Re: DAC music streamers.

rgbyhkr — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:36:48 GMT

Hi Sandy,

While only your own ears can tell you if the result is an improvement, I think the chances of you having success with a USB DAC vs the analog mini jack are pretty high. Computer internals are often very noisy environments and most computer manufacturers aren't placing a high priority on the isolation of the soundcard from other components which can introduce signal noise. In addition, the quality of the D/A conversion may not be great because most PC maunfacturers are also outfitting their machines with cheap audio circuitry.

If you're willing to dive into the details, my suggestion would be to spend a bit of time on a site that specializes in computer audio playback. My personal favorite is one called Computer Audiophile. In addition to equipment and software reviews, they have a very active forum, with one of the most active sub-forums being the one covering DACs. Here are links to both:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/Forums/Equipment/DAC-Digital-Analog-Conversion

A word of warning here though is that this category of discusison is a wormhole that can suck you in way beyond where you ever intended to go at first. So, if you find yourself spending hours digging through, don't say I didn't warn you!

As to your mention of HRT, they do a very good job and have been establishing themselves as a serious player in this space. That being said, there are tons of options out there with more coming out each month. The DAC space has seen a huge revitalization in the last few years and many companies are focusing on computer DACs given the trend towards computers as audio sources.

Jeff

DAC music streamers.

rfc1 — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 06:33:38 GMT

I play quite a lot of music from my PC (spotify etc) through my beomaster 6500 using beolab 6000's. I use a cable supplied by sounds heavenly, mini headphone jack on pc to a powerlinkplug to aux on beomaster.

I have been wondering if it is worthwhile to buy one of the many DAC units on the market such as HRT music streamer to enhance the sound. Can anyone tell me if the quality is much improved or indeed any reccomendatiions as to what to buy??

Thanks Sandy

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Re: DAC music streamers.

DAC music streamers.