Calling Eileen99

[admin_exported]

Hi there, I can't seem to reply to your post... not sure if this is a problem at my end, or a site glitch, but I notice you have no replies...

"I've bought an external soundcard
(Behringer U-Control UCA202). This plugs into the USB socket and can
provide optical out, headphone socket and standard coaxial
connections. ( I read a review that that UCA202 has a Burr Brown DAC
inside it)."

Ok, but you do realise that when you use the optical out on your soundcard that the soundcard's own DAC isn't doing anything? It's a Digital to Analogue Convertor, so if it's outputting a digital signal through the optical out, then the conversion will take place at the external DAC.

"Output from this device seems a step up already
from the output from the vanilla headphone socket (although I'm
expecting a big improvement when the signal eventually goes through a
DAC)."

That depends. I have no experience of computer soundcard DACs, but you might be looking at an incremental improvement, rather than a huge step forward.

"Reading around the subject, some people are using
Foobar with a software upscaler."

I use Foobar, but I'm not familiar with this. Could you post a link? (Unless your information is coming from another forum, in which case you can't post a link; house rules. You could give a Google search term)

"What would I need to take advantage
of this? Would the optical out from the UCA202 do the job? If I get
an upsampling DAC would there be no need to use upsampling software?"

Not sure about this, but some DACs upsample (e.g. Cambridge Audio DacMagic) and some don't. Maybe PJPro will be along in a minute to comment?

"Perhaps
someone would be kind enough to comment on this in a non-technical
manner. Also to confirm that the Harman Kardon would indeed fulfil the
triple role of DAC for the laptop, standalone CD player and DAC for the
DV7600."

The Harman Kardon has, I think, both an optical and a coaxial digital in. The laptop would use the optical in, so you'd need to see if the DV7600 has a digital coaxial out, otherwise you'd be doing a lot of cable swapping, which is a bad idea in the long run.

Still, for a CD player and DAC solution in a box, the Harman Kardon looks like a good product at the price. Many will question the need for a CD player at all in your setup, but perhaps you have your reasons?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks very much for your reply Tractorboy.

If you search for Foobar, Upscaling plugin you should find something. The vanilla foobar comes with an upscaler and I read some reports of improved sound from someone using the software before the signal wne tinto a DAC (Benchmark 1 from memory).

My original intention was to improve the sound from the DV7600 by getting a standalone CD player. Several people on here suggested a DAC which got me thinking about improving the sound from the laptop too.

I'm still unsure which way to go although a DAC (or DAC enabled CD player) looks the best route to me at the moment.

I've just had my amplifier fixed (and there has been a big improvement since it came back) so the upgrade is not as urgent now.

 

[bay24]

Eileen99:
Thanks very much for your reply Tractorboy.

If you search for Foobar, Upscaling plugin you should find something. The vanilla foobar comes with an upscaler and I read some reports of improved sound from someone using the software before the signal wne tinto a DAC (Benchmark 1 from memory).

My original intention was to improve the sound from the DV7600 by getting a standalone CD player. Several people on here suggested a DAC which got me thinking about improving the sound from the laptop too.

I'm still unsure which way to go although a DAC (or DAC enabled CD player) looks the best route to me at the moment.

I've just had my amplifier fixed (and there has been a big improvement since it came back) so the upgrade is not as urgent now.

another option for cd players which you can use the internal dac is the Cambridge audio 740c, it has the same dac as the dac magic and I believe upscales higher than the magic. Just another option..... Makes radio through my freeview box sound great!