T+a dac 8 dsd

[musicbuff]

I'm new to the T+A DAC 8 DSD family and ecstatic to be able to reach DSD256 with my present computer. I've done some reading through the forum (it's a LOT). Some say the T+A can be connected directly to a power amp.  Presently my DAC and sub (SVS PC2000) are connected to a Primare Pre32 preamp. T+A is connected by XLR and my sub is connected by Left & Right RCA to the Pre32 preout.  I'd like to connect the T&A directly to my power amp (Primare A32) by XLR. But I want to keep my subwoofer in the line up. Without a preamp how do I connect the sub? I've been told I can

1.    Use T+A's balanced output to connect to my power amp and the T+A's RCA output to connect the subwoofer

OR

2.    connect the subwoofer via the power amp speaker level outputs (is RCA to bare wire or banana plugs doable?)

But I've also read this:

"One snippet of information: Often times subwoofers will allow you to hook them up to the speaker taps of the amp and to cross-over the main speakers, restricting how much low information they get. Don’t assume this is a benefit. It may allow the mains to play louder as they are not having to move as much air, but the downside is you can lose some clarity." Upscale Audio quote.

 

Are these suggestions safe? If so I'll experiment to see whether or not the SQ is degraded by these types of connections.

[musicbuff]

Thanks a lot CatManDo and Richard. An XLR cable is now connecting the T+A to the power amp and the sub is connected to the T+A via RCA. Everything still sounds fantastic.

[musicbuff]

Just received a new Windows desktop yesterday with power to run the T+A at DSD512. Incredible! Just finished listening to Tim McGraw's cd, "Live Like You Were Dying," and heard (and felt) the emotion (serious, sad, playful) of his songs. Even had a downloaded (probably 96kbps) mp3 file of Will.I.Am's, "America's Song" and yes, it sounded crappy, but I still heard stuff that I hadn't before. I have been missing a LOT! Looking forward to rediscovering my whole music library.

[musicbuff]

@ sbenyo,

desktop specs: Dell XPS, Windows 10 Home, 16 GB RAM, 512 SSD with 2 TB HD, i7 7700K CPU @ 4.2GHz.  

 

HQ Player specs: SDM Pack none, Buffer time and DAC bits Default, SDM Defaults - oversampling poly-sinc-shrt-mp-2s, Modulator AMSDM7 512+fs, Bit Rate 48k x 512, and I checked the Multicore DSP box (decreased harshness heard on a few CD's).  Hope that helps.

[musicbuff]

On 8/25/2017 at 1:12 PM, sbenyo said:

A few more details that can be helpful:

1. Do you also use GPU offload?

2. Are you connecting directly or using NAA?

3. Did you ever experience any staggering with these specs?

 Until you mentioned it I never heard of GPU offloading. What is it? How do you do it? What are its advantages? I'm willing to learn if it will improve things. Sorry, I don't know what NAA stands for either. My connection is computer -> WyWires Platinum USB cable -> T+A -> Violectric XLR cable -> power amp. And no, there's been no staggering with these specs.

@ Imitche, what are the plusses of poly sinc xtr 2s?

[musicbuff]

My graphics card is NVidia GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB and from the little I've read, is CUDA capable. But it looks like you have to know how to do some programming to take advantage and that is way out of my league. If there's a simpler way to offload please let me know in the form of "GPU offloading for dummies."

[musicbuff]

I checked the CUDA box and the T+A is now able to handle more oversampling options than before. I monitored each option with "Speccy" to be sure I wasn't about to burn up my computer. Poly-sinc-hb stuttered very badly when sampling at 48k instead of 44.1k. I finally tried Poly sinc xtr 2s. It is very good. But I find I like poly-sinc-mqa-mp best. I tried them all with a song with some etching and sibilance and found the mqa-mp to do the best correction. Then I put on The Robert Shaw Chorale's "Songs of Faith and Inspiration - The Holy City" and was blown away. The soundstage was wide, layered and precise. The CPU temp went as high as 77 degrees Celsius at short bursts and as low as 55. The GPU maintained a steady 45 degrees. Sound quality superb!

[musicbuff]

On 3/13/2017 at 4:43 AM, yyz said:

Has anyone used the T+A DAC 8 DSD as a digital preamp directly driving power amps. I am interested in the T+A A 3000 HV stereo amp for the DAC. I understand that this amp sounds great with the expensive T+A analogue preamp. However, I have no need for analogue inputs and would prefer to use my DAC as a digital preamp.

I know it's been months since this question was asked but hopefully my experience will help others. Soon after buying the T+A DAC 8 DSD I read in the owner's manual it was so good it could be used as a preamp. I believe in music with a subwoofer so I asked forum members how to connect my sub without pre outs on the preamp. I was told I could connect it to the 2nd set of output terminals on the T+A (RCA) if I was using the XLR terminals to connect to my amp (which I was). I disconnected my preamp (one less piece of equipment was desirable) and connected the sub to the RCA outs. The sound was quite an improvement over my 24/192 DAC, but I wondered why with some songs, especially with background singers, the voices came directly from the speakers (changing speaker placement did not get rid of this phenomenon).  Yesterday I stumbled on a forum comment that said if the RCA output is used at the same time as the XLR it could adversely affect the sound quality of the XLR connection. So I dragged out my preamp and reconnected it (computer/HQPlayer->T+A DAC 8 DSD->preamp->power amp.). I'm amazed. The sound stage became meatier, wider, deeper with multiple layering and increased precise detailing. No more background singers coming from the speakers but sound is behind my speakers, and fills my listening space. The reason: when I first bought the T+A I had a computer capable of 256DSD max. About a month later I bought a more powerful computer capable of DSD512 and never thought to try the new set up with the preamp until reading the comment about simultaneous RCA and XLR use. Now I'm truly experiencing the "WOW" of 512DSD. This is not meant to discourage use of the T+A DAC 8 DSD as a preamp. I just want to share that one shoe doesn't always fit every foot. Hope this helps.

