New to DACs

deronb1

Going to get an external hard drive with about 1800 CDs on it courtesy of THJ. What would be a good DAC to hook up the hard drive to, then to the AVR? Under 500 bucks

tonyb

Sort of a loaded question there.....all depends. What sound signature are you looking for....whats the associated gear ?

Some like the Cambridge Dac Magic, Arcam RDac, Peachtree, Musical fidelity, the list can go on.....I'm assuming used of course....or new ?

I'm using a Cary Xciter with great results.

deronb1

Probably used. Maybe new, if it is reasonable. Just want something to hook up to the AVR that will read the hard drive and allow me to get to whatever album or song I want to listen to. Onk AVR, B&W CDM 1nt or Dali Mentor speakers

deronb1

Is the pio elite dv 50 dac any good? 399.00 on newegg

hochpt21

I've heard good things about literally all the dacs Tony mentioned.

I've read that the arcam is a little more correct/digital sounding and the peachtree is a little softer but I haven't heard any of the units.

deronb1

Tony's recommendations are always top notch. I have to be budget minded with the latst fiasco of melting the woofers on the Dali's My system is modest at best and since THJ has generously offered to share the hard work he put in to ripping 1500 plus CDs, I would love to enjoy all tht music and not break the bank.

AsSiMiLaTeD

You probably need to explain better what you're trying to do. Are you wanting to play music directly from the external hard drive hooked up to the DAC, or wanting to go thru a computer? How do you intend to control playback?

If you're going through a computer than there are plenty of USB DACs on that market and Tony already suggested several.

However, if you're wanting to play directly from a hard drive that's a different story. I don't think anything Tony mentioned will read a hard drive. You don't just need a DAC, you need a DAC with the ability to read from a hard drive, there aren't a ton of those around. You would basically need the DAC to be able to read from the hard drive and also have network connectivity because you would need some type of interface to control playback, very likely on a phone or tablet.

Keep in mind that just a regular USB DAC won't do what you want. Even though you likely have a USB hard drive the DAC won't read that, the USB indication on most DACs means it will receive and decode a USB signal sent by a computer.

Any decent DAC with the ability to play back from a drive is gonna set you back a few bucks. You'd want something like the Oppo 105 to do that, it's a player, streamer and DAC and is a fantastic sounding device.

polkfarmboy

I have a musical fidelity M1 SDAC that has the external bluetooth antenna for mobile devices. They retail for $1500 and mine is only used on a couple occasions and its still brand new in silver, I would sell you that for $600, its silver and I have had offers of $690 that I declined on ebay because it was out of the country. It has a really great preamp section with its own volume control and a very good headphone section, MF makes some very good stuff but I just bought the ps audio direct DAC the other day.

Its a really great unit and you wont find a high end DAC thats new for cheaper, here is some info and a picture of it......

The Musical Fidelity M1-SDAC is the ideal digital front-end and full-featured preamplifier for today's audiophile and music lover. The M1-SDAC combines a wide selection of digital and analog inputs, each coupled with Musical Fidelity's legendary engineering to deliver a startling level of musical realism and stunning detail. Building on a long line of Musical Fidelity DACs, the M1 SDAC uses experience gained over the last 25 years to deliver world-class audio performance from any input. In its role as a preamplifier it is the ideal hub for any music system and is suited to a whole host of source components. Mate this piece with the matching M1 PWR and you'll have an amazing full-featured, 21st Century system that can handle any digital or analog source.

The M1 SDAC's USB and Bluetooth connectivity make it the perfect partner for any of your mobile and computer-based music sources, each treated with a level of care and precision rarely found in any other HiFi equipment. Conventional sources are also well catered for, be they analog or digital in nature. As the perfect partner for the M1 PWR Power Amp the M1 SDAC is sure to delight it’s owners for many years to come, delivering countless hours of musical pleasure.

Design and Build
The M1 SDAC is based around a 32 bit DAC and sample converter of exceptional quality. This circuitry offers conversion at sample rates up to and including 192kHz meaning it can accept the very best, high sample-rate material available today. Its fully asynchronous USB input is designed to deliver exceptional quality at all sample rates and from all file types. It is perfectly suited for computers running Windows, Mac OS X or Linux. The Bluetooth wireless input has been designed to deliver the very best audio quality from mobile devices and uses the aptX system for stunning sound quality over the entire audio band. It is backwards compatible with previous Bluetooth implementations making it a perfect partner for a wide range of portable and computer sources.

