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Post by bigred7078 on Jul 9, 2009 17:00:31 GMT -5
So get a squeezebox or similar and connect to the emo dac , have everything in lossless and I should have good/high quality sound right ? yup you got it
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Post by idiotec on Jul 9, 2009 18:42:30 GMT -5
I am not sure if I missed it, but is this DAC capable of 24/96 or 24/192?
I just started experimenting with some hi-rez downloads and they are some of the first digital I have heard that can compete with my turntable. It has peaked my interest so a nice hi-rez DAC for a reasonable price would be very tempting.
BTW, I like the smaller form factor.
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jlafrenz
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Post by jlafrenz on Jul 9, 2009 19:09:33 GMT -5
192
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Post by littlesaint on Jul 9, 2009 19:22:26 GMT -5
I am not sure if I missed it, but is this DAC capable of 24/96 or 24/192? I just started experimenting with some hi-rez downloads and they are some of the first digital I have heard that can compete with my turntable. It has peaked my interest so a nice hi-rez DAC for a reasonable price would be very tempting. BTW, I like the smaller form factor. How are you going to get it there? That is, from whatever source you're using to the DAC.
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Post by robin on Jul 9, 2009 20:16:03 GMT -5
How are you going to get it there? That is, from whatever source you're using to the DAC. SPDIF would be the most common way. But hopefully it will support 24/96 over USB.
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Post by idiotec on Jul 9, 2009 21:42:45 GMT -5
How are you going to get it there? That is, from whatever source you're using to the DAC. Currently my only way is burning the files as DVD-A and playing through my Oppo. However, if I end up getting more into it, I would like to stream directly from a dedicated music server.
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Post by littlesaint on Jul 9, 2009 22:11:29 GMT -5
Getting anything above 24/96 over SPDIF or USB can be tricky with consumer gear. Even a lot of the pro stuff only supports 24/96.
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Post by soulrider4ever on Jul 9, 2009 22:45:15 GMT -5
So have you guys come up with a name for it yet? Emo Dac? Dac-E? eDac? Dacolisious? Dac that pwns other dacs at double the price point?
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Post by dreadpiratemarc on Jul 9, 2009 23:35:01 GMT -5
It can be done. I have a Edirol UA-101 USB audio interface (a pro-sumer external DAC + microphone pre-amp + headphone amp) that can do 6 channels of input and 6 channels of output simultaneously at 24/192. (10 channels each way at 24/96) And it's not terribly new or top-of-the-line. I use it for recording as well as remastering old real-to-real tapes into DVD-A, and it sounds good. I've never tried using it as a HT playback DAC, though. Could be interesting, I bet it's better than my Denon.
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Post by soulrider4ever on Jul 10, 2009 7:42:57 GMT -5
I'm sure those DAC's have proprietary drivers as well, I'm guessing Emo will be more 'plug and play' and will use built-in windows drivers, which may not allow for anything that high.
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Post by gocolts on Jul 10, 2009 12:35:01 GMT -5
Can't Blu-Ray players, at least some of them, output TrueHD and DTS HD MA via digital output in 2.0 channel format? If so, it seems like you could get such a Blu Ray player, use this DAC, and output it to a preamp, and have a way to get the high resolution audio formats in a 2-channel system. It seems like this would work for SACD too, since we're only talking about 2.0 channel.
The preamp could then do the analog base management, and you'd end up with 2.1 output of high resolution audio with a high quality DAC ensuring good quality.
For some reason I remember reading that HDMI transfer of these formats was due to bandwith limitations prohibiting surround sound, but we're just talking about 2 channels here...
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jlafrenz
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Post by jlafrenz on Jul 10, 2009 12:45:37 GMT -5
Can't Blu-Ray players, at least some of them, output TrueHD and DTS HD MA via digital output in 2.0 channel format? If so, it seems like you could get such a Blu Ray player, use this DAC, and output it to a preamp, and have a way to get the high resolution audio formats in a 2-channel system. It seems like this would work for SACD too, since we're only talking about 2.0 channel. The preamp could then do the analog base management, and you'd end up with 2.1 output of high resolution audio with a high quality DAC ensuring good quality. For some reason I remember reading that HDMI transfer of these formats was due to bandwith limitations prohibiting surround sound, but we're just talking about 2 channels here... New hi resolution audio can only be output over HDMI or analog cables. DAC's won't have HDMI and if you run analogs out of the player then there wouldn't be a need for a DAC since the conversion has already taken place.
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Post by gocolts on Jul 10, 2009 12:56:35 GMT -5
Can't Blu-Ray players, at least some of them, output TrueHD and DTS HD MA via digital output in 2.0 channel format? If so, it seems like you could get such a Blu Ray player, use this DAC, and output it to a preamp, and have a way to get the high resolution audio formats in a 2-channel system. It seems like this would work for SACD too, since we're only talking about 2.0 channel. The preamp could then do the analog base management, and you'd end up with 2.1 output of high resolution audio with a high quality DAC ensuring good quality. For some reason I remember reading that HDMI transfer of these formats was due to bandwith limitations prohibiting surround sound, but we're just talking about 2 channels here... New hi resolution audio can only be output over HDMI or analog cables. DAC's won't have HDMI and if you run analogs out of the player then there wouldn't be a need for a DAC since the conversion has already taken place. I was afraid of that. Maybe it was SACD that can be output via optical as long as it's only 2.0, but either way, it sounds like the best option then would be to go with a good Blu-Ray player that can do the DAC, such as the maybe the new Oppo, as opposed to getting an XDC-1. Although, I'd have to balance that against getting the XDC-1 and just using good 'ole 2 channel digital output from a cheap Blu-ray player. The ERC-1 seems to be doing wonders for CD playback in this regard, and with a similar DAC set to take place with this unit, this might make more sense than messing around trying to get downmixed hi-res stuff from a Blu ray player.
