Audiolab mdac question

[ontheline]

just received my audiolab mdac today and setting it up with my grado sr325 headphones. I have connected via USB and using my imac until better times till i upgrade for a laptop. have it all set-up and music playing through USB the display on the dac reads 24bit/44.1kHz

why is this not playing files at 24bit/96kHz? first impressions i don't hear much difference with the headphones grado sr325 through my ipod touch, i was hoping through the mdac there would have been? my music is in my itunes library from ripping my cd collection in wav format.

 

[ChrisIRL]

I went through various set ups including the mdac. Like you, ultimately I did not find very much difference in sound quality at all vs just using the ipod touch. The dac in the ipod is pretty decent. The 325i should benefit from being amped at least, perhaps a good headphone amp would be all you need. The new Oppo ha-2 would probably suit your needs fine for less money. Can you return the mdac? If you're unhappy with it now that's unlikely to change I'm afraid.

 

[chelstondave]

Hi, its not playing at 96khz as cd's are encoded at 44.1khz which is kept when itunes rips them. If you want to play 96khz files you need to buy higher def files from someone like qobuz. These are more expensive than standard ones and often dont sound a great deal better in my experience