Help with Mini Mac!

[rissa]

For awhile now we had been using the Wadia 170i hooked up to the Cambridge Dac Magic and it sounded almost perfect. There was a major problem though with the fact that there was no interface which is an essential part of the criteria for our system.

 

So we have now purchased a Mini Mac and have it hooked up to the Dac Magic using the mini toslink. Sadly it sounds nothing compared to the Wadia. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or tips on what we should do next or if we are doing something wrong.

Thanks

 

[jonmarsh]

Assuming you're using the same format files (Apple Lossless or AIFF?), your disappointment is likely due to the higher jitter of TOSLINK SPDIF compared with coaxial SPIDF. I use a Mac Mini, too, but I use a Firewire based interface which includes SPDIF output. (my solution is also used for driver and loudspeaker testing, so may be overkill for what you need ). At the price/performance range of the DAC Magic, investing in an expensive Firewire interface just for SPDIF output probably doesn't make sense. You may want to consider a USB based DAC solution with asynchronous transfer like the Wavelength Audio Proton. It would give you a low jitter data interface and a good quality DAC that should be something of an upgrade over your DAC Magic. Also, you can connect your DAC Magic to a Mac Mini using USB as is- not the ideal solution, but still may give better performance than the TOSLINK connection. Try to use a USB channel that is not connected to any other devices- use the "more info" button in "about this mac" to check connections/usage. A lot depends on the USB receiver - while Cambridge claims that their 32 bit DSP eradicates jitter, (which means they're probably employing it as an asynchronous sample rate converter), the effectiveness may still vary with different sources. Sometimes the only way to find the best solution with specific equipment combinations is to just listen...

 

[ejlif]

See if that sounds better. I have the DAC Magic and I know it's not supposed to sound best via USB input but it still sounds pretty good. I'll have to grab my Wadia ipod doc and see if I can summon some of the magic you are talking about via SPDIF coax.