Best way to connect PC to DAC?

payneinthe

I settled on the Parasound Halo P5 for my pre/DAC needs. Now, I need to figure out how to get music from my PC to the P5. My PC doesn't have an spdif output, so the options seem to be 50' of toslink or a toslink->spdif converter and then 50' of digital coax. Which is the better option? Are there PCI cards that do spdif out? I don't need a full blown sound card with its own D/A. I just need a digital out that doesn't suck too bad.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Why not just use the USB input on the Halo? I'm not sure how good the converter on the Halo is, but that's certainly where I'd start unless you need higher than 96khz playback.

Looking at the DAC chip they used, my guess that's going to be a bigger limitation than the USB receiver chip.

payneinthe

Given the layout of the room, the run from PC->P5 needs to go through the attic. It'll be at least 35', probably over 40'. Not a great fit for USB. I could probably do some sort of active USB cable, but it seems that digital coax or toslink is probably better at handling that length a run.

EndersShadow

Look at a Squeezebox Touch. Wireless. Might be bitrate limited and you'd have to have a Coaxial or SPDIF input on the P5 (not sure if it does).

tonyb

Do you have a router ? Stream it baby. That long of runs isn't good in any scenario. What you use to stream will depend on how high of rez you want to use for music files.

tonyb

This is sweet, for streaming higher rez too and has 2tb of storage.

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/media-servers-olive-media-products-one-name-your-own-price-olive-one-hd-music-player-2014-12-09-computer-audio-94129-san-francisco-ca

If you can live with simple cd quality of your lossless files.....Sonos. Plug the digital output of the sonos into your P5, attach a bridge to your router, done.

payneinthe

Sounds cool but I'm already $1k over budget on this setup :-)

tonyb

I'm thinking Cat 5 cable might be your best bet on long runs.

payneinthe

By cat5 I assume you mean some sort of network streaming device. Any recommendations?

tonyb

No, I mean cat5 cable which is extremely good for long runs.

payneinthe

What kind of signal are we transmitting over this cat5? I've still got the issue that the PC only has toslink output.

tonyb

You want to transmit audio don't ya ? Cat5 can be used for audio or video and is what a lot of people use when wiring up a whole house from scratch. It's a data cable much like USB. Google is your friend. I suppose you could use an adapter like this...
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Optical-Toslink-Fiber-Extender/dp/B00AUKJGBY

I'm no guru on computer cables or USB, but for a 40 ft run of USB cable you need a toslink to usb converter and maybe some kind of signal booster or active cable like you said.

Still think streaming it is your best option though. A used squeezebox can be had for under 2 bones.

polkfarmboy

Toslink wont get you 192 so I would use a squeezebox duet.

tonyb

payneinthe wrote: »

Sounds cool but I'm already $1k over budget on this setup :-)

So the cost of the Parasound put you over budget ? LOL....with no thought on the cost to get the signal to it ? Just askin' is all.

payneinthe

Yeah, well, sort of. Wife approved yet another budget overrun to get PFB's squeezebox touch so we're all good now

payneinthe

For now, I'm enjoying the vinyl, but when I'm working it'd be nice to be able to use tidal to stream some music without having to get up every 22 minutes to flip the record

tonyb

payneinthe wrote: »

Yeah, well, sort of. Wife approved yet another budget overrun to get PFB's squeezebox touch so we're all good now

Excellent bro, congrats....you know it's the only logical solution anyway.