Article: Sonny Rollins, MusicGiants, No DRM, and 24 bit / 88.2 KHz Downloads

[sgbaird]

Chris, my question is, will the MAX application make Boot Camp an unnecessary step, or will those of us who don't have a partition for Boot Camp need to create one in order to use the service? Rollins, BTW, is one of my favorite horn players.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Right now the method I used is the only method I know of that doesn't down sample from 24/88.2 to 16/44.1. MAX won't even import the wma lossless files from this album even thought they are DRM-Free. There are other OS X applications that will convert wma to aiff, but they also convert to 16/44.1.<br />

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I hope somebody has a solution that we don't know about yet!

[glt]

The question is how do I get the HD out to an external DAC? USB interfaces (e.g. USB to I2S) are limited to 48, Airport Express is limited to 44.1, The only options seems to be sound card with spdif or Firewire to spdif boxes. What's the best (best value) solution?

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hey glt - There are very few USB DACs that will convert 24 bit / 96 KHz audio. We started a lits a while back, but it has gone unattended for a while. Here is the link to the forum topic http://www.computeraudiophile.com/node/58<br />

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Right now the Benchmark DAC1 USB is a good value. It all depends on your definition of value as well :-) I currently use the DAC1 USB to convert my 24/96 audio.

[glt]

Thanks for the link. Since I've already built a TwisterPear Opus DAC, I'm looking at spdif solutions for HD audio. Do you know if the optical out from a MAC support up to 96K? <br />

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Thanks.

[glt]

Just discovered that there is a forum. Found the answer in the forum: yes...

[The Computer Audiophile]

As you've discovered in the forum. The optical out on a Mac supports up to 24/192 output. Let us know how your system is progressing glt.

[guyapprentice]

i ordered the new benchmark media dac1 pre...can't wait for it to arrive next week as they shipped today! i cant wait to try out hd downloads, i've never done it!

[The Computer Audiophile]

Very cool guyapprentice! Please let us know how things are going once you get it setup.

[glt]

Here is another free converter to convert WMA to WAV for windows http://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html You can then convert to Apple Lossless within iTunes. (Is there anyway to automatically transfer the metadata?)