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How to drive yourself insane

It started out so innocently...  I have a CA 740c player/dac, a dedicated Mac Mini playing files through Audirvana, feeding a B&K Reference 5 S2 preamp which feeds a Rotel 1080 which finally dumps to Focal Aria 926 speakers with a Gallo TR2 sub.  Decent interconnects and power cables (Morrow Audio mostly on the ICs), al that.  Nothing fancy.  The 740c's transport was skipping so I sent it off for repair and it didn't come back for over a month.  I lost the DAC for the Mac and CD play capacity.

I get impatient and wonder what's out there.  Audiogon was so seductive.  I try to do my homework reading up on DS vs multibit, DAC chips, upsampling or not, interconnect limitations per source, etc. and never could get to the bottom of just how much better an 800-1000 dollar DAC would sound than what I already had.  Yes, Schiit offered a 14 day trial and when I got my deck back I intended to do an A/B comparison with Schiit Bimby, but all the reviews and such, along with the technical pages, never really gave a clear differentiating message to make it worth exploring.

I ended up ditching the optical input from the Mac, which had a limitation, for USB out to a Schiit Eitr box which provided RCA out to the 740c, which had no USB input.  So now I can pipe 24/192 FLACs to the 740c which upsamples to 24/384 like it or not.  Sounds good, but what would sound better?

This has me wondering if a better DAC would make a difference given the limitations in my system.  I see $10K DACS and wonder what on earth they need to sound their best and differentiate from a $1K NAD DAC I see on Audioadvisor.  This is the rub that necessitates audition - the DAC is but one part in a signal path from source to speaker, and who knows what impact downstream components will have.  No one can tell you with any precision so you have to buy on faith and try to not succumb to placebo effect, or hunt for a trial.  In my case, I don't know that the Schiit trial with restock fee has that high a probability of a 'wow' factor that would make purchase imperative.  So, I vacillate between cold comfort of knowing I've made the best of what I have, and wondering if a Bimby w/o any upsampling voodoo would really sound better than the 740c, and asking myself it it would be worth the freight and restock charge to find out.  My real problem is I don't have the money to buy/sell components and have a more or less perpetual audition system.  How can you finally say "enough!"?
baxsc01
gareneau
110 posts
 
So, Steve, if your DAC only has a USB interface then you're SOL?

So, if you bother to look, you would see that the Overdrive SX has S/PDIF coax, I2S and (galvanically isolated USB or Ethernet) inputs.

My point here is to not focus only on the DAC as a panacea. The source is equally important. They are both important.

*************

Steve, I couldn't agree more. But I'm still stuck here, and at the risk of sounding stupid, I need to understand where my system could use some help as the ONLY input on my current DAC is USB. (I think you interpreted the word "your" in my comment above as my meaning your Overdrive SX DAC; I meant your as in "one's").

I have an Eero-based wireless mesh network using a Windows 10 PC. Software is JRiver / JPlay out through the PC's USB port. Setting aside power supply issues for the time being and focusing solely on USB jitter, Marcin at JPlay recommends his JCAT USB Card Femto to improve the USB implementation from the source

There's the Empirical Audio's Short Block USB filter, but I think you discontinued this and it's unclear whether it would work with my USB Border Patrol DAC anyway. The Offramp 5 doesn't appear to have an output interface that would "square up" with my DAC's USB port. 

Could you offer some advice/insight? I feel I'm missing something.


audioengr
3,282 posts
 

I need to understand where my system could use some help as the ONLY input on my current DAC is USB.

Okay, here are some things that might help:

http://www.sonore.us/ultraRendu.html

http://www.sonore.us/microRendu.html

http://www.sonore.us/signature-rendu-se.html

These are all Ethernet to USB interfaces that essentially eliminate the effects of the computer.  Most USB users report better results with these.

The ultimate limitation will be the master clock and associated circuits in the USB interface of your DAC.  Each of these interfaces has different quality due to design, implementation and parts choices, so some sound better than others.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

marcin_gps's avatar
marcin_gps
19 posts
 
@gareneau
If you’re going to stick with PC as a transport and want to improve the sound quality of your USB DAC then you definitely need the USB card.

microRendu or any other USB transport will still depend on all 'PC' components before it: media server software & hardware, home network infrastructure and cables. 

Best regards,
Marcin
JPLAY & JCAT Founder
gareneau
110 posts
 
Steve and Marcin, thanks for your inputs. I do wonder how a non-technical guy such as myself is supposed to be able to evaluate the quality of the design, implementation and parts choices in the USB DACs I might be looking at. Right now I'm using Gary Dews' Border Patrol DAC, also Tommy O'Brien's DAC DAC (a real sleeper in my opinion) and a Conrad Johnson HD3).

This is impossible to answer, I realize, but it sure would be good to know beforehand what the degree of improvement one might expect by putting in a USB card in my laptop. A 10-15% improvement in sound isn't worth the time / trouble, at least for me.

BTW, I'm using Scott Berry's (Computer Audio Design) Windows optimization script to minimize PC processes in my laptop.

Gary
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

Gary - Most people on the forums are reporting that these Ethernet to USB converters make a big improvement and there are a range of prices and performance on these.  see the reviews of the Rendu products at audiostream.com

They also have the added benefit of being Roon Ready, which many audiophiles want.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

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