Usb dac advice for pc use

1. Which usb dac do i buy to use with my computer
2. Is it best to use a dac or get a sound card for best sound
3. Im told that cooling fans can cause problems with sound
4. Basically how do you get the best sound using a computer playing music from its hard drive and maybe cd rom put through your preamp or is it best to use a dacpre like the benchmark model thanks all

 

I use an RME fireface 400, as I prefer firewire to USB.

A good device to experiment with is an Edirol UA25, it only costs £130 and several dealers and users have said it out performs many cdp's inc Naim and others.

I would suggest a silent laptop as a hifi computer, maybe a MacBook,

If you are experimenting with an older tower PC, then an M-Audio 2496 is very very good in terms of sound quality, and only costs £50.

In my experience sound quality is not related to cost. All electronic equipment is cheap to manufacture these days, and you should get a lot of experience before spending large sums of money.

iTunes is a good piece of software to start with, or you might prefer something like foobar if you're a bit techy.

 

Re usb dac advicefor pc use

Hi jcbrum have a look at this link on ebay only i have a tower type pc see link(http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/M-Audio-Firwi...oryZ4785QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) any good or not

 

It's probably ok, did you buy it ?

 

MoodLab Dice is a USB DAC, supposed to be pretty good for the money, as is the iBasso. What's your budget?

 

If you didn't, try this.
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/1142/a/r/e/base

JC.

 

Re usb dac advice

Hello all. ive bought a edirol ua -25 which i think sounds as good or better than my arcam cd 192 which i will be selling if that is the case. i like the idea of a music server so that you can have a
type of hand held unit that can select the music you will play
do i stick with my current pc and add a sqeezebox or build another pc for music cheers oceanobsession

 

I was really impressed with the Apple Airport Express Robert is now using, especially since it can be remotely controlled from his iPod Touch, giving album art and everything. Both the Airport and iPod Touch are wireless devices so you don't need the computer with the music server running in the same room. Better than the SB route IMO.

The Airport has a digital output for use with any DAC you like.

 

Re usb dac advice for pc use

Tenson can the ipod touch play all music that is on your hard drive or is it only the music downloaded from apple and what formats does it play cheers ocean

 

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/audiocandy2/candy_3.html

 

The iPod Touch can work in two ways. It can act as an iPod, playing the music on its own memeory, and which while you are in the area of your wireless network, can also access all your music collection.

Or, it can act as a control device for the main computer that is feeding music to your hi-fi wirelessly via the Airport. So in the latter case, it is not the iPod actually playing the music, it is just picking what tunes the main computer feeds to your system, and shows you the art and stuff.

The web browser is also quite nice since if you are listening to some music, you can jump on the web and look up the lyrics, check the forums etc.. all on the little iPod Touch (which has a reasonable size screen). If I didn't have a computer in my listening room already, I would want one of these iPods!

 

Just so's to understand this new technology...

I have a heap of files on a network drive, which contain music (mostly MP3 format).

I can play them back on my laptop, and revel in the sound of its inbuilt speakers.

Now I want to be able to hear them on my proper sound system.

Is it as simple as "buy an Edirol UA24, connect a suitable wire between the USB sockets on laptop and UA25, connect a suitable wire between the UA25 audio outlets and my preamp, select a file, listen to it"?

Looking for a minimalist solution, don't want to look at album artwork or anything else - just choose a file and get sounds from my grown-up speakers.

Is the Edirol "it", or are there equivalent devices?

 

Correct Dick.

There are other devices. The Edirol is a good budget option though.

 

Thanks for that - I'm still a little puzzled.

What's the role of a Squeezebox? As I understand it I don't need one, yet "everybody" (who was doing this computer-to-stereo thing a few months ago) seemed to have one.

 

The squeezebox would connect to your hi-fi like any other source, but it gets the data from the computer wirelessly. This way you don't need to use the computer directly (or have it in the same room) to pick your tunes.

 

Thanks - I suspect I'm in one of those "I didn't realise it was as simple as that" scenarios.

 

It does get a bit more complicated the the practicality of making it all work, such as the software you need to run on the computer and setting up a wireless network and so on... but that is the jist of what the things do.

 

while we are asking then Simon, i'm curenetly using a pretty shitty £7 usb-optical convertor, between laptop and DAC.

All i want is a shit shot USb box capable of passing through 44.1-192kh upto 24bit as thr dac willl take that.

any suggestions, not interested in other features, just bitperfect optical out from usb input..

 

Apart from getting an external soundcard, I'm not sure what the best option would be. Does the £7 thing not cope with higher bit rates and sample rates then?

Just 'cos its £7 doesn't mean its not bit-perfect! Does it sound decidedly bad? It does seem a bit of a long shot to get anything reasonable for that cash.

 

it sounds ok. But it doesn't sound better than my cd player spinning the disc and using the DAC.

I'm pretty sure it reclocks half dvd whatever that is.

it is noticably worse than my old laptop just using its optical out into the dac.

In reality it just two clocks and and a reciever chip spdif to opt convertor, theres no real reason it can't be put together for pennnies, this one obviously was. It just like the M-audio transit, but cheap.

External soundacrd would be good, any suggestions for decent ones.