Is there any point in using a DAC in my circumstances?
I have lossless audio on a Mac Mini, and connect that to my amp via HDMI.
Would it make any difference going Mac Mini > USB DAC > Optical > AVR
So all my leads and connections would be digital
Cheers
What I mean is, will there beany improvement in audio quality from going
Digital (Mac Mini) USB > DAC > Digital out to AVR
Partly it depends how much you have to spend.
There will probably be a small quality increase with a £300-500DAC (say Arcam rDAC, Musical Fidelity M1DAC, Audiolab M-DAC, etc). However you will then be limited by your AVR.
To get a big improvement you will also need to add a stereo amplifier.
Eloise
Awesome .... what you need is a cheap USB DAC with tolsink output .... a universally well regarded unit is the Behringer UCA202/222. £20. So good I have 2 of them in my setups......both are used to get a toslink output from my PCs/Laptop.....
I've already got a UCA202. I'd read somewhere that when TOSLINK is used, that its basically digital pass through. Or is there some improvement. I did think it sounded better, but then wasn't sure if my mind was playing tricks on me!
PS I used the UCA202 with the phono outputs once, I could hear noise on those outputs as I increased volume.
I simple use mine as a source for toslink output, I have used with for headphone sue not too bad.
Went through the same process with my system. Have an Arcam AVR350 which I was feeding with a lossless files via a MF v-Link (Async USB to digital converter) to the optical input on AVR. Also tried coax but I could not detect any difference. The Arcam has a good reputation as being quite musical and the DACs are no slouches - Wolfson Microelectronics 24-bit 192kHz DACs.
Sound was OK but lacked that special something. Added a MF v-DAC into the chain so the AVR was being fed with an analogue signal so I could use the arcam's stereo direct (all DSP and Video boards shut down). The difference was amazing - big soundfield, better dynamics. The special difference that makes you toes tap to the music. Even switching off the direct setting was still an improvement over using the internal DACs.
Definitely worth auditioning some DACs as you may get a big improvement but get them on trial just in case they don't justify the spend.
Now playing Apple Lossless and Flacs on my Mac Mini using the Audirvana program. Through a cheap and cheerful Behringer UCA202 USB DAC, to my old Onkyo 606, and out 2.1 of B&W 685s and a Velodyne CHT10-Q.
Sounds good, I think I'll change the amp to a Yamaha RXA1020 when I can afford it. Rather than going for a DAC.
Really need to hear a DAC demo as never had one. But this has to be the best I've heard personally to date.
If you want to run music via 2.1 then there is little point in using a DAC as your AVR will have to convert the analogue (out of the DAC) back to digital, then process it for 2.1 before using its own internal converters.So you are limited by the quality of the final conversion.
Eloise
Just my recent experience on DACS....
So, my shiny new Beresford Bushmaster DAC arrived two weeks ago. It took less than four days from order to doorstep....considering where I live and the more than vague 'postcodes' we have here I would say that was pretty impressive, bordering miracle status.
Anyhows, plugged it in to Cambridge Audio 640c (transport) into Cambridge Audio 640 Amp into B&W 685's (I know,fairly 'low-fi' amongst this forum).....couldn't help it but put in Pink Floyd, Delicate Sound of Thunder.
Now bearing in mind I had spent close to £200 and it looks pretty natty coupled with all the anticipation/reviews I had to control myself and give it a harsh critical listen...to be on the fence so to speak. Ignore all Emperors new clothes and all that.
Having only ever owned a cheap Fiio DAC (which was pretty good, until it died on me) I had nothing else to compare it to but powered it up.............drum roll......
I can only liken the experience to that of, you know when you in an aeroplane and your ears go fuzzy with the pressure and then they suddenly equalise and everything is then really open and sharp. Well thats what we have here. I had to rewind a few tracks and listen again as there was so much more to take in than before, so many more instruments and dynamic placement that I had to make sure it wasn't me. But yes, they were there in abundance, clear and punchy, a far broader spectrum of sound that I have not experienced with my set up before.
I did the usual comparison of Apple Lossless files and then the same CD and have to say on the whole, the CD sounded better. Maybe my ripping, on an old Macbook and the Apple Lossless format contra a good ripper into FLAC is just not quite up to it. Certain tunes such as Welcome to the cruel world, Ben Harper sound pretty darn good in Apple Lossless format as well as similar genre which are generally cleaner, i.e less intruments, sound fairly ace. Movies, fed from Apple tv 1 modded with Broadcom Card and general TV stuff also leap out at you. Darn it's good....how did I cope before?! There is now so much more detail that I was missing before.
So onto the main reviewer, My Wife...(Wi-fi)...she is super critical of me spending anything remotely hi-fi related...but understands my needs, so long as she can have another pair of shoes....ahem......I put on her fave Avalon, Roxy Music in CD format which she listen for a full one minute and she said it sounded amazing. At that, I stopped the CD and sent her off to the supermarket, for the weekly shop. Test over. Harsh, but she doesn't procrastinate and pontificate like me, she'll listen and then give it the the critical marks out of ten straight away
So thats it.
Now, I know that my set up is fairly low-fi but at least it is a start and this DAC has certainly improved the sound, full stop, which is what it is all about.
However, and this is surely going to be the problem for all of us, this is now the normal, par for the score sound and after a while will I be hoping for something better? Right? I think in this instance, I'll cash my chips in buy a few more cd's, dust down all the old cd's and just enjoy..................at least for the moment anyway
Since this time the DAC has now been properly run in and sounds even better. Still finding new sounds on old albums that I have listened to countless of times.
The biggest difference though is when I pipe the tv through it..really good...just shows how tinny my on board Sony DAC was.
Yours,
Michael