First time PC - DAC potential user needs advice

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone. Just to start off with I've only just heard about the debate of CD Player vs PC + DAC, so forgive me if i'm not totally clued up so far, i've tried reading as much as I can so far, but it's always nice to have direct questions answered.

My current setup consists of Cambridge Audio 540A (Amp) V2 & 540C V2 (CDP). I will be upgrading my Speakers to B&W 685 Home Theatre Package, using the front 685s to listen to my music. I'm also a PC enthusiast, and I have spent horrendous amounts of money on hardware over the years, slowly staring to ease back on that though!

So, from what i've read so far i'm very keen to get myself a DAC like the DacMagic for example. I've actually broken my X-Fi Fatal1ty PC soundcard so I will be looking for a new one... I've got my eye on Auzentech X-Fi Prelude.

Does this sound like a good thing to go ahead with? I have a serious amount of music on my computer, and if I go ahead with this I will start ripping my CD collection to FLAC and store on my hard drive.

Do I just output from soundcard (via Coax) into the DacMagic, and then from the DacMagic to my Amp? Or have I got this wrapped around my head?

I'm obviously new to this, so any questions/answers would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Is this a noisy desktop PC?

If so I wouldn't put it in the HiFi room.

Buy a separate little laptop for audio.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes it's a noisy PC, it's a gaming PC primarily so it needs a lot of cooling.

I have a laptop, but surely a dedicated soundcard on a pc woul dbe better quality? I can always turn all my fans down on my computer. To be honest I usually play my music quite loud, so I probably wouldn't notice the PC noise.

Edit: I've just noticed that I can use a USB from my laptop to the DacMagic, thus eliminating the need for the soundcard as it is just the digital file going to the DAC. Am I right in thinking that?

 

[Anonymous]

GradoCanMan:
Yes it's a noisy PC, it's a gaming PC primarily so it needs a lot of cooling.

I have a laptop, but surely a dedicated soundcard on a pc woul dbe better quality? I can always turn all my fans down on my computer. To be honest I usually play my music quite loud, so I probably wouldn't notice the PC noise.

Edit: I've just noticed that I can use a USB from my laptop to the DacMagic, thus eliminating the need for the soundcard as it is just the digital file going to the DAC. Am I right in thinking that?

If the laptop doesn't have a digital out you can use the USB out but that limits you to 16bit/48khz but unless you are playing really high quality material it won't be a problem. You'd be surprised how much even the quietest of computers can affect the overall feeling in a room during quiet parts in the music, it can swamp the nearly inaudible detail some people pay so much for. Can the laptop access your tower's storage over the network?

 

[Anonymous]

I do play some 24bit Vinyl rips from time to time, so I would like to enable highest quality. I've just noticed my laptop has an S/PDIF output which i've been using for my headphones. Tht would rely on the soundcard though to output the sound wouldn't it? I'm not too keen on my laptops soundcard. I can certainly enable my laptop to access my tower's music archive. I will take eyour advice on not having the noisy tower on when listening to music

Do you think that a Squeezebox + DacMagic would yield better results?

Many thanks for your reply.

 

[Anonymous]

The DM will downsample those files if connected via USB so I'd go S/PDIF with that set up. The Squeezebox / DacMagic is a fine solution too, you could then store all your music on a NAS and not have the PC turned on at all.

 

[Anonymous]

Squeezebox + DacMagic seems the way forward. Instead of using a NAS, I think i'll just hook up my Laptop to an external drive with all my music on. Thanks for the insightful replies Octopo. Now all I need is a bit more money

 

[Anonymous]

If the laptop has a SPDIF out it will be the DAC that is making the sound, not the sound card.

 

[Anonymous]

Is that because the output is still digital when leaving the SPDIF output? So for instance when I have my headphones connected to the SPDIF out on my laptop (btw I never knew that the headphone output on my laptop could also be an SPDIF out, but it is marked under the little headphone symbol with the letters SPDIF, so it must be,hmm) it is the headphones that are converting the signal to analogue. Am I right in my understanding?

Thanks for the reply Eddie.

 

[Anonymous]

GradoCanMan:
Is that because the output is still digital when leaving the SPDIF output? So for instance when I have my headphones connected to the SPDIF out on my laptop (btw I never knew that the headphone output on my laptop could also be an SPDIF out, but it is marked under the little headphone symbol with the letters SPDIF, so it must be,hmm) it is the headphones that are converting the signal to analogue. Am I right in my understanding?

Thanks for the reply Eddie.

No, that output on your laptop will be both an analogue 3.5mm headphone jack and a digital S/PDIF output combined.

 

[Anonymous]

You need a mini-toslink adaptor to obtain SPDIF from that headphone socket.

It isn't 100% true to say that the computer is irrelevant - because with Windows there are various software/driver fusses that you won't get on a Mac - but in general it's the DAC that makes the sound.

If you use a little USB device called an M Audio Transit it comes with ASIO drivers to bypass Window's resampling of the audio (which may or may not be at all audible to you - don't worry).

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply guys. I sure was wondering how an SPDIF could also be a headphone jack.

 

[Anonymous]

This M-Audio Transit USB device, will it let me play my files in 24bit, like my high quality vinyl rips? If so, it seems this would be the cheaper solution than having the Squeezebox. Although I do like the idea of the Squeezebox, being able to use the remote is a plus!

 

[Anonymous]

Squeezeboxes below the Transporter won't do 24/96.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that Eddie, looks like i'll get the M-Audio and save myself some money to put towards an external hard drive for the laptop.

 

[Anonymous]

The M-Audio transit would be a cheap solution that will satisfy your requirements. Connect the transit to yuor DacMagic via an optical lead - which can be cheap and cheerful too.

Using the output from your laptop is probably not adviseable for two reasons; firstly, rubbish drivers and probably not support for your requested higher bit rates, and secondly, jitter.

The transit is a good solution.

 

[PJPro]

Doesn't the Transit effectively replace the DAC? USB in, analogue out. Clearly, you could use the optical out on the Transit to a DAC and allow the DAC to do the conversion.