[mjb]

There are basically 3 types of digital inputs on a DAC; coax, optical and AES/EBU. To connect to these from your computer (without converters in between), you need the same "type" of connection on your sound card (the way your computer is able to send the digital out to the external DAC).

Coax has 2 types of connectors, RCA and BNC. BNC is typically quite rare, so you'll most likely use an RCA connector. To connect the computer and external DAC via coax, you use a 75ohm RCA digital cable. Sometimes one or both ends will be "mini" RCA, in which case you simply need an adapter (or custom cable if you don't like using adapters).

Optical is also known as Toslink, a square-ish connector. For this you use a digital optical toslink cable. It can be plastic or glass. Again, one or both ends may be "mini" optical, in which case you can use an adapter (or get a custom cable).

AES/EBU is an 110ohm XLR connector.

If you get a USB DAC, you can simply plug the USB cable into your computer and the external DAC shows up as another sound card on your computer. None of the above connections are necessary.

There's also many proponents of WiFi connections (Airport Express, Squeezebox, etc). This device acts as an external sound card which you use via WiFi and appropriate software/clients. These devices are much like sound cards in that they can be used with or without an external DAC. If you use an external DAC, all the above applies between this device and the external DAC.

Regardless of the way you connect the DAC (even for USB), if you use Windows, you'll want to use ASIO or Kernel Streaming of some sort because Windows resamples (changes the data which makes up the sound). Kernel Streaming is a feature of a few of the music playing clients, e.g. foobar2000, which allow you to send the music file data directly to the sound card without going through the Windows kmixer (where it would have been resampled). ASIO is a bit more complicated, but basically it does the same thing...except your sound card/drivers must support it to use it. Basically, when people are talking about whether a sound card is bit-perfect, they're referring to whether it is resampling (or otherwise) changing the sound file data before sending it off to the digital out. There's a ton of info on these subjects, so I'll stop here.

Which configuration sounds better, what's the best for this or that is not necessarily straight forward, so I'll let you read the volumes of threads on the subjects

I hope this was some help.

mjb

 

[razer]

Wow! Thanks, that sort of like cleared up most of the doubts that I've got. Ok, here's another question, if i were to get a USB DAC like the Stello, what configurations must I do ? I heard it ain't compatible with that ASIO thingy...What about that?? Must I download the Kernel streaming thingy so that the signal will not be fiddled with by windows or any on board music player? How do i do that?

 

[lmilhan]

Assuming you will be sitting in the same room that the computer will live in while listening to your headphones:

The first and most important step IMO would be to plan for a PC that will be whisper silent. Everything else (sound card, DAC, Interconnects, etc) is just gravy.

That is the only regret I have with the latest PC I built. The next PC I build will be whisper silent.

 

[mjb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by razer Wow! Thanks, that sort of like cleared up most of the doubts that I've got. Ok, here's another question, if i were to get a USB DAC like the Stello, what configurations must I do ? I heard it ain't compatible with that ASIO thingy...What about that?? Must I download the Kernel streaming thingy so that the signal will not be fiddled with by windows or any on board music player? How do i do that?

Kernel streaming is simply a plug-in for foobar2000, among other clients...for foobar, you download the zip (which contains the library file and some docs) and just copy that library file into the components folder in foobar install folder. When you restart foobar, kernel streaming will show up as a playback option. It is considered "experimental" and some people have had problems, but it seems to work quite well in most cases for most people. I've never had any problems with it.

mjb

 

[razer]

I will be planning to build this rig with my current PC now...AFAIK, its whisper silent. The only big distraction in my room now is the stupid clock on the wall which ticks as loud as a horn....

I'll have to get rid of it and replace it with a digital one i guess...

 

[Cousin Patty]

I think he said that his computer is inside a cabinet and therefore not very loud most of the time.

As for USB DAC's, not all of them support ASIO or kernel streaming. For example my Aria doesnt support either. Still sounds great though. If the Stello DAC supports kernel streaming, then you can use foobar and that will work. Its as simple as downloading the plug-in and selecting it in the foobar options. Personally, if I were going to buy another DAC right now, It wouldn't be another USB DAC. If for no other reason, I'd like to free up a USB port. But also because USB DACs are supposed to have relatively high amounts of jitter and because like I said before, they don't all support ASIO and kernel streaming.

