i'd be willing to put money on it you couldn't pick them out blind. where do you live? if it's not too far i'll come and do the swapping about...
roger06 said:
people here were advising you that this rDAC needs approx 70h of running in. still no positive results? maybe it's about time to accept the fact that there's no such thing as runnning in period for solid state devices. if it sounds good it'll sound good. if it sounds bad passing time will not improve on this. let me ask you a rethorical question; did you notice your TV improved its performance over time? don't think so. the only situation when time brings perceivable differance to SQ is when you start listening to music from cold amp and then let it warm up. it might be 30 min up to 2 h but certainly not 70h. and of course the benefit will wear off once the amp returns to room temperature.
i've never experienced any alleged run in benefits with my gear and don't think ever will. just ditch rDAC and get something worthy of Naim's SQ.
Overdose
Well-known member
If you're going to upgrade the power supply, you'd do well to build one yourself. A Maplin special will not be a huge improvement, if at all, over the original.
A DIY project will allow you to assemble a high performance PSU without dipping into the realms of some 'high end' aftermarket items.
Mind you, after spending enough time and money on trying to improve the DAC, you might come to the conclusion that both are better spent elsewhere.
A DIY project will allow you to assemble a high performance PSU without dipping into the realms of some 'high end' aftermarket items.
Mind you, after spending enough time and money on trying to improve the DAC, you might come to the conclusion that both are better spent elsewhere.
Hi Roger,
One final idea to assess the Rdac and it's free. If this is not going to make a change, better trade it in before you spend more money on it.
Do you have the RDac connected via usb to your macbook? In my situation this yielded far and away the best results. Optical can't match it, nore via macbook, nore cd player. (haven't tried electrical spdif)
One final idea to assess the Rdac and it's free. If this is not going to make a change, better trade it in before you spend more money on it.
Do you have the RDac connected via usb to your macbook? In my situation this yielded far and away the best results. Optical can't match it, nore via macbook, nore cd player. (haven't tried electrical spdif)
Update:
The streaming Apple TV / rDAC setup is improving. Everything's running in, but it's still a long way off the quality of the CD player.
So as a test I plugged in my Sony BDPS370 Blu Ray into the rDAC by the optical cable. Using two CDs with the same track played simultaneously in the BD Player and CD player I could switch between the sources on the amp for a direct comparison.
I was expecting the BD / rDAC combo to fall well short of the Naim CD / amp combo but it didn't. It sounded awesome. The CD player had a slight edge, but very very marginal. It sounded just slightly more 'complete' but really very little in it.
So, the rDAC is in no way the weak link in the streaming setup (in fact a £100 BDP and £300 DAC gives an £800 Naim CDP a run for its money). It's either the Apple TV, the NAS, the network (wired) or the rip (apple lossless) – so just a but more detective work then!
The streaming Apple TV / rDAC setup is improving. Everything's running in, but it's still a long way off the quality of the CD player.
So as a test I plugged in my Sony BDPS370 Blu Ray into the rDAC by the optical cable. Using two CDs with the same track played simultaneously in the BD Player and CD player I could switch between the sources on the amp for a direct comparison.
I was expecting the BD / rDAC combo to fall well short of the Naim CD / amp combo but it didn't. It sounded awesome. The CD player had a slight edge, but very very marginal. It sounded just slightly more 'complete' but really very little in it.
So, the rDAC is in no way the weak link in the streaming setup (in fact a £100 BDP and £300 DAC gives an £800 Naim CDP a run for its money). It's either the Apple TV, the NAS, the network (wired) or the rip (apple lossless) – so just a but more detective work then!
manicm
Well-known member
roger06 said:
In my biased opinion it's Apple Lossless - try AIFF just as an experiment and see if that makes a difference.
Optical out on my mac mini is the least pleasing. A Cd player -and apprently also a Bluray player- has a much higher quality conversion on optical out.I put a virtual pound on the apple tv and the optical connection being the culprit.
And I still recommend usb as the best connection for the Rdac.
And I still recommend usb as the best connection for the Rdac.
roger ... try getting hold of a hd track for the pc and then do a comparision ... and it should help show how good the dac is ... only using a mf vdac atm
iceman16
Well-known member
I have demoed the rdac at home for couple of days and it did not better the onboard dac of my cd192.Probably it is better to use rdac on computer base system IMO.roger06 said:
> It's either the Apple TV,<
Is that the newest V2 model? If so, it resamples everything to 48Khz so bit-berfect streaming isn't possible.
Is that the newest V2 model? If so, it resamples everything to 48Khz so bit-berfect streaming isn't possible.
roger06 said:
...or so I thought. Seems XBMC, the media centre software I run on the Apple TV, doesn't seem to support AIFF files, despite its documentation to the contrary.
roger06 said:
haha!
actually, couldn't you use your macbook? if you don't want to re-rip a cd just use max to create an aiff version of one of your alac rips. it won't have any effect on the 'experiment' as once the alac has been unpacked and passed to itunes for playing, it will be identical to the aiff version anyway. so the only explanation for people claiming to hear a difference between them is the actual unpacking process itself interfering with the playback, although as it will be buffered to memory inbetween it's hard to imagine how that could be the case and it's not as if a pc is going to find it taxing. you'll have to be quick to hear any difference though, judging by the light that flashes when my music drive is being accessed, most of the song will be converted and buffered to memory in a fraction of a second not leaving a lot of time to hear the difference the conversion process makes.
Well all those who advised 'give it [rDAC] some time' have certainly been vindicated.
OK I've upgraded the power supply and added £100+ interconnect but the rDAC is now sounding sweet with streamed audio. Clearer, more controlled, better sound stage etc etc.
I guess the DAC and cables have burnt in. OK, it still doesn't sound quite as good as the CD player but the gap now has narrowed massively to the point where the CD player may go on eB@y...
OK I've upgraded the power supply and added £100+ interconnect but the rDAC is now sounding sweet with streamed audio. Clearer, more controlled, better sound stage etc etc.
I guess the DAC and cables have burnt in. OK, it still doesn't sound quite as good as the CD player but the gap now has narrowed massively to the point where the CD player may go on eB@y...
Overdose
Well-known member
So the total cost is nearly as much as a Rega DAC so far?
Good to hear that you are now satisfied with the sound though.
Good to hear that you are now satisfied with the sound though.
Roger - have you tried playing back a file directly from the macbook using USB connection to the rdac? How does that compare quality wise to streaming via the Apple TV and to the CDP?
Hi Dan
Well yes I did a few weeks ago and it didn't sound as good as thru the Apple TV. However, I was using the USB cable from the printer so put it down to that.
However, I have since found out you need to go into the MBP's midi control and set the appropriate audio output. It was set to 96khz so I need to try again with it set to 44khz to get a more accurate comparison.
Well yes I did a few weeks ago and it didn't sound as good as thru the Apple TV. However, I was using the USB cable from the printer so put it down to that.
However, I have since found out you need to go into the MBP's midi control and set the appropriate audio output. It was set to 96khz so I need to try again with it set to 44khz to get a more accurate comparison.
Overdose said:
Well almost, but I'd have had needed a decent interconnect for the Rega had I got that, so the total price for that would have been around £600.
Similar threads
TRENDING THREADS
-
-
-
-
-
-
I heard over 150 products in 2024 and these are my 5 hi-fi highlights- Started by What Hi-Fi?
- Replies: 8
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram