive) and use a roland usb d/a converter ( a pro audio tool really). I like this setup as it provides a gui to my music and allows easy access to my entire cd library and being that the cube is all digital I do not have to rely on any soundcards. Not to mention this is a beautiful machine. My question is as follows, the roland device has coax digital output so it allows me to bypass its d/a circuitry so it just changes the cables from a usb to standard audio connections. Would a high end dac, such as the chord, wadia etc. be able to capture the master clock on my computer? Would this be a recommended setup? What if any sonic comprimises would I have to make? Thanks in advance for your replys.
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