Where to start?

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

My CD transport has died so I am in the position of getting a new transport or getting something that can connect to my DAC (Monachy Audio). My amp is a Unison Research S8 and I have floor standing speakers (they look like wilson puppies but I cant remember their name). Its all connected together with chord signature leads & cables

Most of my music is on CD and I dont mind ripping it to a computer but questions

1) how do I rip to a computer file (in FLAC format?)

2) what can connect to my dac (mac laptop or pc?)

3) how do I connect the computer to my DAC? I want the best quality possible

4) Does the computer need specials cards / outputs?

5) should I just buy a new CD transport?

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers

Brian

 

[davejberry]

Here’s what I did:-

1 - Bought a copy of dBpoweramp to do all the ripping. It’s not expensive and I’ve found it to be easy to use and very flexible.

2 - Ripped all my CDs to FLAC (a lossless format). I added a new hard-drive to my PC where I store all my music and told dBpoweramp where the directory was.

3 - Bought a copy of J. River Media Centre for playback purposes.

4 - Connected my soundcard to my AV amp by optical cable.

5 – Set JRMC to use the soundcard in exclusive mode to send the audio to the amp.

Depending on your DAC and computer configuration you could connect them together by optical, digital coax or USB cable. Only you can decide which one sounds better.

There are other programmes to do the ripping and playback, some of which may even be free. The ones I use have worked perfectly so far.

I use the android app ‘Gizmo’ to control it all.

I am by no means a computer whizz, in fact I found it quite easy to set this up with the help of these forums and a little bit of internet time.

 

[amcluesent]

Peronally, I'd not connect the computer to the DAC but get a music streamer. Far better user experience IMHO and you're not fighting against a general-puprose operating system on the PC/Mac to get audiophile playout. Lots to choices from Sonos,Olive, Linn, Chord, Naim, Meridian Sooloos etc. As you have a DAC you like, you only need a bit-perfect feed from the music streamer so just the lowly Sonos might do it.

 

[Anonymous]

So a server is like a CD player that has a built in hd drive that the server rips the music to. You put in your cd, it's rips it to the hd drive and you play it from the hd. Can you buy a sever that doesn't have a built in dac? And can i connect the server to my own DAC via my chord digital interconnector?

ps thanks for the advice so far guys

 

[amcluesent]

>Can you buy a sever that doesn't have a built in dac?<

Nope, but they all have S/PDIF optical output to bypass the DAC. There are only a few all-in-one devices with built-in harddisk like Cocktail Audio X10, Olive 3HD, Naim HDX. Most music streamers rely on an seperate NAS.

 

[shooter]

Peronally, I'd not connect the computer to the DAC but get a music streamer. Far better user experience IMHO and you're not fighting against a general-puprose operating system on the PC/Mac to get audiophile playout. Lots to choices from Sonos,Olive, Linn, Chord, Naim, Meridian Sooloos etc. As you have a DAC you like, you only need a bit-perfect feed from the music streamer so just the lowly Sonos might do it.

This.

I use a Apple Airport Express, can be used with Apple or Windows machines and they offer an optical output via a 3.5mm Toslink connection.

Cheap to buy, easy to set up and a good quality audio output.

Have a read: http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/505apple