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Hello from a new user and a bit of advice needed :)

post #1 of 11
4/26/11 at 8:16am
Thread Starter 
Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum and new to the whole portable hi-fi scene. I've owned a pair of SHURE 530 in ear headphones for a year or so now and have just taken a step towards trying to improve the SQ of my portable music by investing in a D12 Anaconda DAC/Amp. I will be using the D12 coupled with the following sources:

PS3
Laptop (W7 64bit)
Desktop (W7 64bit)
iPod
iRiver H140
Archos 7

My question relates to computer use - I noticed that after plugging in the D12 via USB, Windows recognizes the device and adds it as an additional audio output option, however, the properties of the device are confusing me - on the Advanced tab I only seem to be able to output up to 16 bit 48K. Does this mean that my 24bit FLACS will be "downgraded".

500

Is there a way to output 24bit audio via USB?

Any advice would be most welcome.

Rhys
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post #2 of 11
4/26/11 at 12:16pm
The higher quality files simply won't play. At least that's my experience with Foobar2000 (asio) and my uDAC. You'll have to get a DAC that supports the higher bit rate. Which is why I'm gonna buy the upgrade kit in the near future.
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post #3 of 11
4/26/11 at 1:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by J.Pocalypse View Post

The higher quality files simply won't play. At least that's my experience with Foobar2000 (asio) and my uDAC. You'll have to get a DAC that supports the higher bit rate. Which is why I'm gonna buy the upgrade kit in the near future.


I hear the uDAC-2 plays at 24bit? maybe look into buying that XD

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post #4 of 11
4/26/11 at 1:02pm


 

Quote:
Originally Posted by RhysUK View Post

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum and new to the whole portable hi-fi scene. I've owned a pair of SHURE 530 in ear headphones for a year or so now and have just taken a step towards trying to improve the SQ of my portable music by investing in a D12 Anaconda DAC/Amp. I will be using the D12 coupled with the following sources:

PS3
Laptop (W7 64bit)
Desktop (W7 64bit)
iPod
iRiver H140
Archos 7

My question relates to computer use - I noticed that after plugging in the D12 via USB, Windows recognizes the device and adds it as an additional audio output option, however, the properties of the device are confusing me - on the Advanced tab I only seem to be able to output up to 16 bit 48K. Does this mean that my 24bit FLACS will be "downgraded".

500

Is there a way to output 24bit audio via USB?

Any advice would be most welcome.

Rhys


 

Nuforce's uDAC-2 supports 24bit playback through USB, not sure on how good it is, j.pocalypse can tell you :)

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post #5 of 11
4/26/11 at 1:05pm

I think the D12 only supports up to 16/48 over USB. But if your laptop/desktop have SPDIF output, you should be able to get 24 bit. Don’t quote me on any of this, though.


Edited by Diciembre - 4/26/11 at 1:09pm
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post #6 of 11
4/26/11 at 1:08pm

You can only play 16bit through the D12, you need a different dac to play at 24bit.

I dont think you will even be able to hear the difference between the 16bit and 24bit audio on your current rig.

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post #7 of 11
4/26/11 at 4:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MR.X View Post

You can only play 16bit through the D12, you need a different dac to play at 24bit.

I dont think you will even be able to hear the difference between the 16bit and 24bit audio on your current rig.


Apparently there is no audible difference between 16 and 24 bit audio. ( http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/415361/24bit-vs-16bit-the-myth-exploded ).

If you don't want to spend the money on a 24 bit dac, I would just make sure that the last 8 bits of your 24 audio are not simply being truncated, but rather are being dithered to 16 bit. I don't know what software you're using for playback, but I know that there is an option in Jriver to dither the files on playback to 16 bits. If you do want your files played back as true 24 bit, then the U-dac 2 mentioned above will do that for fairly cheep. I have not used it, but reviews generally seem positive...... http://www.nuforce.com/hp/products/iconudac2/
Edited by Snag1e - 4/26/11 at 4:50pm
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post #8 of 11
4/26/11 at 6:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emkayu View Post


 


 

Nuforce's uDAC-2 supports 24bit playback through USB, not sure on how good it is, j.pocalypse can tell you :)


Nope. Can't tell you just yet. I'm going to get the uDAC upgrade kit soon. I'd get a bigger/better DAC, but I have my audio budget maxed on some other things already. I'm sure there's a uDAC-2 review around here some place. From what I've found though, it seems to be the cheapest DAC that can handle 24-bit files.

 

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post #9 of 11
4/27/11 at 12:20am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the replies, the 16bit v 24bit thread was an eye opener! I guess I'll just stop worrying about it and enjoy the music instead smily_headphones1.gif

I don't have that many 24bit albums anyway so it's not that big a deal.

I'm assuming that using the optical out on my iRiver I will be able to play 24/192? (using Rockbox)

Rhys
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post #10 of 11
4/27/11 at 8:51am

 I have Rockbox on my v.2 Fuze, and it won't play 24/96 files. 24/192 from a PMP? Sounds doubtful.. No pun intended.

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post #11 of 11
4/28/11 at 5:27pm

I have a D12, the usb input will only work at 16/48 but the optical and coax will work at 24/96. this is because the "DAC" is 24/96 capable but the IS2 to S/PDIF chip in the dac (converts USB signal into S/PDIF) only works at 16/48.

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