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Getting good sound from MacBook via DAC.

Hello everyone,

I decided to go down the digital path and picked up a Bryston BDA-2.  I hooked up an Audioquest USB 2 cable from my MacBook to the BDA-2  to play music from my Itunes and it sounds awful.  What am I doing wrong?  I tried playing with the sampling rates thru the MacBooks Audio Midi set-up but no help there. it sounds compressed, over extended bass, lack of detail and soundstage, just plain awful.  

Ive been using the DAC with my Simaudio CD player with excellent results. I also have a WADIA 177 hooked thru the DAC for my IPod which sounds surprising good. I like the idea of using the MacBook and was thinking about getting a dedicated Mac Mini for music files.  
jetmek

Showing 1 response by chiva1

chiva1
9 posts
 
I’ve had good luck running out of my Mac Mini USB out to a Berkeley Audio Designs Alpha USB box.. out of the ALPHA via AES into various DACs. (Berk REF DAC, Pacific Microsonics Model 2, Trinity, CH Precision, etc..)
I run JRiver on the Mac and all files are .WAV or .AIFF.
The Bel Canto USB box sounded great as well.
This combo has always bested any DAC i’ve tried via direct USB input on the DAC.
 Seems a dedicated USB processor to my ears really cleans up a lot of the issues surrounding USB audio..
Just my 2 cents..
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