portable media player to connect to NAD 565BEE via optical input

[eazyryder]

I dont know whether this post is in the right forum, but here goes.

I have the nad c565bee cd player and noticed it had a rather conveniant optical input, so i thought when or if cds do come an end i could use the player as a DAC as it supports up to 24bit 192khz audio input, it also has a front usb input but that only supports mp3/wma files up to 320kps .

My question is, does anyone know of a media storage device with a display, and digital output (spdif).

I have searched the web and can only find media streamers (mostly usb output) and media players with built in DAC, no good for me and really expensive.

I do have a pc with optical output but its not in the same room as my hi fi and i would prefer to keep the two separate.

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

 

[Al ears]

As you have found all portable media players are going to have an inbuilt DAC (otherwise they wouldn't be portable music players 🙂 )

It all depends on how much you want to spend.

 

[davedotco]

The new Fiio F3 and F5 players have spdif digital out but it is electrical not optical.

Otherwise you may well need a dock of some sort, or if you use an Apple player (iPad or Touch) an AEX or ATV will do the job.

 

[davedotco]

Double bubble, sorry.

 

[eazyryder]

So are all the stand alone DAC units for sale by top hi fi manufacturers a waste of time, or pc connection only?

Should i sell my NAD with 24-bit/192kHz Wolfson WM8741 DAC chips in a "dual-differential" and buy a portable media player with built in DAC

What i need is some tablet kind of device with display, onboard storage, able to play FLAC ect music files with 24/192khz support and digital outputs preferably optical to connect to my units DAC.

 

[The_Lhc]

So are all the stand alone DAC units for sale by top hi fi manufacturers a waste of time, or pc connection only?

Should i sell my NAD with 24-bit/192kHz Wolfson WM8741 DAC chips in a "dual-differential" and buy a portable media player with built in DAC

What i need is some tablet kind of device with display, onboard storage, able to play FLAC ect music files with 24/192khz support and digital outputs preferably optical to connect to my units DAC.

That's not a typical definition of a PORTABLE music player though. Portable music players are generally designed to be used with headphones, so optical outputs aren't typical.

You need to to decide what you actually want.

 

[davedotco]

So are all the stand alone DAC units for sale by top hi fi manufacturers a waste of time, or pc connection only?

Should i sell my NAD with 24-bit/192kHz Wolfson WM8741 DAC chips in a "dual-differential" and buy a portable media player with built in DAC

What i need is some tablet kind of device with display, onboard storage, able to play FLAC ect music files with 24/192khz support and digital outputs preferably optical to connect to my units DAC.

That's not a typical definition of a PORTABLE music player though. Portable music players are generally designed to be used with headphones, so optical outputs aren't typical.

You need to to decide what you actually want.

The simple answer is your choice of iPod touch or iPad plus an AEX or ATV.

No hi-res support but that is pointless anyway. Only real pain is if you already have a lot of Flac files, you will need to convert them as Apple does not play them. Rip all your new material in ALAC.

 

[eazyryder]

So are all the stand alone DAC units for sale by top hi fi manufacturers a waste of time, or pc connection only?

Should i sell my NAD with 24-bit/192kHz Wolfson WM8741 DAC chips in a "dual-differential" and buy a portable media player with built in DAC

What i need is some tablet kind of device with display, onboard storage, able to play FLAC ect music files with 24/192khz support and digital outputs preferably optical to connect to my units DAC.

That's not a typical definition of a PORTABLE music player though. Portable music players are generally designed to be used with headphones, so optical outputs aren't typical.

You need to to decide what you actually want.

The simple answer is your choice of iPod touch or iPad plus an AEX or ATV.

No hi-res support but that is pointless anyway. Only real pain is if you already have a lot of Flac files, you will need to convert them as Apple does not play them. Rip all your new material in ALAC.

 

[eazyryder]

Thankyou for your Helpfull reply davedotco

Does the ipod or ipad support 24bit 192khz audio output?

No idea about apple stuff, always used android gear myself.

 

[eazyryder]

So are all the stand alone DAC units for sale by top hi fi manufacturers a waste of time, or pc connection only?

Should i sell my NAD with 24-bit/192kHz Wolfson WM8741 DAC chips in a "dual-differential" and buy a portable media player with built in DAC

What i need is some tablet kind of device with display, onboard storage, able to play FLAC ect music files with 24/192khz support and digital outputs preferably optical to connect to my units DAC.

That's not a typical definition of a PORTABLE music player though. Portable music players are generally designed to be used with headphones, so optical outputs aren't typical.

You need to to decide what you actually want.

The simple answer is your choice of iPod touch or iPad plus an AEX or ATV.

No hi-res support but that is pointless anyway. Only real pain is if you already have a lot of Flac files, you will need to convert them as Apple does not play them. Rip all your new material in ALAC.

Thankyou for your Helpfull reply davedotco

Does the ipod or ipad support 24bit 192khz audio output?

No idea about apple stuff, always used android gear myself.

 

[davedotco]

OK. Generally speaking, portable devices do not support hi-res files as their file size is huge, you might only get the equivilent of a dozen CDs on a 16gb player, half that again if you can actually find any 24/192 downloads.

Mostly, if you want the best quality on a portable, use Flac or if you are Apple based ALAC (Apple lossless).

As you point out few if any tablets or music players have audio digital outs, one that does is the Fiio X3. As I said earlier, this is coax rather than toslink but converters can be found for less than £20.

 

[eazyryder]

Thanks all for all your time and input.

Big thankyou to davedotco the fiio X3 you mentioned was a great suggestion with a converter, unfortunately the 8gb storage is a little too low for my needs.

Think i shall stick to my humble CDs, and come back to this some time in the future.

Starting to seem like a lot of hassle and expense for little reward sound-quality wise.

And sorry about the double posts :?

 

[davedotco]

Thanks all for all your time and input.

Big thankyou to davedotco the fiio X3 you mentioned was a great suggestion with an adapter, unfortunately the 8gb storage is too low and doesnt reflect the price.

Think i shall stick to my humble CDs, and come back to this some time in the future.

Starting to seem like a lot of hassle and expense for little reward sound-quality wise.

And sorry about the double posts :?

The X3 can take a micro-XD card that can increase the storage by up to 64gb extra. Not that pricey, 32gb can be had for less than £15, and you can have as many cards as you want.

Again if you want a serious amount of storage an iPod Classic is thr way to go, it has the 'old style' 30 pin connector so will fit something like the Cambridge ID100 or Pure i20 dock, both of which have toslink outputs.

 

[eazyryder]

If the X3 had the right output for my nad it would be perfect, i just dont like the idea of having to use a converter with it.

I would probably be better off selling the nad in the future and saving for something like the Cambridge Audio Minx Xi

 

[davedotco]

If the X3 had the right output for my nad it would be perfect, i just dont like the idea of having to use a converter with it.

Just leave it plugged into the Nad, you will barely notice it is there.

It is digital > digital and will have no effect on the sound.

 

[Al ears]

As davedotco says the iPod Classic might be the way to go unless you fancy paying out £500+ on the higher end portable players like the fiio X5, Colorfly C4, et al.

 

[eazyryder]

I have been watching some video reviews on the fiio x3, and i think am gonna buy, just gotta find a converter now.

With the option to expand storage and the 24/192khz compatability it will be perfect for me.

Again thanks all for your help :wave: