The PC and DAC.
I have been privy to extensive comparisons between the two and PC as source is IMHO, and the opinion of most of those involved in those comparisons as well, the PC is easily better.
A test track we used for that comparison was Dianna Krall - A Case Of You. Via the PC you could hear the foot pedals on the piano and the piano was clearly less distorted. The Transports we used was a Wadia, heavily upgraded Msarantz that was battery powered and used I2S, Stello I2S transport and some other stuff I can't recall.
I also need to point out while this was the view of the majority of people some thought the computer had a digital edge to it. I personally couldn't detect it.
Also check out:
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/state-art-cd-transports-vs-usb-spdif-converter-shootout-15193/
Thanks
Bill
I have been privy to extensive comparisons between the two and PC as source is IMHO, and the opinion of most of those involved in those comparisons as well, the PC is easily better.
A test track we used for that comparison was Dianna Krall - A Case Of You. Via the PC you could hear the foot pedals on the piano and the piano was clearly less distorted. The Transports we used was a Wadia, heavily upgraded Msarantz that was battery powered and used I2S, Stello I2S transport and some other stuff I can't recall.
I also need to point out while this was the view of the majority of people some thought the computer had a digital edge to it. I personally couldn't detect it.
Also check out:
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/state-art-cd-transports-vs-usb-spdif-converter-shootout-15193/
Thanks
Bill