Hi, Bought a Nad 375bbee amp [without built in dac} and very happy with it, The problem is when i hook up the laptop,phone,tablet sound quality is good however sound volume is very low and have to crank up the volume to the max on amp to get the system kicking [could this harm my new amp?} .When playing cds its fine and i be lucky to get volume knob past 12 oclock

So not sure if a dac amplifies the signal from pc/phone or do in need something like behringer u control usb interface or is this the same thing...To be honest i dont know what i need i hope someone can guide me to the right product to play my pc based music louder through my speakers........Many Thanks
 

spiny norman

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Gray said:
A USB DAC is exactly what you need to play PC based music through your amp.
But if you also want to play from your phone/tablet, check that the DAC can be used with such devices, usually with the use of the Apple Camera Adapter (in the case of iOS devices) or an OTG (On the Go) cable for Android models. For example the Chord Mojo is designed to be used in just this way, but others are available with similar capability. Or buy a USB DAC with Bluetooth built-in, and use that connection for your phone/tablet.
 

Gray

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Hi John.

A USB DAC is exactly what you need to play PC based music through your amp.

It will take your PC music files up to a similar volume level as your CDs, as well as (potentially) sounding at least as good, if not better, depending on the file types.

NEVER RUN YOUR AMP WITH THE VOLUME CONTROL FULL UP even if the sound you hear is not too loud. One mistake (e.g. loose input connection or you inadvertently switch to CD) is likely to destroy your speakers (even if your ears survive)

The Behringer interface you mention is used primarily for its ADC (analogue to digital converter) function to allow recording TO computers. Note that they describe the outputs as 'for monitoring'. By that they mean monitoring the input as it goes TO the USB. They do say that it 'monitors playback' which means it also has a DAC function, but a dedicated DAC could be the better choice. (Unless you also want to be able to record analogue (e.g. vinyl or tapes) to your computer).

Any DAC will handle mp3 and 16 bit, 44.1 kHz (CD quality) files. Others, though not that Behringer, will also play any high-res. (24 bit, 96 kHz and above) files that you may have. Check what you've got / need first.

Your standalone CD player, necessarily, has a built-in DAC. You've probably seen the (optical or coaxial) digital output(s) on the back of the player. SOME DACs have a digital input. This means you can bypass the CDP DAC in favour of any better sounding outboard DAC.

See the following post for Spiny's important comments about playing music from a phone or tablet via a DAC.
 
Thanks very much Gary/Spiny for your help..... So would the Nad D1050 be what i need?Dont quite understand the otg cable[Android],is it just an adpter/cable or do you mean the dac must have otg capabiltys [which is my understanding] to accept the cable/adpter,As there is no mention of this in the user manual, I did telephone Hifi shop and ask whether its android phone/tablet otg friendly, Never heard of on the go but it "should work he replied"?????

You guys should be selling this stuff....
 

spiny norman

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John Harrington said:
Dont quite understand the otg cable[Android],is it just an adpter/cable or do you mean the dac must have otg capabiltys [which is my understanding] to accept the cable/adpter,As there is no mention of this in the user manual, I did telephone Hifi shop and ask whether its android phone/tablet otg friendly, Never heard of on the go but it "should work he replied"?????

More a question of whether your Android devices supports OTG, which is basically audio output over USB, and whether the DAC in question supports it , too. Should be OK, but best to check with makers of both.

OTG basically allows the Android device to act as a host for external devices, as a computer does, rather than as a slave to a host device, as is the case when, say, uploading music from a computer to the Android device.

Oh and if the dealer is that dumb, point them to this as an example
 
Thanks, I understand now
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muljao

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I bought an SMSL M3 off amazon for about 60 pounds. It is an inexpensive usb and headphone amp dac. It is well built and definetely a fabulous hifi edition to my kit. I get cd quality sound from my laptop with FLAC rips. The output voltage is 2v and not to get to nerdy this is the same as most cd players, so the volume is there or thereabouts.

This is not a portacle unit as it needs to be powered by either a usb from the computer you are using or a seperate usb charger if you are using the optical/coaxial or the mini usb to play music from your android phone. You don't need to spend a fortune to get what you need here. I am sure there are better dacs but this one is pretty good

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SMSL-M3-Headphone-Amplifier-Asynchronous/dp/B01C2OAANI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487257090&sr=8-1&keywords=smsl+m3
 
Thanks Muljao for the info, Went out and bought the Nad D1050 £250 opened boxed/demo from S/O/sound.

