Hopstretch Posted April 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 So the bottleneck in most USB DACs would be the receiver chip rather than the protocol? Speeding off topic, is it silly for me to make a fetish of USB or FireWire connectivity anyway when I could just run optical from my iMac and enjoy both hi-rez capability and a far larger choice of DACs, vintage and modern? I guess I just have it in my head -- for no substantive reason -- that toslink sucks and should be avoided where possible. Is there anything to that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreadhead Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 So the bottleneck in most USB DACs would be the receiver chip rather than the protocol? Speeding off topic, is it silly for me to make a fetish of USB or FireWire connectivity anyway when I could just run optical from my iMac and enjoy both hi-rez capability and a far larger choice of DACs, vintage and modern? I guess I just have it in my head -- for no substantive reason -- that toslink sucks and should be avoided where possible. Is there anything to that? Go with toslink and a upsampling/jitter removing dac and you're just fine. I prefer it because there is nothing conductive betweent he noisy ground of the computer and the DAC. On my DAC1 you could hear the ground noise with very sensitive phones but through toslink it was dead quiet. YMMV with the amount of ground noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morphsci Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 I prefer the optical connection between my MAC Mini and the DACMagic compared to the USB connection. Didn't do a DBT but listened back and forth for a few days and settled on the optical. The USB always sounded a little "fuzzy" compared to the optical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 So the bottleneck in most USB DACs would be the receiver chip rather than the protocol? Speeding off topic, is it silly for me to make a fetish of USB or FireWire connectivity anyway when I could just run optical from my iMac and enjoy both hi-rez capability and a far larger choice of DACs, vintage and modern? I guess I just have it in my head -- for no substantive reason -- that toslink sucks and should be avoided where possible. Is there anything to that?Correct. Yes. No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopstretch Posted April 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Correct. Yes. No. I. Thank. You. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aimless1 Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 I prefer the optical connection between my MAC Mini and the DACMagic compared to the USB connection. Didn't do a DBT but listened back and forth for a few days and settled on the optical. The USB always sounded a little "fuzzy" compared to the optical. This was my experience as well. Swapped USB & optical cables from the macbook to the DAC3. Optical seemed more resolving and the USB had an edgy or grainy quality. But no DBT here either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopstretch Posted May 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smeggy Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 How is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icarium Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 seems to be 96/100? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voltron Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Yeah, looks nice there but what does it sound like?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopstretch Posted May 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Gimme a minute! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voltron Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 NO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smeggy Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 no, get writing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grawk Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 update every 18 seconds with your updated impressions, we must know how it burns in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smeggy Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Is it done yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreadhead Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 NO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Wow, it goes 85 past 11! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aardvark baguette Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk20/allyourpicsarebelongtous/IMG_0185.jpg You little fucking sneak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreadhead Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 You little fucking sneak You're surprised? I'm not he still gets a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voltron Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 My friendly local Ayre dealer says they're getting one in any day now and would be happy to lend it to me for a week to try out at home. So, woot! You little fucking sneak He wasn't exactly stealthy about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cclragnarok Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Please do give us some listening impressions. If possible, I would also like to see some pics of the internals. I want to know what DAC chips they decided to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopstretch Posted May 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 OK, it makes fucking Duet salad. I need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aardvark baguette Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 He wasn't exactly stealthy about it. Yeah, but he just posted a picture when it arrived; he didnt even warm up to it at all. Just sprung it on me. Like this http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3642/3510706919_86a84c1cf3.jpg?v=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopstretch Posted May 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Like I'm going to click that! Anyway, aside from the sound, which on first listen is very, very good, the USB implementation seems to be solid. I'm currently listening through the DAC while simultaneously syncing an iPhone and backing up to an external USB drive -- with no bus noise at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aardvark baguette Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Like I'm going to click that! Its pretty tame. Safe for work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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