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Windows XP and USB


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I just ordered the Devilsound USB DAC. I plan on getting a Mac eventually but would like to experiment with my ThinkPad Z61t laptop until then. It has XP Pro on it. Can I use this laptops USB as an output to the USB DAC? Yes, this is all new to me. I am fairly computer literate though. Do I have to do anything to get the digital signal to the USB ports? From what I have read on this site, MediaMonkey is the preferred app for XP but that was on a "reference system" with a high quality sound card. Since I'll be using the onboard sound chip is MediaMonkey still the way to go? What else do I need to know to accomplish this? I am hoping to take a few CD's and put them on the laptop hd and compare the sound quality from the laptop thru the USB DAC to that of the CD in a Marantz 8001 player. Thanks for any and all suggestions!

 

John

 

Mac mini, iFi Audio iDAC2, Marantz SR6009, Furman Elite-15 PFI, NHT Sub Two i, Monitor Audio SoundFrame 2 On-Walls

Cary, NC

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I suggest you use J. River media Center , install ASIO4all and then connect to the Devilsound. Do not get a mac. Stick wuth what you have. If it ain't broke, do not fix it.

 

Powerbook G4 15 inch Aluminum, \"Fidela,\" M2tech EVO (BNC)with RF attenuator,dedicated PSU, Stereovox XV Ultra (BNC) Audio Note Dac Kit 2.1 Level B Signature Upgraded to 12AU7 tubes, ARC SP-16L Tube preamp , VAC PA100/100 Tube Amp), Vintage Tubes, Furutech ETP-80, (Alon 2 Mk2, (upgraded tweeters, Usher Woofers), Pangea Power cords, Omega Micro Active Planar PC. Signal Cable Silver Resolution ICs.

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Hi John - The Devilsound DAC is a really cool product. I quite surprised nobody else has created a competing product yet. You certainly can use the USB port(s) on your latop to output audio to the DAC. When you connect the DAC via USB it will show up as an audio device in Windows. You just select the DAC as your default output device instead of the internal speakers. You don't have to do anything weird. Since you are fairly computer literate my guess is you're making this a little harder than it really is :-) You're probably used to the days when it was a nightmare to get anything like this to function. I remember those days well and those days are long gone.

 

I stil recommend MediaMonkey if you're using a PC. This will allow you to play music at resolutions up to 24/192 without any problems. Granted the Devilsound DAC will only handle up to 16/441, but in the future it will be nice to have your whole collection in already in a player that can handle higher resolutions. I've used J River myself, in fact they are located about 10 minutes form my house, and I think it's a great application. But, if can't playback 24/176.4 WAV files from Reference Recordings. This may not even matter to you, but it's worth a mention here.

 

Let me know if I can provide clarification or any more help.

 

 

Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems AudiophileStyleStickerWhite2.0.png AudiophileStyleStickerWhite7.1.4.png

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Thanks Lizard_King and Chris! The Mac move is not purely for a music server but the way the economy is going, I just may have to stick with Windows for awhile. So, it's really that easy to set this up- you're right, I'm used to having to really work to make things happen in the computer world. Do I need to worry about the K-mixer I read about? Why not use iTunes? Does it not support the hi-rez stuff? Will the Devilsound DAC just down convert hi-rez to red book?

 

Mac mini, iFi Audio iDAC2, Marantz SR6009, Furman Elite-15 PFI, NHT Sub Two i, Monitor Audio SoundFrame 2 On-Walls

Cary, NC

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iTunes unfortunately does not support WASAPI or ASIO .. so it'll be playing with your audio before it gets to your soundcard. There is a multi-plugin that allows iTunes to use the Foobar audio engine which does of course support ASIO and WASAPI. Downside ? - you have to use an older version of iTunes.

 

Media Monkey is a great piece of software as is JRiver = they both allow you to configure your audio properly.

Check out XXHighEnd too.

 

I'm testing them all and am yet to make up my mind on which one I'll use.

 

HTPC: AMD Athlon 4850e, 4GB, Vista, BD/HD-DVD into -> ADM9.1

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JT,

 

Yes, you need to be concerned about the Kmixer. You can download and install ASIO4all and then configure J. River Media Center to use that. You mayyhave to set the channel offset setting to get it to work.

 

Itunes will not allow ASIO. It is IMHO Itunes is meant for Mp3 users who do not care about the sound quality. I have read good things about foobar yet I also read it is not that intuitive to setup. I tried mediamoneky and I feel it is not the application for me. Go with J. River media Center or try the free version J. River media Jukebox.

 

Powerbook G4 15 inch Aluminum, \"Fidela,\" M2tech EVO (BNC)with RF attenuator,dedicated PSU, Stereovox XV Ultra (BNC) Audio Note Dac Kit 2.1 Level B Signature Upgraded to 12AU7 tubes, ARC SP-16L Tube preamp , VAC PA100/100 Tube Amp), Vintage Tubes, Furutech ETP-80, (Alon 2 Mk2, (upgraded tweeters, Usher Woofers), Pangea Power cords, Omega Micro Active Planar PC. Signal Cable Silver Resolution ICs.

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