But while hooking it up i broke my old laptop that i was going to use with the dac and havent figured out how to hook up Galaxy Tablet,i bought the otg cable but on joy , So cant comment yet, Now looking for a new computer and i hope the new dac does the trick....

I did hook up with coxail cable to arcam cd 72 that has a built in dac and it has made a difference, lots more detail, slightly weird/spooky at times not used to that much detail,but its growing on me
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I assume this is HiFi sound. Will post my findings when its all up and running,as it may help someone, This is a great forum and thanks to everyone for your input.
 

Gray

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During a speaker demonstration, I apologised to the dealer for being a 'Detail Freak'

"Don't apologise", he said, "the detail is the music". Can't argue with that.

All else being equal (especially neutrality), why would anyone want to hear any less detail than there is on the recording? I deliberately chose an amp and speakers that hide nothing.
 

muljao

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John Harrington said:
Thanks Muljao for the info, Went out and bought the Nad D1050 £250 opened boxed/demo from S/O/sound.

But while hooking it up i broke my old laptop that i was going to use with the dac and havent figured out how to hook up Galaxy Tablet,i bought the otg cable but on joy , So cant comment yet, Now looking for a new computer and i hope the new dac does the trick....

I did hook up with coxail cable to arcam cd 72 that has a built in dac and it has made a difference, lots more detail, slightly weird/spooky at times not used to that much detail,but its growing on me I assume this is HiFi sound. Will post my findings when its all up and running,as it may help someone, This is a great forum and thanks to everyone for your input.

Well that's a good DAC for sure, certainly hifi level. Android devices and DACs aren't always fun (there are blogs on issues all over the net). My last cheap android was running android 5 and when I plugged in my DAC it just took over the sound and was seamless. I upgraded phone and along came android 6, and no more is it easy. I had to download USB audio player pro to get it working, but it only works with that programme. I can't play Spotify for example through my hifi with the phone by just plugging it into the DAC.

You could try this programme and see does it solve your issue, but it will cost a little, but you can get a full refund within 2 hours if it doesn't suit.

Enjoy the NAD, supposedly a great unit
 
Thought you just load driver files to pc and your away
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No you have to configure Windows easy when you know how 30mins latter
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Nad 1050 dac up and running on basic windows 10 laptop,ripped a few cds using EAC program and clicked flac file option [ very easy to use ] also Using foobar player as Windows Grove player i thought was not that great in sound...

My results are....Flac music/files from laptop sound exactly the same [inc volume levels/clarity] as cds played througth the dac. So iam more than pleased...
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You guys were right a DAC was just what i needed....

Just one thing, The dac always displays 44.1 whether cds or flac are being played is this just because cds are recored at this rate and flac files are ripped from the same cds ?, Just out of curiosity how could i listen at a higher rate and will it make much of a diffrence ?......
 

muljao

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To listen to music at a higher rate you'd need to buy higher quality flacs, ripping cds wont give higher resolution.

Some DACs or software upscale the resolution but its a bit of a cheat really.

As for will you here it if its more detailed than a cd. Any answer given will be argued vigourously but I'd say unlikely you'd tell a difference
 

Gray

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If you decide to try 24 bit files John, make sure the PC sends them out in the appropriate resolution to the DAC.

Right click the speaker icon (bottom right) choose 'playback devices'. From the box that opens, choose your DAC. Go into 'properties' then click 'advanced' tab to set the resolution.

And yes, CD and ripped CD FLAC to DAC will rightly show 16 / 44.1 (showing that they are the same resolution, so sound identical)

Your FLACs are just the WAV files from CD, losslessly compressed by (the excellent) EAC.
 
I Did end up trying 24 bit flac files.....Thanks gary on the tip to change pc sound resolution
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Would have to agree with Muljao did not notice much diffrence in sound [may be a bit smoother]

I did however change Speaker cable to van damme 6mm core blue stuido and phono leads to van damme again..which made more of a diffrence than the higer resolution files..

Iam now going to enjoy! what i got.
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Gray

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Your opinion of 24 bit files is pretty much identical to mine John.

Having said that, I've just had the turntable and phono amp out to transfer some vinyl onto hard drives (via a Zoom H5). For that I used 24/96, but more because there's no reason not to use the higher resolution given the choice.
 

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