Getting the best out of Usb Benchmark

[audiozorro]

Theob, I’m glad you achieved great success. I took a quick look at some of the Audio Asylum posts on cmp and cics specs and I couldn’t run away fast enough. I also took a quick look in cplay and the Juli sound card and again I either wanted to run or wait for something better/easier. I guess I’m so spoiled by Mac that when I see the words in your approach like difficult, fear (the no is invisible), 6 months, and trouble I know that’s not where I want to be, though I’m very happy for you. Obviously I am interested in your results and it’s hard to argue with success. Though I’m not familiar with the Juli sound card I assume that the Lynx AES16 card or Weiss Vesta would produce superior results. I so much enjoy the ease and simplicity of iTunes on a Mac that I find it hard to imagine switching to a Windows PC and some other software unless I find myself with very little money and lots of time. Perhaps Chris or Elias can simplify some of your recommendations for getting the best out of the Benchmark USB DAC1 so that I and others can benefit. Or, perhaps Chris just wants us to sit tight until he can share his good news with us.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

I won't be sitting tight and won't encourage anyone else to, but I can confirm my good news is coming for sure. I talked to someone very involved in the project today and it's moving along right on schedule. I will say, if you listen to high resolution above 16/44.1 this will be very very nice :-)

 

Theob - It is really great to hear you are having such success with your project. Music servers really can top the sound of very expensive transports, plus the convenience is unmatched.

 

[emmodad]

several years ago i went thru the entertaining process of trying to find a cost-effective, bit-perfect, 24/192-capable Firewire 2-channel interface to a DAC1 (and other 24/192 destinations) from my various PowerBooks. Long story short: at that time, the only viable solution costing under USD 1500 was an RME Fireface 400, which I purchased and with which I have been satisfied from this perspective of 24/192 Firewire transport. FF400 is certainly overkill just for a function of FW-to-SPDIF conversion, but I do utilize other capabilities and again, it was pretty much the only game in town.

 

I'll echo the comments above: feeding the DAC1 with 24/192 and 24/176.4 via this path yields extremely satisfying audio quality in my situation.

 

There are now other hi-rez FW interface solutions available at price points below the extreme reaches of professional studio gear. For example, Daniel Weiss' new pro and audiophile DAC and FW interface units are not inexpensive but are certainly less expensive that the upper level of professional gear.

 

The FF400 remains a viable lower-cost solution. Just wanted to mention it here, and note that those interested might find them for sale as used equipment on hoffman, gearslutz, etc.

 

[theob]

There is definitely a tradeoff: available time (to build a computer for audio) versus money (to pay for a 'plug and play audio system'. When I was working I had more money than time but here is the kicker I never was really satisfied. Now that I have more time than money I save the best for last because that's what I was able to achieve. Lets put it this way: one year from now do you want the best sounding ever system to listen to? Or do you want 2 or 3 big money iterations/transactions that may or may not get you what you want? This isn't always the case for all but it was for me.

 

As one cplay/cmp grad has said on AA once you through this build process you have unbelievable knowledge that will forever be with you to (as he puts it) never be intimidated again by computers.

 

But you are right it does take a big committment but if you have any local pc shops you can use the talents of the personell there to help you with things that befuddle you. I did. It's like using subcontractors for a home improvement project. Mistakes are made and are frustrating but they are the best teachers of lessons learned.

 

I did this because I wanted to achieve the type of sound I was reading about in AA not because I wanted to learn about computers. Spending big $ is not always the right path to sonic satisfaction. I'll never forget a friend who bought a big name very expensive preamp that sounded terrible. But he never admitted it to me until he replaced it 5 years later with something better and less expensive. I'll never forget my foray into tube amplifiers. It lasted 20 years and I never had one that I didn't like or that also did not fail. One amp was in transit to/from manufacturer more than my audio room. I learned how to repair them myself but I always ultimately discovered new innovative ways for them to fail that ultimately I could not fix.

 

Anyway this pc audio thing is the real deal. Maybe there are better front ends out there but I am very satisfied with mine. Also because there are almost infinite settings on a computer (in XP, in Windows, in Bios, in Registry) there are infinite tweaks to be implemented or discovered in computer audio. If you are a tweaker like me (always looking for that next iota of improved sonics) computer audio is for you.

 

[audiozorro]

Theob – thanks for your continued input on this thread. One of the things I look for in this forum is the willing spirit to make things easier for the next person. I also appreciate the open, honest and respectful discussions that are so evident here.

 

I have to admit that I am not familiar with cplay, cmp, cics or the Juli sound card other than my brief internet search after reading your previous post. I assume you are using a Windows PC, but now that Chris is using a Mac Pro running XP, Vista, OS X, and Linux, perhaps computer hardware and operating system can be taken out of the equation. Others may disagree but I would find it hard to believe that a budget PC could outperform the Mac Pro though I do not discount the possibility of synergy between computer hardware and OS. So I am left to ponder what does cplay or the Juli sound card bring to the table, what are the alternatives and is there anything better? Or specifically, if I start with the post for the Audiophile Reference Music Servers what are the suggested changes for better sonics and perhaps lower cost?

 

 

[theob]

I could not say it better than cics. As far as I'm concerned key things for sonics are cmp software (which gets rid of Process Explorer and suspends other security processes) and cplay which is designed for sonics. Cplay blows away j river. Key hardware is the mobo (recommended board allows flex to reset key parameters in bios to reduce latency and other goodies), same for ram, also intel processor allows sufficient cache size to run as if from memory. I am not an expert but cics is and all his stuff is explained in AA. Look, whether an expensive mac can sound better I have no doubt but someone with Cics smarts, work effort would have to put in 2 years of free r&d to get it. We are lucky cics did this then allowed others to share. I don't have a problem with $420 of expenditure sounding better than $8000 worth of scd1 (base price plus $3K of Kern mods).

 

The juli sound card is inexpensive, allows one to dismantle the analogue stage and provides very good 24/192 digital output on it's break out cable.

 

Getting back to the secret of cmp/cplay the real benefit IMO is having the hardware that allows you to set parameters for sonics and cmp which provides a grain free structure for background noise and running 800+ meg files from memory with zero interupt calls which produce those nasty tics,. Its a not a matter of buying more expensive so called better stuff. I would stick with the program because someone very very smart has done the selection process for you.