Mike Mcsweeney Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 So Fry's had a little computer on sale awhile back ago, that i bought mainly because of the size and because it was on sale. I tucked it away and forgot about it for awhile. THen more recently, i picked up a windows 8 touchscreen flex notepad, which i was planning on using as my music computer to keep up at the entertainment console. I figured since it was touch screen, i would just touch a genre button then touch an album to start playing. But the 10" screen size is a bit small for my aging eyes, so I decided to buy a 20" touch screen and decided to pull this ASUS mini computer out of storage to pair with it. I was looking at the back of it to make sure it had an hdmi output, and besides the hdmi, i found it had a spdif connector. I have heard about these on dacs, but never really researched them. ANYWAY, my question is, if i buy a reciever that has a spdif connector, can i plug this asus mini computer directly to it and play my dsd files, and let the AVR be the dac? Pics attached of my asus mini computer with spdif, my windows 8 flex-10 (now for sale), and my proposed foobar gui for 2 touch control (genre, album icon). Link to comment
sctubes Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Mike - What's the rest of your system? If you have a receiver (or any combination of amps) already, then maybe you should consider a standalone DAC if the audio quality from your computer is not sufficient. Another thought is that in order to achieve maximum sound quality it would be good to ensure your music is stored uncompressed. Link to comment
firedog Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Your AVR would have to have DSD capability over SPDIF, which is unlikely. The alternative is to convert the DSD files on the fly or offline to PCM before they are sent to the AVR. Main listening (small home office): Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments. Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three . Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup. Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. All absolute statements about audio are false Link to comment
Sam Lord Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Your AVR would have to have DSD capability over SPDIF, which is unlikely. The alternative is to convert the DSD files on the fly or offline to PCM before they are sent to the AVR. For those reasons and the likelihood that his AVR's DAC isn't great, he should get an inexpensive USB DAC, of which many are lauded. I would try an iFi Micro iDSD to be future-proof. Then a muscular PC, HQPlayer, and an old bottle of bourbon. Mac Mini 2012 with 2.3 GHz i5 CPU and 16GB RAM running newest OS10.9x and Signalyst HQ Player software (occasionally JRMC), ethernet to Cisco SG100-08 GigE switch, ethernet to SOtM SMS100 Miniserver in audio room, sending via short 1/2 meter AQ Cinnamon USB to Oppo 105D, feeding balanced outputs to 2x Bel Canto S300 amps which vertically biamp ATC SCM20SL speakers, 2x Velodyne DD12+ subs. Each side is mounted vertically on 3-tiered Sound Anchor ADJ2 stands: ATC (top), amp (middle), sub (bottom), Mogami, Koala, Nordost, Mosaic cables, split at the preamp outputs with splitters. All transducers are thoroughly and lovingly time aligned for the listening position. Link to comment
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