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Up to the Minute: Streaming Bits to Audiophile DAC

I have some unanswered questions from another thread, and also some new ones despite searching the archives. So I hope this thread might be a good place for all of us who are interested in state of the art audio quality from hard disk drive based files.

Kublakhan in another thread suggested using the Sweetwater Creation Stations as hardware for a PC based audio solution and so far this gear looks pretty good to me.

My questions, however, arise from the fact that there may be some disconnect between the conventions for "pro audio" and "audiophile" audio.

So as of this writing, can anyone please explain:

Why does every pro audio person seem confused when I tell them I want to use an external DAC?

What is the BEST way to extract bit for bit data from a hard drive, to export to an audiophile DAC?

Why oh why do expensive $$$ music or media servers, which are supposedly configured to optimize audio use, nonetheless require some sort of cheapo "interface" to stream the data into an audiophile DAC?

Why on earth would I want to buy an audiophile "sound card", which I presume (in addition to an "interface") also has its own DAC?

Given the options which are available for "sound card" and/or "interface" type devices, what is the BEST way to tap the bitstream and/or maximize performance of the audiophile DAC? Optical? TOSLINK? Spdif?

Given the choices I might have for the "interface" between the computer and the DAC, what is the BEST way to minimized "jitter" or other audiophile nasties? Or is that phenomenon more of a downstream issue AFTER the bitstream hits the DAC?

There is a lot of great information in the other threads about ripping, tagging, Foobar vs Itunes and a million other complications of hard drive based audio.

But for now, I would really appreciate just some basic, conclusive opinions on the best way to get bits off the hard drive and safely on their way to my speakers from an audiophile DAC.

Please advise.

THANK YOU.
cwlondon

Showing 2 responses by ckorody

ckorody
643 posts
 
Good questions. One persons opinion. From the top:

Pro audio people don't see DACs as playback devices. They seem them as a way to get digital into the analogue world and onto their master tapes - I think... Very important to distinguish between true high-end studios and prosumers where most of the action is.

Best ways to export are USB and Ethernet.

Streaming the bits does not require all that much - the whole thing is all about decoding/reconstituting them. Up to that point all you need to do is deliver the bits - something every computer in the world does every day.

No known reason on earth to buy a soundcard. Definitely not recommended. You want to get the bits away from the electronic nastiness that is a computer before you make waves.

Optical=toslink. The best is I2S but almost no DAC manufacturers uses it. Look at the Empirical Audio website for a lot of good info.

IMHO the number one source of jitter is the least then perfect CD transport/player. Simply to hard to solve all the opto-electic-mechanical problems without spending megabux. Ripping to HD eliminates the transport as a problem.

Next, getting the data out of the computer eliminates the computer as a source of electrical/ground problems. Things like the Opticis USB cable provide a very high degree of isolation from the computer electronics.

Poor SPDIF / Toslink implementation is the next source of trouble. Not quite such a big deal. Good implementations are around - true 75ohms etc. I2S makes those problems go away.

IMHO the two SOTA solutions are USB to an I2S DAC, and a modified Squeezebox.
ckorody
643 posts
 
As to why the industry is not responding - now there is a million dollar question...

Given that every level of the consumer electronics business (in which for this purpose I include our noble pursuit) are constantly looking for the next great thing to stimuate sales, you would think that at the very least these kinds of capabilities would make for a fine line extension.

One can only assume that the old guard and its customers are computer illiterate (which is a somewhat generational phenom) and that everyone else is trying to figure out how to hitch their wagon to the iPod shooting star...
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