For me, the future is now with the very recent procurement of a Wavelength Brick AG USB DAC!
My front end is an antiquated Dell 300Mhz Pentium II machine using Foobar, WinAMP, or Media Center software. I havent chosen which media player to go with yet, or whether I want to put a Mac and iTunes in the mix.
This combination of DAC and ANCIENT PC, replaced a $6K CDP, and I couldn't be happier, or more impressed with the resolution, soundstage, frequency response, etc.!
With sonics equal to, or better than CDP's costing 2-3 times as much, being able to simply click on close to 3,000 tracks is a WONDERFUL bonus. I haven't played more genres of music in one sitting, in my 30+ years in this hobby, and I'm having a blast.
Because my Galibier Quattro turntable is my main front end, my decision to divest myself of my CDP and replace it with a USB DAC, was a fairly risk-free proposition. For the ease of PC audio, I was ready to accept somewhat of a sonic downgrade. But when I powered up the Brick, the opposite was the case.
Its interesting to have both sides of one coin in the audio room vinyl, and computer audio. The differences couldnt be greater in ease of handling and musical satisfaction. In my system, both are appreciated for what they do well ..Cheers, Mike
My front end is an antiquated Dell 300Mhz Pentium II machine using Foobar, WinAMP, or Media Center software. I havent chosen which media player to go with yet, or whether I want to put a Mac and iTunes in the mix.
This combination of DAC and ANCIENT PC, replaced a $6K CDP, and I couldn't be happier, or more impressed with the resolution, soundstage, frequency response, etc.!
With sonics equal to, or better than CDP's costing 2-3 times as much, being able to simply click on close to 3,000 tracks is a WONDERFUL bonus. I haven't played more genres of music in one sitting, in my 30+ years in this hobby, and I'm having a blast.
Because my Galibier Quattro turntable is my main front end, my decision to divest myself of my CDP and replace it with a USB DAC, was a fairly risk-free proposition. For the ease of PC audio, I was ready to accept somewhat of a sonic downgrade. But when I powered up the Brick, the opposite was the case.
Its interesting to have both sides of one coin in the audio room vinyl, and computer audio. The differences couldnt be greater in ease of handling and musical satisfaction. In my system, both are appreciated for what they do well ..Cheers, Mike