What is the best interface for Mac Computer to DAC? USB, FireWire, or Optical Out?

[hafjell]

"Another alternative is to make your own breakout leads – direct from Duet to amp input. People have done it. There is a wiring diagram for the computer-type plug that screws in to the Duet – it may be in the manual. A number of the guys in my audio club have made their own interconnects."

 

Have any of the gus in your club built a breakout cable for the Duet? Are they willing to take an email from me? I think this is the way to go. The Cardas adapter looks great, but then there's another cable. A DIY Duet to RCA saves a few steps.

 

In the meantime, I'll search for the wiring diagram.

 

[Leigh Hibbins]

Hi Trent,

 

None of the guys in my audio club have made this specific cable but they have made others. If you source the materials and tools it can be done. Someone in a post on this website said they had made their own Duet breakout cable and with some fairly exotic materials from what I remember – you might like to do a search. Alternatively you could find someone locally who could do the job or help you with it.

 

I like the Cardas 1/4"-to-RCA adapters but there are readily available cheaper ones. As for RCA cables I always like to try before I buy. My local hi-fi dealer indulges me.

 

[bdiament]

Hi Rob,

 

"...HDMI will be a necessity in the near future for Bluray audio though..."

 

HDMI is already a "necessity" to pass the audio from a Blu-ray player to an A/V receiver, unless one takes the analog outputs from the player.

 

Since it is limited in ultimate quality, I think it will remain limited to A/V receivers and perhaps a future DAC or two with performance that would ultimately be similar to an A/V receiver.

 

Licensing fees aside (and I believe they are not insignificant), I don't see any designers of state of the art gear being motivated to put their name on a device that would be limited by the input signal. Than again, at less stratospheric levels of quality, as we've already seen with other not-so-good protocols, where there is an opportunity for commerce, some will step forward to satisfy the "demand".

 

As I mentioned, I looked into Blu-ray and decided against putting out any high res Soundkeeper product in that format precisely because the audio is hamstrung right out of the gate.

 

Best regards,

Barry

www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

 

[soundslikemusic]

for $500 or less, the Halide is a steal for what it does especially if the DAC doesn't have a USB interface!

Some USB cables cost more than the Halide...

 

[rwwear]

That may be true for Macs Barry but not everyone uses a Mac and I personally don't like them. I may consider one for computer audio though. Firewire may be great but it is hardly used at all anymore as everything is going to HDMI in the audio video world. It's only a matter of time before no uses Firewire except Apple. Anyone who builds a DAC is really limiting it's viability by not adding HDMI as well USB. Most higher end Bluray players are adding two HDMI outs so one can be used for audio and the other for video. So does DVDO with their scalers. I realize this is a computer audio forum but if I get a new DAC I will not just be using it with a computer.

 

Regards

Robt.

 

[bdiament]

Hi Rob,

 

That may be true for Macs Barry but not everyone uses a Mac and I personally don't like them. I may consider one for computer audio though. Firewire may be great but it is hardly used at all anymore as everything is going to HDMI in the audio video world. It's only a matter of time before no uses Firewire except Apple. Anyone who builds a DAC is really limiting it's viability by not adding HDMI as well USB. Most higher end Bluray players are adding two HDMI outs so one can be used for audio and the other for video. So does DVDO with their scalers. I realize this is a computer audio forum but if I get a new DAC I will not just be using it with a computer."

 

Isn't this thread about the "best interface for Mac computer to DAC"?

 

Even if it wasn't, I prefer to let the overall DAC performance determine which interface I choose. The converters I personally find to be the most transparent to their input (a characteristic I deem important in my own listening and absolutely critical for my work) happen to use Firewire. (If they used cotton string, that would be my favorite protocol. ;-})

 

As to limiting a DAC's "viability" by not including HDMI or USB (both interface protocols I find inferior for my purposes), it would depend on how one defines "viability". Certainly, I'd agree if the number of potential customers is the definition. But if instead, it is defined as what works at the highest levels of performance, my feeling is HDMI and USB are as important as an integrated telephone.

 

Granted, it would seem that implementations of Firewire on non-Mac computers do not appear to be as trouble-free.

