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Imac to my dac- sounds awful?

Guys- be gentle, I'm a new Mac user. Got a new Imac 24 today with the 2.8 Ghz processor, 500 GB Hard drive. Beautiful to look at, so far I love the Leopard OS (I'm a lifetime Windows user ).

Imported some cd's into ITunes, and set it up per the advice on the Wavelength site- i.e. Import Apple lossless, set my preferences in sound to USB dac.

Plugged in my Glow Audio Amp1, which is new and has a built in 16 bit Dac and headphone output.

Sounds like crap- it sounded much better on my windows XP rig running ASIO 4All. I'm hearing some distortion and intermittent dropouts that occur at random.

I KNOW it's me- where can I get educated on how to address this?

Thanks much!

Any ideas where to steer me?
danlib1

Showing 1 response by jylee

jylee
306 posts
 
Make sure you turn off Sound Enhancer and Soundcheck in the option. It can cause wrong volume level and clipping.

If you are hearing dropouts the problem must lie in hardware somewhere. Since both your iMac and DAC are new, either could be the culprit.

I had a similar setup, using Macbook Pro and Dared tubed USB DAC + headphone amp, very similar to your glow audio. I really enjoyed the sound. Never had any problem with that setup.
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