Further digital connections can be made via S/PDIF Coax or Toslink Optical cables or, for ultimate performance, by AES/EBU digital audio using an XLR connector. Both the S/PDIF Coax and AES/EBU inputs are capable of accepting the 24bit / 192kHz digital data provided by the very best of modern recordings. The inclusion of a clean, ultra low distortion preamp stage and a pair of conventional analogue inputs (on RCA/Phono connectors) means the M1 SDAC is equally at home with more traditional sources. Outputs are offered in both analogue and digital formats, each being designed with the utmost care and with components of exceptional quality. Full infrared remote control and 12v trigger connections mean the M1-SDAC is ready for inclusion in the very best of audio systems.

deronb1

Want to hook up an external hard drive directly to a dac. The onk would serve as thepre. Optimlly, would love to have the capability of using my android as an interface

polkfarmboy

Here is a picture and if your not into it then let me know as I would not want to sell it for more if a fellow polkie was into it.

Sorry I should have revised and edited the price, its $580 and I pay the first $10 towards shipping so it would only cost just over $5.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I am fairly certain that won't do what he needs, play music directly from an attached drive.

polkfarmboy

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

I am fairly certain that won't do what he needs, play music directly from an attached drive.

Oh ok good to know as I can entertain other offersand will scratch D off the list for dbs.

BlueFox

He needs a file player with a built-in DAC. The December 2014 issue of The Absolute Sound reviews the Lumin A1 with a solid aluminum chassis that will do what he wants. It is only $7200. For $5000 you can get the same electronics in a stock metal chassis. Enjoy.

blehmbo

If you're open to integrating a laptop/PC into your setup (doesn't have to be a stellar computer) you could use it + a USB dac to play files off the hard drive. JRiver ($50) is a great media player and it has an app/remote that allows you to control playback with an android device. I'm not sure if you would see all of the benefits of an external DAC if the signal is going back into an AVR.

WLDock

deronb1 wrote: »

Probably used. Maybe new, if it is reasonable. Just want something to hook up to the AVR that will read the hard drive and allow me to get to whatever album or song I want to listen to. Onk AVR, B&W CDM 1nt or Dali Mentor speakers

Which Onkyo AVR do you have? Is it a network model? If so, your all set as they are DLNA capable . Can stream from your PC or a USB drive plugged into the AVR....or maybe even one of those networked/cloud hard drives.

deronb1

WLDock wrote: »

deronb1 wrote: »

Probably used. Maybe new, if it is reasonable. Just want something to hook up to the AVR that will read the hard drive and allow me to get to whatever album or song I want to listen to. Onk AVR, B&W CDM 1nt or Dali Mentor speakers

Which Onkyo AVR do you have? Is it a network model? If so, your all set as they are DLNA capable . Can stream from your PC or a USB drive plugged into the AVR....or maybe even one of those networked/cloud hard drives.

Older model from '07 TX-SR 875

tonyb

Do you have wifi....or is your computer close to the stereo ?

tonyb

BlueFox wrote: »

He needs a file player with a built-in DAC. The December 2014 issue of The Absolute Sound reviews the Lumin A1 with a solid aluminum chassis that will do what he wants. It is only $7200. For $5000 you can get the same electronics in a stock metal chassis. Enjoy.

Fox, I think he's a tad more budget minded than 5k.lol

Wouldn't the Musical fidelity clic do for what he needs ? I know someone here is using one.

If your computer is close to the stereo, or if your using a laptop that's wifi, you can get away with just a dac, a budget dac too. You can even use the digital inputs on your AVR to get started....however that may not be the best solution for sound quality. If you have no computer at all, then you'll need a server/dac which will run more coinage.

deronb1

tonyb wrote: »

Do you have wifi....or is your computer close to the stereo ?

Have wi-fi, but just a desktop not close to stereo. Desktop is wi-fi adapted, but too far away probably to have any kind of SQ. Just looking for something to hook up a formatted hard drive to, where I can access the music. I was thinking my Sony Bluray might work as it has a USB input and can play SACD. Not really sure though.

tonyb

The distance your computer is from the stereo means squat for sound quality. You hook up the external hard drive to the computer and let the router send the signal to a receiving device at the stereo.

That receiving device can be many things. A wifi connected BDP, receiver, dac/server unit, laptop, etc.

A formatted storage device needs something to play it, a computer or audio device with those capabilities. Are you wanting to buy and download music files off the internet or wanting to just download your cd's into a storage device to play on the stereo ....or both ?

deronb1

tonyb wrote: »

The distance your computer is from the stereo means squat for sound quality. You hook up the external hard drive to the computer and let the router send the signal to a receiving device at the stereo.

That receiving device can be many things. A wifi connected BDP, receiver, dac/server unit, laptop, etc.