 

And all that said, not all of my favorite converters use Firewire. However, my top choices all do.

 

If this thread was about the best interface PCs to DACs, my response would be essentially the same (perhaps minus Firewire): I choose the DAC by its overall performance (for me, that would be output that provides the best match to input); the interface will be determined by what that DAC uses. (There are plenty of not-so-good Firewire DACs that work with Macs.) Similarly, I don't really care about the internal parts, e.g. what chips are used. It is only the overall performance I'm concerned with.

 

But that's just me. I recognize that we all have our own preferences and our own priorities.

 

Best regards,

Barry

www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

 

[Paul R]

The Musical Fidelity V-Link performs very well indeed, in some cases, I even prefer it to the more expensive Halide Bridge - and that's with an $8 Belkin Gold USB cable.

 

I believe it has a Class-A rating with Stereophile, which may or may not mean much to you.

 

-Paul

 

P.S. It also has an optical output, which comes in handy if you want, for instance to feed the signal back into a computer for any reason.

 

[hafjell]

Is that a type of cable?

 

[Leigh Hibbins]

The 8GB refers to RAM. The theory is that the more RAM the better for music servers. I did try a Mac Mini (previous version to current Mac Mini) with 4GB of RAM and 2.53 GHz processor. It did not sound as refined as my MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM and 3.06 GHz. Whether this is reflection of the greater RAM I don't know. There are so many variables in computer audio. The best thing is to simply try something and hear if it sounds better.

 

[der_bothaus]

It is a reflection of the return for the money you just spent. More ram never makes a computer faster unless you are constantly paging out to the hard disk. I makes it, for lack of a better word, deeper.

Smaller well tuned allotments usually are the fastest (= Best, I guess). If you need 8GB to load up audio in memory I guess I could see that but it would never change the sound of your rig. Amarra will eat RAM but only up to maybe 2GB for the largest files and it flushes between loads if you are using cache mode. If you overload your computer and start having glitches in streams then more memory will help your "sound".

 

[barrows]

Pure Music in memory playback, and you want to play gapless classical titles at 24/192, you will absolutely need more than 4 Gb of RAM. I have 4 GB of RAM, and it is certainly not enough for this.

This may be controversial, but some believe that high amounts of RAM will also contribute to better sound, apparently this is attributed to the computer then using the real memory rather than virtual memory. Most people who have tried adding RAM have reported playback improvements from doing so, and there is no question in my mind that memory play in Pure Music sounds better than playing back from the hard disc.

 

[der_bothaus]

Hey, no question regarding ram vs HDD playback. My point was if you have enough memory to not starve your current playback setup, throwing more in will not change the sound as you never use it. The issue is starting to defy digital laws. Unless of course your software never recoups the memory and once it is full you hover around 32MB free at all times. Plenty of memory leaks out there. More memory is never really a bad thing unless you are a professional cpu overclocker. I can't argue against anyones opinion I just know there is nothing in the box that would contribute to better sound because of more memory, if, you did not require it in the first place. In your case you sound like you need it for the high rez files you are playing.

 

[hafjell]

After a lot of thought I'm sticking with my Duet DAC and upgrading with Cardas 1/4" to RCA adapters and cables from Mike Morrow. I was going to have Mike build me a custom breakout cable (15 pin to RCA) which would be the most elegant I think. But after talking with Apogee it appears the Duet 15 pin connector is different from the pin connection on the Duet2. I'm planning on upgrading in a year, and can't justify the cost of a custom cable for something I plan to sell.

 

I'm relieved to have made the decision even if I went lower-budget than I was hoping. Ah, reality.

 

Next step will be to upgrade the cords from the external HD to the iMac and from the iMac to the Duet...

 

 

 

[HiFiInsider]

Apogee has a breakout box with xlr for the Duet 2, but it's not on the streets yet. I plan to get it.

 

I feel that the Duet 2 is a bargain for what you get in sound.

 

[hafjell]

Yeah, I saw that. Looks great but maybe more than I need. From your nickname it appears you might benefit from the box as you travel with the Duet. Mine is just sitting on my desk next to the computer.