Confused.DAC!

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Hi All

Current system: Marantz PM7200 Amp, Sony CDP XB930 CD, Quad 11 Speakers,Bi-Wired with QED Silver Anniversary,Atlas Equator Mk2, Grado SR80i

Need some advice regarding choice of DAC

Inherited a Powerbook G4 Mac from my son as he has bought the new flash one, bought an IPOD as well, so have put all my music on laptop and downloaded some bog standard MP3's from Amazon,ITunes etc a bit addictive (and expensive) when you are new to this stuff.

Been reading some reviews of DAC's and been pondering over the Musical Fidelity VDAC or the Beresford Caiman 7520

I listen on headphones a fair bit so was considering the Caiman with the built in headphone amp

For £140 the VDAC is £125 cheaper than the Caiman 7520+price including delivery etc so I am undecided

A couple more questions being a bit of a numpty on the subject

Would you notice the difference in sound between 24/96 or 64/192 bit conversion as the cheaper Caiman model is 24 while for the same price the VDAC is 64 minus the headphone amp.

What is the best form of connection to my Mac ,USB or digital though the 3.5 headphone socket?

Finally I listen to a wide range of music from Mozart,Sia,Groove Armada,Roxy,etc,not rock/metal

Your thoughts would be much appreciated,I am really confused!

 

[Anonymous]

With the Caiman, MF Dac or Dac Magic, you can connect to the laptop via usb.

Or if the laptop has an optical connection use that

The Caiman is also a pre amp don't forget, so you could always use your amp as simply a power amp but that is of course up to you

I haven't had any experience of the MF Dac but if price is an issue and I am talking about the Beresford, well you could request a loan of one to decide for yourself. I can't offer an opinion on the V Dac though because I have never heard it.

You might like to google Spotify, a site offering you thousands of music artist's music free to listen to for a subscription fee per month. They sometimes offer the free subscription to but the advantage of the premium is you don't have adverts interrupting and the the music is encoded at a higher quality

.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi

I notice that you have the Beresford 7510,are you happy with sound of kit?

Do you use the headphone amp?

Do you connect from laptop or cd or other?

Dave

 

[Anonymous]

The sound is absolutely fantastic as far as i am concerned. Yesterday after another forum member mentioned it, I decided to use my Beresford as a pre amp and a great sound became even better.

I have never used the headphone amp but a friend of mine is getting some headphones soon so I can offer an opinion when he has purchased

I don't connect via the laptop, instead I connect via the ps3, an external hdd is connected to the ps3 and i connect to the ps3 via optical

 

[Anonymous]

Hi

I am on a learning curve regarding DAC'S, how do you use your DAC as a preamp,what

would the connections be and what are the benefits

Lots of questions,sorry

 

[Anonymous]

Haha probably less questions than I had, well a pre amp is the signal sent to be amplified and the power amp, provides the power allowing the amplification, for whatever reason, the pre amp section of my amp just doesn't sound as clean, as lively, and yet controlled as the pre amp in my Beresford.

Well on the back of your amp, you will have something saying Main In? you connect the red and black rca cables from that to the variable output part of the Beresford and bingo, you switch on the main amp, selecting an input, to power the amp, but you control the volume through the Beresford's control pot. Now yes that means I can't change the tone or bass etc but I honestly have no reason or need to.

 

[The_Lhc]

firsttimer:Would you notice the difference in sound between 24/96 or 64/192 bit conversion as the cheaper Caiman model is 24 while for the same price the VDAC is 64 minus the headphone amp.

Err, sorry what are those numbers supposed to refer to? I very much doubt that VDAC is a 64-bit device, especially given that even the best lossless downloads are only 24-bit/192kHz sample rate files.

 

[idc]

I would get a DAC that can handle 24/192 high quality files as this months magazine test found forum members scored 100% in a blind test identifying the higher quality downloads.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply

I did mean 24/192 sample rate,I said that I was new to this stuff!

I have just ordered a VDAC because of the higher sample rate

I have a MAC G4 laptop with my music on, this has an optical output as does my cd player so I guess it would make sense to get a suitable lead rather than USB

Any recommendations up to £50?