where to upsample?

[acvtre]

Hi everybody, I'm considering to build on my own a music server with linux voyage.

One of the problems that I am bothering now is: where to upsample?

Let's see the problem.

I read all the cics documents about the upsampling and it really convinced me about the utility of it, BUT this would mean that I would have to use a cmp2 compliant server, with intel i3 etc etc, and it gets expensive, about 1000€, not that much, but for a student it's like 1 billion dollar.

 

A cheaper solution would consist in using a alix board, designed for linux voyage, but I would need a good dac for the upsampling, so all the money would go there.

 

So here is my question: which one do you think is better?:

- use a cpu for the upsampling plus soundcard, in order to have I/V conversion

- use a digital transport (alix and voyage) plus a powerful dac?

 

My opinion is that a cpu would be so much better because you could choose the type of upsampling (src, sox) and other stuff, BUT it's also true that a standalone dac has a chip completely dedicated to do that...so actuallly I haven't got an answer.

 

[BobH]

...you are going to buy and then make a decision based on the architecture of the dac. If your chosen dac always changes the input data, then there will be nothing to be gained by you doing it first!

 

I possess a NOS dac that will accept up to 24/96, which I use as a test bed for just this sort of thing. My own experience is that I have never liked the results of upsampling in software on the computer. At the end of the day, all that can be done is to add redundent data and/or add a load of guestimates. Neither solution is elegant, whether it is done on the computer or in the dac. If it is required by, and done by, your dac, however, then there is a fair chance that some prior thought will have gone into its implementation.

 

IMHO, upsampling 16/44 material yields nothing more than bigger files. Hopefully someone will be along shortly to completely disagree with me and provide you with the opposing view - there always is one!

 

[acvtre]

I personally disagree about your last sentence...there are tons of technical sheets about how the upsampling improves the sound, it obviously depends on the quality of it, and how the NOS tech is not that good and before buying I want to be sure at least on the tech side.

This doesn't mean that something technically good it is also practically, but I listened to a NOS dac and I didn't like it.

 

Did you do the upsampling with a pc appropriately tweaked for audio use? Because that would do a big difference.

 

However, thanks for your opinion.