A formatted storage device needs something to play it, a computer or audio device with those capabilities. Are you wanting to buy and download music files off the internet or wanting to just download your cd's into a storage device to play on the stereo ....or both ?

Im going to have a hard drive with a ton of FLAC files on it in the near future. Stand alone, self powered hard drive in a case.

tonyb

Ok, then you have a storage device, you have wifi and can use the computer as a server, like Jrivers and such, so how about this.....

A squeezebox touch. They have decent dacs in them already, can play up to 24/96 files, and right now I see one on the 'gon for 250. Heck, for that price you can also buy a used dac and still stay close to budget.
Like this one....

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/da-converters-micromega-mydac-demo-unit-2014-11-10-digital-02138-cambridge-ma

deronb1

tonyb wrote: »

Ok, then you have a storage device, you have wifi and can use the computer as a server, like Jrivers and such, so how about this.....

A squeezebox touch. They have decent dacs in them already, can play up to 24/96 files, and right now I see one on the 'gon for 250. Heck, for that price you can also buy a used dac and still stay close to budget.
Like this one....

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/da-converters-micromega-mydac-demo-unit-2014-11-10-digital-02138-cambridge-ma

Ok, so the files are upstairs with my desktop. My computer would have to be on with the appropriate software running to read the files and then the squeezbox would allow me to surf through the titles?

tonyb

Basically, yes. But the squeezebox can access those files while your on another area of the computer. In other words, you can still be surfing the internet and the SB will still access all your files at the same time. Something like Jrivers will show up on the SB screen and you then scroll around to the music you want.

Another option is a Sonos unit. You can add a controller on your android for free too. These come with less stellar dacs than the SB touch, they'll only do 16/44 files,but they set up their own wifi and their software is top notch. You can then add a dac to upsample those files. Really an easy as pie setup. Many of us here use a Sonos with good results including myself. You won't even know it's running on your computer either. You do whatever you want on the computer and the Sonos will do it's thing without you even knowing....if you don't want to that is.

deronb1

That sounds pretty cool. I will research it further. Thanks.

deronb1

If the squeezebox will do FLAC, I wouldn't see the need to upsample right?

tonyb

That all depends on whats doing the upsampling Skip. Though I would agree that a native form is more desirable, but then it comes down to splitting hairs. If the OP has a boat load of cd's on an external drive in a lossless format, The Sonos would do just fine with those.

Many dacs on their own these days upsample. Good or bad as upsampling is, I personally take it on a case by case basis as some do exceptionally well with upsampling while others it's pretty apparent from the sound where they cut costs.

deronb1

DSkip wrote: »

My DAC upsamples and it always sounds worse. Now, the sound is very, very comparable, but nonetheless, it does sound worse than its native format.

The squeezebox should be all you need AFAIK. I have no experience with them, but I do believe the hype with them and FLAC is just lossless CD quality.

I'm fine with that. Most CDs sound just fine on my system. I like the idea of having a ton of music at my disposal that I can access easily

tonyb

deronb1 wrote: »

DSkip wrote: »

My DAC upsamples and it always sounds worse. Now, the sound is very, very comparable, but nonetheless, it does sound worse than its native format.

The squeezebox should be all you need AFAIK. I have no experience with them, but I do believe the hype with them and FLAC is just lossless CD quality.

I'm fine with that. Most CDs sound just fine on my system. I like the idea of having a ton of music at my disposal that I can access easily

Then the SB Touch or the Sonos is up your alley, both will do cd quality flac/lossless without a hitch. Plus you'll be able to easily create playlists, subscribe to music services, and get free radio stations from literally every country around the globe.

The SB Touch isn't being made anymore though, so support and software may lag a bit. Sonos however continues to upgrade software making it as easy as "a caveman can do it". Seriously....no joke. Go to their site and watch a few video's. I was skeptical at first too, but now, the wife would trade me before the Sonos.

deronb1

Ha! Ding, Ding, Ding! Sounds like we have a winner! Thanks Tony

tonyb

Your welcome bro...this thing will change the way you listen to music.

BTW....depending on your android phone, if you want a bigger screen just pop for a cheap android tablet which can be found anywhere under 100 bucks. Download the free controller app from google play and you turn your tablet into a nice big remote for the sonos.

All you need is a zp90 and a bridge. Plug the bridge into your router, the zp90 into your receiver and your golden. Now of course to make things better, insert a dac between the zp90 and receiver, but you don't have to off the bat. You can use a digital coax and go into the receiver or analog RCA interconnects into the receiver. Your external storage device is hooked up to the computer and the sonos software which gets downloaded on the 'puter. Any problems feel free to give me a yell. Your gonna dig it bro.