2. digital
  3. 127811-15746

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.  
128x128jetmek

Showing 1 response by dbtom2

dbtom2
383 posts
 
@jetmek
I’m thinking it has to do with the music file format in Itunes but Im not sure.

It does make a difference it you’re comparing playing a CD and comparing the sound quality to the same album purchased and downloaded through iTunes.

Make sure you’re comparing apples to apples, so to speak. That the file you’re playing through iTunes is a lossless rip from the same CD.

I can easily detect the difference between a lossless rip from CD and a 256kbps track (or rip) from iTunes. I’m only so-so and distinguishing at being able to distinguish a 320kbps rip from a lossless CD rip.

Good luck.




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