[musicbuff]

I don't doubt what you say Richard. As I said, I also read the DAC 8 can be used without a pre-amplifier (in the owner's manual page 39). I now remember when I first tried my set up with the preamp I glossed over the line that says "To achieve the highest possible audio quality with integrated amplifiers we recommend to bypass the volume control of the DAC 8 DSD by switching the switch on the back panel to the setting LINE." This time I followed the manufacturer's instructions and things really improved. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from using this fine DAC as a pre-amp. I'm just sharing the experience I had with my system.

[musicbuff]

CatManDo, I obviously realize that now. As far as trying different amps, that's a luxury I do not have. And like I said, No more background singers coming from the speakers but sound is behind my speakers, and fills my listening space." So if my present set up is adding some "artificial soundstage" I'm happy with it.

[musicbuff]

I've heard from a few skeptics on fuses, but tried Synergistic Research Blue in my Primare Pre32 and heard a fuller more nuanced sound from my music. For me it is a more simple and less costly alternative to drop-outs and static build. I am now curious about the Audiophile Optimizer program. Can anyone tell me if it is used "instead of" or "in addition to" HQPlayer? My computer is dedicated for music use only. How exactly does the AO program work?

[musicbuff]

Thanks Andru26. Just reading a review and was disappointed to hear:

 

"For those of you wishing to use Windows 10, AudioPhil (program designer) feels that Windows 10 Pro will offer the greatest potential for sonic improvement over the Home version. The Home version is not able to process group policies and offers less potential for optimization. Also, it should be noted that the client versions of Windows 10 only offer a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and not the Core or Minimal-Server modes such as those offered in Windows Server 2012 R2."
Read more at https://www.audiostream.com/content/audiophileoptimizer#c1hlh0i1sfbpMxHd.99

 

Unfortunate for me as I have the Windows 10 Home version.

[musicbuff]

Both the ISO REGEN and Intona require 2 USB cables, correct? One from computer "to" the device and another "from" the device to the DAC. I have a WyWires Platinum USB cable. To utilize either of these devices with 2 WyWires USB cables would not be cheap, OR are you saying that 2 inexpensive USB cables can be used with either of these devices and will render all the stated improved sonic qualities?

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Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to downplay the Mola Mola or say it isn't an outstanding DAC but I feel FatalethaL's comparison is a bit premature. Forgive me for being the odd one out by asking, if you're going to compare the Mola Mola Tambaqui with the T+A DAC 8 DSD, shouldn't both items be compared at their highest levels of performance? Why limit the T+A to PCM when it sounds best at DSD 512? The DAC 8 DSD is known for its outstanding sound quality when coupled with HQPlayer. I run HQPlayer on my computer and all my music (including mp3 files) is set to play 48/512. And I must say the sound is exquisite. So, FatalethaL I'm looking forward to a "fairer" comparison when you get HQP and the ability to run your music files at 48/512.

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mevdinc, I agree, $37,000 is steep and I'm sure the T + A SDV 3100 HV is worth it, but I'll stick with the DAC8DSD (and be super satisfied). I had to replace my original desktop to be able to play DSD 512 files through HQ Player. I can only wonder what kind of monster computer you'd have to buy to utilize DSD 1024. One thing I've experienced with most upgrades...I'd wonder "how can it get better than this?" Then I'd put the upgrade in and most of the time, SQ improved to some degree. Sometimes a lot sometimes minimally. I'd like to hear a 1024 file someday, but if it's not affordable, I won't, neither will I care.

[musicbuff]

It's been a while since anyone posted here but hopefully someone will be able to help me out. I just bought an Alienware Aurora R13 Gaming computer with Intel Core i9 12900KF, 32 GBDDR5 RAM, Nividia RTX 3070Ti and Windows 11 Pro. All that in hopes of being able to run any 48k 512 DSD file on Signalyst HQ Player with my T+A DAC 8 DSD. Disappointed. For reasons unknown to me I can't upsample any file to greater than 48k 128 DSD. Plus side, at that rate, to my ears it sounds as good as running files at 48K 512 on my old Windows 10 computer (after a LOT of trial and error). I was so frustrated I momentarily went back to JRiver and even trialed Audirvana to see if they rivaled HQ Player. They both sounded a bit diffuse and bottlenecked my DAC at PCM 348K. Weird, the new computer sees my DAC as "Speakers T+A DAC 8 DSD." and only lets DSD play in WASAPI. It used to be ASIO.

 

Also disappointed Signalyst HQ player doesn't let you buy retro versions like JRiver Media does. I managed to get my old version (3.25.4) on the new computer. Now every time I open the program it's asking me to buy (again) or reregister. I have a Register Key, but see no place to put it in. I tried the new HQPlayer 4 first. Very complicated for my limited abilities

. 

Anyone have any idea how I can get the new computer to let my DAC play 48K 512DSD again? The computer gives the option of playing CD or DVD quality. Is this my bottleneck? If it is, is there a way to get past this? My old Windows 10 had the same options but between HQ Player and the T+A DAC 8 DSD I had no problems playing 48K 512. To anyone who responds, please make it simple. I'm not computer savvy.

[musicbuff]

@Quadman, Thanks, I'd forgotten all about the driver. It's installed and the DAC is upsampling like a champ.