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DAC Input: Coaxial vs. Optical - Page 2

post #16 of 29
2/19/05 at 5:51am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Dangerous
I own a Meridian 566.24 DAC and had it modded by Empirical Audio to accept a USB input. The interface is a tweaked M-Audio Transit USB.
That sounds great. I'm pretty sure the future of digital audio is an asynchronous input (like USB or FireWire) to a DAC fed by a computer (or music server) acting as transport. I'd be really interested in a mod to the Benchmark DAC1 to give it USB input...I read at AudioAsylum that the Empirical Audio guy is looking into it (that means it will only cost $1000!).

But...I'm confused by something...if your DAC has a USB input, why aren't you hooking it up directly to your computer (rather than going through the M-Audio Transit)? And, for that matter, how does a USB signal go *through* a Transit? Sorry, I don't know much about that product.
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post #17 of 29
2/19/05 at 6:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrith
But...I'm confused by something...if your DAC has a USB input, why aren't you hooking it up directly to your computer (rather than going through the M-Audio Transit)? And, for that matter, how does a USB signal go *through* a Transit? Sorry, I don't know much about that product.
his DAC has a USB input now because of the modification (a modification that apparently uses the "M-Audio Transit USB" as a base platform).
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post #18 of 29
2/19/05 at 6:32am
The Benchmark DAC1 also seems to benefit greatly from better power conditioning.

Iron_dreamer and I will find out for sure soon.

-Ed
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post #19 of 29
2/19/05 at 3:17pm
Anything really benefits from power conditioning.

I think some DACs loose lock from power surges or something.
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post #20 of 29
2/19/05 at 3:33pm
Quote:
The Benchmark DAC1 also seems to benefit greatly from better power conditioning.
Yes, the DAC1 does benefit from power conditioning (I use the PS Audio P300) and it also benefits from lifting the ground (I removed the ground pin from the PS Audio Plus).
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post #21 of 29
2/19/05 at 11:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lan
Anything really benefits from power conditioning.
Indeed... I would never consider driving a high end piece of audio equipment with a standard power cord ever again .
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post #22 of 29
2/20/05 at 12:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zool
Indeed... I would never consider driving a high end piece of audio equipment with a standard power cord ever again .
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...s-12-2004.html

"The total number of correct answers was 73 out of 149, which amounts to 49% accuracy. That is no more accurate than flipping a coin, and therefore, no statistically significant detection of power cable differences."
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post #23 of 29
2/20/05 at 1:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by unfortunateson
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...s-12-2004.html

"The total number of correct answers was 73 out of 149, which amounts to 49% accuracy. That is no more accurate than flipping a coin, and therefore, no statistically significant detection of power cable differences."
Have you actually tested different power cords yourself and decided to link that thread based on your own opinion that expensive power cords are worthless? Or did you just want to point out that I don't really know what I'm talking about based on some stupid article?

I always value my personal experience higher then what anyone else has to say when it comes to audio equipment and Id take a blind test on my own equipment any day. I'll guarantee you a 100% result from me on that.

If I were to listen to a speaker setup that I didn't know of and hadn't spent a good time listening to before this test.. I couldn't guaranty you a 100% result.I can not personally answer for the specific cord and the equipment that was used in that article.. All I know is, the cord I use with my equipment _makes_ a difference.

Thats all I have to say about this ""
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post #24 of 29
2/20/05 at 1:50am
wow, looks like youve gone and gotten yourself upset over an very valid article that states the opposite of what you believe.

About the main topic, on any good system, there is no quality difference between using optical or coaxial. Optical can have problems if there are bends in the cord, and coaxial can have interference problems if not properly shielded.
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post #25 of 29
2/20/05 at 1:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by unfortunateson
wow, looks like youve gone and gotten yourself upset over an very valid article that states the opposite of what you believe.

About the main topic, on any good system, there is no quality difference between using optical or coaxial. Optical can have problems if there are bends in the cord, and coaxial can have interference problems if not properly shielded.
Heh, you've completely misunderstood me buddy.. It's not the article thats upsetting me, it's ignorant people like you.. I judge you haven't had any experience at all with higher quality power cords yourself since you didn't bother to answer that... So base your meaningless opinion on an article without really knowing anything about this at all. Please do, I don't really care .
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post #26 of 29
2/20/05 at 2:53am
whatever you need to justify your purchase.
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post #27 of 29
2/20/05 at 3:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by unfortunateson
whatever you need to justify your purchase.
I believe this discussion is now over.. Since you clearly have no more "clever" comments to add. I will end this by saying I had full money back guaranty on the power cords I purchased and this is the only reason I bought them since I was just as sceptical as you are before I actually noticed the difference myself.
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post #28 of 29
2/20/05 at 3:26am
Nick: What would the cost be to have a common DAC (let's say the Dack) be converted to support USB or FireWire? Is it even possible on "all" DACs, or only those with certain circuitry configurations?
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post #29 of 29
2/21/05 at 8:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zool
Have you actually tested different power cords yourself and decided to link that thread based on your own opinion that expensive power cords are worthless? Or did you just want to point out that I don't really know what I'm talking about based on some stupid article?

I always value my personal experience higher then what anyone else has to say when it comes to audio equipment and Id take a blind test on my own equipment any day. I'll guarantee you a 100% result from me on that.

If I were to listen to a speaker setup that I didn't know of and hadn't spent a good time listening to before this test.. I couldn't guaranty you a 100% result.I can not personally answer for the specific cord and the equipment that was used in that article.. All I know is, the cord I use with my equipment _makes_ a difference.
Good answer!
In regard to speaker wires/interconnects/power cords/etc., there's been other naysayers in these forums that have posted statistics on how there can't be any audible differences in cabling blah blah blah, but yet they themselves have had little or no personal experience trying out different cabling in their own systems. Or if they do claim to have tried different cabling in their sytems, when you ask them to name the types and brands of componants in their systems they won't tell you, because their systems consist of low-res items - and I'm not knocking low-res - it's just that to hear differences in cabling for the most part you need a system capable of resolving those differences.
It's kind of telling that unfortunateson, when challenged by zool to name his personal experiences with power cables, refuses to do so. Why would that be? (For the answer see explaination above.)
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