 

[razer]

So other than the Stello DA100, are there any other suggestions out there? I would love to get something that excells and performs well but with a killer low price. The Grace M902 is really a little too expensive....

 

[razer]

Btw, do i have to download that kernel stuff or what? I don't seem to see and kernal and ASIO in my foobar...

 

[Cousin Patty]

I added some info to my last post

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cousin Patty I think he said that his computer is inside a cabinet and therefore not very loud most of the time. As for USB DAC's, not all of them support ASIO or kernel streaming. For example my Aria doesnt support either. Still sounds great though. If the Stello DAC supports kernel streaming, then you can use foobar and that will work. Its as simple as downloading the plug-in and selecting it in the foobar options. Personally, if I were going to buy another DAC right now, It wouldn't be another USB DAC. If for no other reason, I'd like to free up a USB port. But also because USB DACs are supposed to have relatively high amounts of jitter and because like I said before, they don't all support ASIO and kernel streaming.

You can always use ASIO4ALL.

 

[LeonvB]

Jitter on USB can be eliminated (requires buffering). The galvanic isolation (mostly a SPDIF conversion inside the DAC) however introduces jitter, but that can be kept under control (when constructed in the right manner). With a DAC like this it's very important to check the sound before you buy, for more than one reason.

Noise means several things with a computer:
a. The darn thing makes sound, which "pollutes" the output of your speakers/phones. BTW by using a mobile CPU you can easily cut down the sound level of the power supply/fans. I've done this years ago with my MCE PC.
b. There's a lot of "noise" inside a computer enclosure; (50Hz) hum can be one, EMI is another. Both affect the output of the soundcard, with the first being the most noticable and often feared type of noise. Unless you choose some kind of optical output there's little you can do to completely eliminate it. A laptop however can run from batteries, so that eliminates the 50 hz hum.

 

[thomaspf]

Is there any USB audio device that actually reduces jitter. As far as I have found, USB Audio devices are not very good at this point.

Another interesting solution in this space is the Lavry DA10.

It comes with a special synchronous dejitter circuit that does not use an resampler. Despite prior opinions on this thread, jitter does matter, not many DACs actually use secondary dejitter circuits, and asynchronous resample chips like the one used in the DAC1 change the sound slightly.

I also found the built-in headphone amp in the DA10of high enough quality that I stopped looking for a separate amp. One of the nice features of this DAC is the discrete analog volume control which is not available on most other external amps.

The sound is very smooth and extendedboth in the low and high frequencies. you should definitely listen to one before making your choice.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[roy_jones]

I'm not trying to threadjack...truly...but I have no idea why someone would create a computer based system and not use a Squeezebox. It's quite possible that it's my own ignorance, so the comment isn't intended to be 'rhetorical', it's a genuine statement of confusion as to what possible advantage there would be to NOT going in that direction.

I guess if you were going with a budget setup, and didn't want to spend a lot on a transport/DAC combo, but the original poster is talking about getting a DAC1 or a stello or some other relatively expensive DAC.

 

[xand1x]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roy_jones I'm not trying to threadjack...truly...but I have no idea why someone would create a computer based system and not use a Squeezebox. It's quite possible that it's my own ignorance, so the comment isn't intended to be 'rhetorical', it's a genuine statement of confusion as to what possible advantage there would be to NOT going in that direction. I guess if you were going with a budget setup, and didn't want to spend a lot on a transport/DAC combo, but the original poster is talking about getting a DAC1 or a stello or some other relatively expensive DAC.

What possible advantage? For us PC as source users, with external dacs, we can save $300 on a transport if a cheaper, bitperfect compatible, soundcard is used to output the signal. There's no reason why a pc as source system would need a squeezebox to sound good. Although the Squeezebox is probably the best transport out there for PC as source users, it may be hard to justify exhausting an already over stretched wallet for a $300 transport

 

[device manager]

Quote:

Originally Posted by razer So other than the Stello DA100, are there any other suggestions out there? I would love to get something that excells and performs well but with a killer low price. The Grace M902 is really a little too expensive....

Check out the Zhaolu D2 DAC

Quote:

Could you guide me to which one is the COAXIAlL out on my X-FI ?

It the minijack at the top of the card labeled digital. You can use a RCA to 3.5mm (1/8") mini S/PDIF Cable to connect to an external DAC.