3.5mm connection and DAC in one...

[Ant]

Hi folks

 

somewhere on the web I found a company selling a 3.5mm jack to RCA lead which incorporated a DAC and was really long. This would be ideal for me to connect a macmini/iomega minimax music server (which I do not yet own!) to my hifi (they will live in separate units about 8 feet away from each-other)

 

Problem is I cannot remember where I saw it and hours of trawling has so far drawn a blank. All I remember is that they were about £60 and that the DAC was supposed to be an improvement over the DAC in the minimac.

 

Anyone know what they are called?

 

Cheers, Ant

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just so I understand what you are looking for.

 

A single cable with 3.5mm mini-TOSlink on one end and RCAs on the other end, with a DAC built into the cable?

 

If this is what you're looking for I can't say I've ever seen one. I'll do my best to help.

 

[Ant]

Hi again

 

so I have found it at last. Except that I was mistaken in my description.

 

Here is the weblink:

http://www.xitel.com/2007/prod_hflpc.htm

 

It is a USB connection to a separate DAC which is bundled with what the manufacturers describe as "high quality cable".

 

Looks interesting, if rather cheap. Audiofiles may well find the idea a little far fetched, while audiofools such as myself may be more forgiving.

 

This whole process is a steep learning curve. For reference I listen to cd's on a rotel rcd02 and ra02 amp thru b&w speakers. I also have an older system of arcam alpha 8 cd, amp and power amp thru acoustic energy AE109 floorstanders in a bigger room. Personally I prefer the arcam setup for it's slightly smoother sound which sounds more like vinyl to my ears. I also have a bit of vinyl thru a project 1 or an ariston rd80 with linn tonearm and nagoaka cartridge.

 

These systems are as good as I can tell the difference on (at leaast for the money I had for them!)

 

Anyway if anyone has used this product please let me know.

 

Secondly, bearing in mind my current setup does anyone recommend a particular dac/cable set to improve the sound from a mac mini.

 

Finally, just to confuse things again I found this link regarding a high end ipod dock:

 

http://whathifi.com/mp3/archive/2008/02/26/news-krell-s-163-1350-ipod-dock-we-kid-you-not.aspx

 

What amazed me was the following comment from the chap at krell:

"As for the issue of D/A conversion, that’s a bit of a red herring. The iPod’s internal DAC is actually very capable; how you retrieve and deliver the analogue signal is a much more critical issue to address in terms of sound quality."

 

What do you all think of that?

 

Cheers, Ant

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Wow Ant, you pulled this one out of thin air!

 

If it works for you the product is great. No worries about traditional snobby audiophiles.

 

DAC are popping up all over the place lately. A recommendation depends on how much you want to spend of course. I think the Benchmark DAC1 products are pretty good for the price. I've heard really good things about the newer Cayin USB DAC.

 

As far as the iPod dock situation goes, I will never consider the DAC in an iPod as audiophile quality. The term "very capable" is so ambiguous I could laugh. Since the Wadia piece is around $350 I would opt for that and use my own DAC in a heartbeat. At CES a couple other manufacturers who released their own iPod docks claimed the same thing as Krell, that it matters more what you do with the signal after the iPod. While there have been some cool advances in this type of technology, in my opinion skipping the DAC in the iPod and sending the digital signal to the DAC of your choice will always be much better. I don't think too many people will disagree with this statement.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just stumbled across this one.

 

 

 

 

 

The DAC digital audio cable

 

[Oli Woods.]

Found this whilst searching for some info about this xitel DAC, which I received as a gift.

 

I am using it between a macbook pro playing lossless and a Quad 34 / 405 mk2 preamp and power amp.

 

As far as I can tell it sounds great!

 

I would be interested to see a review of it though, especially compared to products such as the cambridge audio Dacmagic or that devilsound DAC to see if I can gain much from upgrading.

 

Would that be a possibility?