audioengr
Responses from audioengr
| Best Dock , DAC The ONLY way to do this and get great sound quality is using a digital dock, not using the analog outs from the iPod.I second the Pure i20. I have one and its amazing for the price. The analog outs from it are fantastic,but can be bettered by taki... | |
| HELP needed for Sonos combined with a reclocker driving a DAC such as a used Metrum Octave is killer and the total outlay is less than $2K, including a good S/PDIF coax cable.A USB converter like the Off-Ramp 5 will perform better than the system above, but not h... | |
| DAC versus CD? Unless you rip with XLD instead of iTunes, the result will not be as good as a good CD transport. Also playback with Jriver Media Center and or Jplay.Steve N.Empirical Audio | |
| DAC Impressions Not clinical or bright if you use the I2S input from a source. Very neutral IMO.Steve N.Empirical Audio | |
| DAC Impressions Drive the W4S DAC2 using I2S from the transport or I2S from a USB converter and you will discover how good this thing really is. I2S bypasses the resampling and reclocking in the Sabre chip, which is a good thing:http://www.audiocircle.com/index.p... | |
| DACs and Master Clock Even much more expensive DACs than this do a poor job of reducing jitter, and virtually none of them are immune to incoming jitter.You are much better off to buy a $1k-1.5K DAC and then add a low-jitter USB interface or reclocker (if you are using... | |
| Square waves or 1's and 0's? Jitter on a digital streaming interface is another thing entirely. This is the time variation of the switching transitions, not just 1's and 0's. The digital feed to a D/A is sensitive to this because precise timing matters. It is also important t... | |
| Square waves or 1's and 0's? Almarg - with S/PDIF the transport level is still 1's and 0's, but the protocol of the interface requires encoding the data to limit the number of consecutive 1's or zeroes, allowing a clock to be recovered as well as the data.Steve N.Empirical Audio | |
| Square waves or 1's and 0's? Square wave is a generic term for a non-continuously changing voltage signal. It changes in discrete steps. It does not necessarily mean a repetitive signal or actually square. IF it were repetitive, then it is a digital oscillation, also known as... | |
| Good dac to reproduce soprano vocals? Hf - the only show I'm exhibiting at this year is Newport Beach May31. No time for any more.Steve N.Empirical Audio | |
| Two SPDIF reclockers – Comparison of Audio Gd DI a I used to mod the Lens and the Big Ben as well as the Monarchy DIP to put better clocks in them and improve power supplies and S/PDIF outputs. I don't mod anymore. There is only so much one can do to an existing design without completely gutting i... | |
| Good dac to reproduce soprano vocals? HF - the problem with glassiness you are experiencing is due to two things:1) the poor digital filter that the DAC imposes on that sample-rate2) high jitterI listen to 44.1 tracks all day long and don't get any of this glassiness or hardness. I do... | |
| JRiver Media Center vs. Amarra If you use Amarra, the version you use is critical IME. I use an older version that beats everything I have tried.Steve N.Empirical Audio | |
| Mac mini power supplies Supplies for Mac Mini have special Requirements because of the fast changing digital load. In order to hear improvements, the supply should have very fast regulation. The Hynes supply that I will be offering soon meets this requirement. I also use... | |
| Novice needs Mac Mini and DAC advice I'll second the Metrum Octave. Drive it with a low-jitter source though.the Metrum Hex iseven better BTWThe W4S DAC2 is also fabulous,but driven with I2S input.Steve N.Empirical Audio |