DACs: Airport Express vs waveterminal vs mini-dac

That is great information from your friend Edumke. Thanks. I also look forward Audioengr to your findings. By the way, Audioengr, do you have a Mac laptop to test your mods on? I would think there would be a great market for Mac specific needs, since we have less flexibility that the PC people have.

I would really love to hear the answer to this myself because I have been trying to find information on this exact situation. Can't seem to get many answers.

If I were using the analogue out for these cards, I think the quality and what you pay would pretty much determine it.

Where I am unsure, is if you are just passing the signal through to a DAC, can these units make that much of a difference in sound quality? It sounds from Edumke that the answer is definitely yes. I love the description of the Transit as castrated, that's a good one :)

Edumke I am glad you are able to do some testing for us, how would you describe the waveterminal and edirol sound, as compared to the M-audio? (I would assume the mini-DAC would blow these away because it is five times the price.) I like the sound I am getting now with my Transit, because I don't know anything different, but I would love to get a little more space in music. I mainly listen to classical music. I am getting great detail now but would love a tiny bit more soundstage.

If we were there, would you think that we would throw up our arms, disown our Transits and immediately order an Edirol or Waveterminal? Is this a fairly no brainer upgrade?

Sorry for the length, but you are the first person I have found that has had access to these units and has been able to do some comparison.

Cheers,

Thanks for the information Edumke! What adds so much to it is that you said that initially you liked the Transit. I recently plugged my headphone amp and AOS Piccolo DAC into a Nakamichi CD player (although 10 years old), and noticed the same thing. The Transit was good, but when I heard the standalone CD player, the laptop setup seemed to be missing a natural and musical sense of space. Not a huge difference but definitely a difference. This is what has inspired me to see if I can upgrade the system. My amp, cans are good, and the Piccolo DAC is source dependant and a great little unit for the money. It seemed that the Transit was the weak link.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could setup your waveterminal when you get back. I really think I am approaching the point where I will buy one of these two units. Could you also give us some impressions on the size of the two units. From the pictures, it seems that the waveterminal might be smaller. Since I like to throw my audio gear in my computer bag when I travel and when I go to and from my office, portability is a nice bonus.

Thanks again for your insights.

Thanks Edumke. It looks like I will be purchasing a waveterminal in the near future. Very cool. My DAC will be much more modest. However, I don't know anything different so I will still enjoy the upgrade.

If you can recall or could do a quick test, do the Edirol and the Waveterminal have pretty much the same quality when passing the signal through to the DACs? They are about the same price, but if one is definitely better than the other I would pick it.

If they are similar, I like the Waveterminal because it is smaller and doesn't have extra features I don't need. However, quality comes first.

Great guys thanks. Off to ebay to buy a waveterminal. Then I can start thinking about the higher end DAC. I am using a portable AOS Piccolo DAC which is a fantastic unit for the money, but it is nowhere near the price range of those being described here.

I received my Waveterminal. I very much agree with the improved quality that has been discussed here. Wow what a difference. The clarity is very much improved, but without digital fatigue. The details at the soft dynamic levels are fantastic. There is also a much greater depth in the sound stage. I wrote a review of my comparison between it and the Transit on head-fi. This is the thread: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=94520

Thanks Edumke for being the catalyst for my to get this unit. It really is amazing!

dshea

Followup:

I was in on this thread earlier on and wanted to let everybody know where I am now. I did buy a U24 to use with my G4 iBook. I purchased the Apogee Mini DAC and have my Sennheiser HD650s connected to the Apogee via XLR outputs through a balanced Zu Mobius cable. I listen almost exclusively to classical music and am a professional musician. This setup is astounding. I can't stop listening.

I answered this in the Digital thread, but I have the same setup as you and I think you can't go wrong with either the Apogee or Benchmark. I own an Apogee Mini DAC and it produces an incredible sound. I am using it with Senn HD650s with a Zu Mobius cable which has been terminated with XLR plugs to go directly into the DACs XLR outputs. If you are using headphones, I recommend the balanced plug. However, the 1/4" headphone out on the Apogee is really excellent as well, I was surprised.

dshea