"At what price point can I expect a DAC to make a dramatic difference?"
more than $1K but maybe not as high as $3K
A Qute DAC ($1795) with the right power supply ($699) and USB cable filter ($199) is quite excellent. The ripping/playback software and the computer platform also matter however.
"I would like to use the volume control on DAC/preamp to limit the max while using the ipad"
This is a good strategy and one that I often use as shows. The problem is finding a really good volume technology in the DAC. This one has it:
http://www.audiostream.com/content/empirical-audio-overdrive-se-usb-dacpre
" I have read the digital volume controls (such as Touch/iPad??) actually decrease resolution as the volume is decreased. Is this true?"
I have done these comparisons. If you do more than about -10dB, you will notice degradation. I like to adjust the volume to a quiet track and then when a louder track plays, I reduce the volume digitally using Amarra by no more than about -9dB.
"Are digital files successfully used in that level of system? Can they sound as good as a quality CD source?"
Yes and even better than a CD transport. The front-end is the most important thing because jitter in the digital source impacts everything downstream. A good metric for the digital source is $1500 minimum, better to spend $2200.
If you cook-up your own server, it will generally sound better than most OTS servers, with the exception of maybe the Antipodes server. I recommend for you own server to use a 2009 Mac Mini and powered from a Hynes power supply.
You can get close to this quality using your squeezebox provided you reclock it and power the reclocker from a Hynes-type supply and use a really good coax cable.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio
more than $1K but maybe not as high as $3K
A Qute DAC ($1795) with the right power supply ($699) and USB cable filter ($199) is quite excellent. The ripping/playback software and the computer platform also matter however.
"I would like to use the volume control on DAC/preamp to limit the max while using the ipad"
This is a good strategy and one that I often use as shows. The problem is finding a really good volume technology in the DAC. This one has it:
http://www.audiostream.com/content/empirical-audio-overdrive-se-usb-dacpre
" I have read the digital volume controls (such as Touch/iPad??) actually decrease resolution as the volume is decreased. Is this true?"
I have done these comparisons. If you do more than about -10dB, you will notice degradation. I like to adjust the volume to a quiet track and then when a louder track plays, I reduce the volume digitally using Amarra by no more than about -9dB.
"Are digital files successfully used in that level of system? Can they sound as good as a quality CD source?"
Yes and even better than a CD transport. The front-end is the most important thing because jitter in the digital source impacts everything downstream. A good metric for the digital source is $1500 minimum, better to spend $2200.
If you cook-up your own server, it will generally sound better than most OTS servers, with the exception of maybe the Antipodes server. I recommend for you own server to use a 2009 Mac Mini and powered from a Hynes power supply.
You can get close to this quality using your squeezebox provided you reclock it and power the reclocker from a Hynes-type supply and use a really good coax cable.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio