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portable dac - Page 3

post #31 of 44
12/18/08 at 11:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens View Post
Yeah, USB works pretty well though, plenty good for a portable rig.
I've had very mixed results with USB.

When it works it's of course indistinguishable from other digital sources of equivalent bandwidth, etc. But I have often had pops and interruptions and other noises when feeding a DAC via USB, which I believe to be due to buffer underflows and interruptions to the digital stream from other operating system and application tasks, even under very light load. I've experienced this on a series of beefy Windows laptops (fast newish ThinkPads with plenty of RAM, etc.) over several years, with a series of versions of XP and several players, with and without ASIO4ALL, etc. I put too much time into this and finally gave up and switched to a Mac, running XP in a VM for work and iTunes on the OS X side for music.

I chose the Ultra Micro DAC about a year ago because it has an optical in.
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post #32 of 44
12/19/08 at 6:28am
Thread Starter 
HEllo everyone, Cool, i did not know the ultra micro had optical, i thought iut ha donly usb input. I am very sorry if some people took myq uestion in the wrong way, it was only meant as a recommendation from a headroom product owner who is pretty happy with her current home setup. I also had some usb-issues with one of myh laptops but thats fixed now. I think the format of the desktop is ideal, i do not think i would want something larger for at home but then my desk is overcrowded as it is. There can be said a lot for and agaionst all-in-one solutions. For my desktop at least i think its ideal.
Greetings, Anouk,
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post #33 of 44
12/19/08 at 11:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by royewest View Post
I've had very mixed results with USB.

When it works it's of course indistinguishable from other digital sources of equivalent bandwidth, etc. But I have often had pops and interruptions and other noises when feeding a DAC via USB, which I believe to be due to buffer underflows and interruptions to the digital stream from other operating system and application tasks, even under very light load. I've experienced this on a series of beefy Windows laptops (fast newish ThinkPads with plenty of RAM, etc.) over several years, with a series of versions of XP and several players, with and without ASIO4ALL, etc. I put too much time into this and finally gave up and switched to a Mac, running XP in a VM for work and iTunes on the OS X side for music.

I chose the Ultra Micro DAC about a year ago because it has an optical in.
I feed my MicroDAC through USB from Foobar using Asio4all without any problems - have done so for about two years. This is actually using a "fast newish ThinkPad with plenty of RAM".

I did however have some wierd noises at one point with WASAPI. I don't know why.
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post #34 of 44
12/19/08 at 1:30pm
I should have said, I know USB works great for lots of folks. I just put a lot of time and resources into it and failed, myself. There are old threads here and on another forum where I got and gave advice on it.

I'm glad USB works well for you; it certainly is a simple solution. I use it, too, but don't rely on it.
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post #35 of 44
12/19/08 at 2:52pm
i personally got a really bad sound from my computer using the usb, so i bought myself a cheap dvd player to use as a transport and the sound is fantastic! much better than the ipod through the line out dock straight to the amp. the ultra micro dac is really something, and thats definitely the way the music should sound like. the computer just didnt work for me,i guess it depends on lots of thing like hardware and software. so i got back to the cd player and i am only listetning to cds now, i have never got that good sound.
probably the next step is to upgrade my transport!
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post #36 of 44
12/23/08 at 12:10pm
This is why I have such a tough time letting my Overture DAC go. Sure the new Headroom DACs (and just about any other DAC in its class) sounds better but you have the convenience of regular 9V batteries, wall wart, optical or USB. It was a great product, as was the improved Micro DAC (I can't believe I let my MicroStack go, but I traded it for my current home transport so all is good), but as Tyll pointed out there aren't really a bunch of sources that a portable DAC with optical in will work with. I have an iRiver IMP-550 CD player and iHP-120, both of which are no longer available. I can see how having a product that is really only designed for a few discontinued sources might not make a lot of sense.

I also have a Predator which I think is a great product but it is USB only and not a stand alone DAC. I think RSA, HeadRoom, Fixup were mentioned because they have never created a stand alone DAC that accepts USB/Optical input and runs on batteries (without an amp section, of course). At least HeadRoom has a couple of discontinued models.

Incidentally, it's a few days since this thread was started and I'm having a great day! I hope everyone else is too.
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post #37 of 44
12/23/08 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by plonter View Post
i personally got a really bad sound from my computer using the usb... the computer just didnt work for me,i guess it depends on lots of thing like hardware and software.
A lot of this depends on 1) the audio playback software you're using, 2) the operating system being used. My old Compaq N410c skipped constantly until I reinstalled Windows, and now works well, though Ubuntu works better. Also, ASIO4ALL and Foobar2000 on Windows is necessary for getting bit-perfect digital output. The Windows mixer corrupts all audio, and ASIO4ALL allows you to bypass it.
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post #38 of 44
12/23/08 at 4:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Packgrog View Post
A lot of this depends on 1) the audio playback software you're using, 2) the operating system being used. My old Compaq N410c skipped constantly until I reinstalled Windows, and now works well, though Ubuntu works better. Also, ASIO4ALL and Foobar2000 on Windows is necessary for getting bit-perfect digital output. The Windows mixer corrupts all audio, and ASIO4ALL allows you to bypass it.
yes..i guess the asio4all would help getting the sound a little better..but the sound was so bad that i dont think it would solve the problem. anyway cd transport was the best solution for me. the sound is so crystal clear and clean that you want to cry. ofcourse with the help of the ultra mucri dac
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post #39 of 44
12/23/08 at 4:41pm
Anyone have a quick link to a page or thread with tips on getting ASIO4ALL to work in Vista with iTunes or foobar or mediamonkey or whatever? My oldest friend has failed to get this to work, and I will try to help him when I give him his Bantam DAC for a holiday present....
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post #40 of 44
12/24/08 at 12:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by royewest View Post
Anyone have a quick link to a page or thread with tips on getting ASIO4ALL to work in Vista with iTunes or foobar or mediamonkey or whatever? My oldest friend has failed to get this to work, and I will try to help him when I give him his Bantam DAC for a holiday present....
This is THE thread (although Enoyin says it may be out of date).
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post #41 of 44
12/24/08 at 1:44pm
Yes, I know that thread. Unfortunately, a search for VISIO results in no hits....
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post #42 of 44
12/24/08 at 1:49pm
What does VISIO (a flow-chart software) have to do with using a USB DAC? Are you confusing that with ASIO4ALL?
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post #43 of 44
12/24/08 at 2:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Packgrog View Post
What does VISIO (a flow-chart software) have to do with using a USB DAC? Are you confusing that with ASIO4ALL?
Heh. That's funny. I meant Vista but clearly have not had sufficient coffee.

Vista has a few hits but nothing germane, other than speculation that ASIO4ALL may not be required. It's on my list of things to do to research this a bit more on my own, but I just thought I'd ask if someone had a good link handy.
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post #44 of 44
12/24/08 at 6:11pm
I use Asio4ALL with Vista. It turns off the Windows volume control. That generally equates with bit-perfect output.
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