Nice box -
I am a Mac guy so take my comments with a large grain of whatever and search this and Audio Asylum for important info
So you know, IMHO and in the wisdom of posters over the past 3-4 years, huge goodness is achieved by giving up the real time transport - most of the caca goes away at that point
since that cannot possibly be enough:
#1 - the goal is to not decode the audio in the PC cabinet - too much noise and unfiltered hash
SO step 1 is to get a USB or SPDIF feed from the computer so you can do your decode (D>A) downstream on a unit with its own power supply etc
ALSO if you think you are going to be serious about this, get a dedicated hard drive for your audio files, and back it up now and again (simply a better way to organize a high value orchestra
#2) you want to do the DA in a DAC - if you have one start with that - otherwise pick a price point, do a bunch of research, hold your nose and jump in
Key choices are NOS (non oversampling) meaning it comes back at the redbook standard of of 16 bit, 44.1 as opposed to a over-sampling DAC which gives you higher numbers by digitally interpolating the original Redbool files. Definitely a matter of taste. What makes it tricky is that some CDs sound better rezzed up and some do not...
Note that this is different from a DAC that can handle high-rez formats you might buy (now or later) in their higher format (usually 24/96)
#3) The software you use to rip (suck the digital files off the CD and on to your hard drive) is critical. In PC world, most people seem to favor EAC which is a free application from Germany. Some learning curve but if you surf around a bit you can easily get a recipe. BasIcally you want to rip at a low speed with full error correction on
COROLLARY tyou want to rip your files in a "lossless" format - typically FLAC. FLAC offers considerable advantages over WAV, especially when it comes to assigning metadata to each file (eg phot, date recorded, composed by) and conserving 30-40% hard drive space.
If you are convinced that the whole world is conspiring to wreck your fun you should probably rip in WAV - just be advised that the files will be 2x larger and that WAV is not very good with metadata
There are some other choices around the design of the DAC, some have buffered tube output stages and some do not. If you love tubes and either your pre or your mains are tube units it is probably a moot point
Figure all this out, report back and we'll give you the kingdom
best,
ck
I am a Mac guy so take my comments with a large grain of whatever and search this and Audio Asylum for important info
So you know, IMHO and in the wisdom of posters over the past 3-4 years, huge goodness is achieved by giving up the real time transport - most of the caca goes away at that point
since that cannot possibly be enough:
#1 - the goal is to not decode the audio in the PC cabinet - too much noise and unfiltered hash
SO step 1 is to get a USB or SPDIF feed from the computer so you can do your decode (D>A) downstream on a unit with its own power supply etc
ALSO if you think you are going to be serious about this, get a dedicated hard drive for your audio files, and back it up now and again (simply a better way to organize a high value orchestra
#2) you want to do the DA in a DAC - if you have one start with that - otherwise pick a price point, do a bunch of research, hold your nose and jump in
Key choices are NOS (non oversampling) meaning it comes back at the redbook standard of of 16 bit, 44.1 as opposed to a over-sampling DAC which gives you higher numbers by digitally interpolating the original Redbool files. Definitely a matter of taste. What makes it tricky is that some CDs sound better rezzed up and some do not...
Note that this is different from a DAC that can handle high-rez formats you might buy (now or later) in their higher format (usually 24/96)
#3) The software you use to rip (suck the digital files off the CD and on to your hard drive) is critical. In PC world, most people seem to favor EAC which is a free application from Germany. Some learning curve but if you surf around a bit you can easily get a recipe. BasIcally you want to rip at a low speed with full error correction on
COROLLARY tyou want to rip your files in a "lossless" format - typically FLAC. FLAC offers considerable advantages over WAV, especially when it comes to assigning metadata to each file (eg phot, date recorded, composed by) and conserving 30-40% hard drive space.
If you are convinced that the whole world is conspiring to wreck your fun you should probably rip in WAV - just be advised that the files will be 2x larger and that WAV is not very good with metadata
There are some other choices around the design of the DAC, some have buffered tube output stages and some do not. If you love tubes and either your pre or your mains are tube units it is probably a moot point
Figure all this out, report back and we'll give you the kingdom
best,
ck