Hopstretch Posted April 30, 2009 Author Report Posted April 30, 2009 So the bottleneck in most USB DACs would be the receiver chip rather than the protocol? Speeding off topic, is it silly for me to make a fetish of USB or FireWire connectivity anyway when I could just run optical from my iMac and enjoy both hi-rez capability and a far larger choice of DACs, vintage and modern? I guess I just have it in my head -- for no substantive reason -- that toslink sucks and should be avoided where possible. Is there anything to that?
Dreadhead Posted April 30, 2009 Report Posted April 30, 2009 So the bottleneck in most USB DACs would be the receiver chip rather than the protocol? Speeding off topic, is it silly for me to make a fetish of USB or FireWire connectivity anyway when I could just run optical from my iMac and enjoy both hi-rez capability and a far larger choice of DACs, vintage and modern? I guess I just have it in my head -- for no substantive reason -- that toslink sucks and should be avoided where possible. Is there anything to that? Go with toslink and a upsampling/jitter removing dac and you're just fine. I prefer it because there is nothing conductive betweent he noisy ground of the computer and the DAC. On my DAC1 you could hear the ground noise with very sensitive phones but through toslink it was dead quiet. YMMV with the amount of ground noise.
morphsci Posted April 30, 2009 Report Posted April 30, 2009 I prefer the optical connection between my MAC Mini and the DACMagic compared to the USB connection. Didn't do a DBT but listened back and forth for a few days and settled on the optical. The USB always sounded a little "fuzzy" compared to the optical.
Dusty Chalk Posted April 30, 2009 Report Posted April 30, 2009 So the bottleneck in most USB DACs would be the receiver chip rather than the protocol? Speeding off topic, is it silly for me to make a fetish of USB or FireWire connectivity anyway when I could just run optical from my iMac and enjoy both hi-rez capability and a far larger choice of DACs, vintage and modern? I guess I just have it in my head -- for no substantive reason -- that toslink sucks and should be avoided where possible. Is there anything to that?Correct. Yes. No.
Hopstretch Posted April 30, 2009 Author Report Posted April 30, 2009 Correct. Yes. No. I. Thank. You.
Aimless1 Posted May 1, 2009 Report Posted May 1, 2009 I prefer the optical connection between my MAC Mini and the DACMagic compared to the USB connection. Didn't do a DBT but listened back and forth for a few days and settled on the optical. The USB always sounded a little "fuzzy" compared to the optical. This was my experience as well. Swapped USB & optical cables from the macbook to the DAC3. Optical seemed more resolving and the USB had an edgy or grainy quality. But no DBT here either.
Voltron Posted May 7, 2009 Report Posted May 7, 2009 Yeah, looks nice there but what does it sound like?!
grawk Posted May 7, 2009 Report Posted May 7, 2009 update every 18 seconds with your updated impressions, we must know how it burns in
aardvark baguette Posted May 7, 2009 Report Posted May 7, 2009 http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk20/allyourpicsarebelongtous/IMG_0185.jpg You little fucking sneak
Dreadhead Posted May 7, 2009 Report Posted May 7, 2009 You little fucking sneak You're surprised? I'm not he still gets a
Voltron Posted May 7, 2009 Report Posted May 7, 2009 My friendly local Ayre dealer says they're getting one in any day now and would be happy to lend it to me for a week to try out at home. So, woot! You little fucking sneak He wasn't exactly stealthy about it.
cclragnarok Posted May 7, 2009 Report Posted May 7, 2009 Please do give us some listening impressions. If possible, I would also like to see some pics of the internals. I want to know what DAC chips they decided to use.
Hopstretch Posted May 7, 2009 Author Report Posted May 7, 2009 OK, it makes fucking Duet salad. I need it.
aardvark baguette Posted May 7, 2009 Report Posted May 7, 2009 He wasn't exactly stealthy about it. Yeah, but he just posted a picture when it arrived; he didnt even warm up to it at all. Just sprung it on me. Like this http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3642/3510706919_86a84c1cf3.jpg?v=0
Hopstretch Posted May 7, 2009 Author Report Posted May 7, 2009 Like I'm going to click that! Anyway, aside from the sound, which on first listen is very, very good, the USB implementation seems to be solid. I'm currently listening through the DAC while simultaneously syncing an iPhone and backing up to an external USB drive -- with no bus noise at all.
aardvark baguette Posted May 7, 2009 Report Posted May 7, 2009 Like I'm going to click that! Its pretty tame. Safe for work.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now