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jlafrenz
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Post by jlafrenz on Jul 10, 2009 13:00:50 GMT -5
SACD is either HDMI or analogs as well.
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Post by littlesaint on Jul 10, 2009 13:03:14 GMT -5
Can't Blu-Ray players, at least some of them, output TrueHD and DTS HD MA via digital output in 2.0 channel format? If so, it seems like you could get such a Blu Ray player, use this DAC, and output it to a preamp, and have a way to get the high resolution audio formats in a 2-channel system. It seems like this would work for SACD too, since we're only talking about 2.0 channel. The preamp could then do the analog base management, and you'd end up with 2.1 output of high resolution audio with a high quality DAC ensuring good quality. For some reason I remember reading that HDMI transfer of these formats was due to bandwith limitations prohibiting surround sound, but we're just talking about 2 channels here... Some of the players will downmix to 2Ch. Not sure it's still "high-resolution" and films are only 24/48 anyway, but why would you watch a Blu-ray in 2.1?
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Post by gocolts on Jul 10, 2009 13:45:39 GMT -5
^Because I'm building a dedicated 2.1 system in my living room, and if I choose to watch a concert Blu-ray or something there as opposed to going into my basement where my home theater is, I wondered what my best option would be. My wife wants a blu-ray player in there anyways to watch TV series and movies, so I figure I might as well do all I can with it for times when I want to use it.
Plus, it's a fun project to play with. The home theater is done until the XMC-1 comes out anyways...
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Post by iknowdoyou on Jul 10, 2009 15:22:02 GMT -5
I feel that I already know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway.
I've got 15k+ songs ripped to my media server, all in Apple Lossless. I currently use Apple's Airport Express to stream these to my home theater. It works great.
So I'm assuming that I would put the DAC in between the Airport Express and the preamp, but I've got a number of DTS-Audio CDs that are ripped. Since they are decoded at the processor, I would think that these won't be usable if a DAC is thrown in the loop.
Is that right? If so, how would I go about keeping the DTS functionality while using the DAC? Two Airport Express units - one for the CD audio (to the DAC) and one for the DTS audio (direct to preamp)?
Thanks,
Ryan
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Post by rockguitar on Jul 10, 2009 15:31:25 GMT -5
"So I'm assuming that I would put the DAC in between the Airport Express and the preamp, but I've got a number of DTS-Audio CDs that are ripped. Since they are decoded at the processor, I would think that these won't be usable if a DAC is thrown in the loop.
Is that right? If so, how would I go about keeping the DTS functionality while using the DAC? Two Airport Express units - one for the CD audio (to the DAC) and one for the DTS audio (direct to preamp)?" That's one of the reasons, why I suggested having a digital passthrough outputs on the DAC. The passthrough would connect to the pre-pro for formats not supported by the DAC but supported by the prepro (such as DD, DTS, etc). The passthrough would not help though with the full resolution of the latest High Rez surround sound modes associated with Blueray.
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Post by Mr. Ben on Jul 10, 2009 15:39:03 GMT -5
Can't Blu-Ray players, at least some of them, output TrueHD and DTS HD MA via digital output in 2.0 channel format? If so, it seems like you could get such a Blu Ray player, use this DAC, and output it to a preamp, and have a way to get the high resolution audio formats in a 2-channel system. It seems like this would work for SACD too, since we're only talking about 2.0 channel. The preamp could then do the analog base management, and you'd end up with 2.1 output of high resolution audio with a high quality DAC ensuring good quality. For some reason I remember reading that HDMI transfer of these formats was due to bandwith limitations prohibiting surround sound, but we're just talking about 2 channels here... New hi resolution audio can only be output over HDMI or analog cables. DAC's won't have HDMI and if you run analogs out of the player then there wouldn't be a need for a DAC since the conversion has already taken place. This is partially incorrect. SPDIF (digital optical/coax) can carry 2-channel 24bit/96Khz audio just fine, and many BluRay players, including my Panasonic, will downmix the TrueHD/DTS-MA audio to 2-channel 24bit/96khz for the SPDIF output. SACD can not be carried over SPDIF. Use analog. A simple 24bit/96khz capable 2-channel DAC and USP-1 type preamp is all you need for a good 2.1 setup. It will probably sound better than the XMC-1 too.
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Post by rockguitar on Jul 10, 2009 15:42:28 GMT -5
I'm sure those DAC's have proprietary drivers as well, I'm guessing Emo will be more 'plug and play' and will use built-in windows drivers, which may not allow for anything that high. How they implement the USB is going to be really interesting. The Benchmark DAC1 implements using USB 1.1 vs. the more recent USB 2.0. That allows the DAC to connect without the use of drivers but on the downside really limits the input the DAC can receive on the USB input. Also, USB seems to be tricky to implement properly. I remember when USB inputs were first used on DACs they were touted as being far superior because there is no jitter via USB. Of course these were only used on relatively expensive dacs at that time. However, reviews of recent DAC's implementing USB often indicate that they prefer the regular Toslink/Coax inputs (SPDIF) better than the USB. So not everyone is implementing to take full advantage of it's performance capabilities.
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