I recently upgraded from a G5 PowerMac to a Nehalem Mac Pro. The G5 was limited to 24/48 and I was looking forward to a higher resolution digital out on the Mac Pro, as I have a 24/192 capable DAC1 and Linn studio master FLACs at that resolution. Unfortunately, it seems the Mac Pro is limited to 24/96, presumably they cheaped out on the SPDIF transceiver chip.
I was looking for options to get 24/192 out of the Mac Pro. preferably via Toslink or coax SPDIF so I can keep using the DAC1 (I use a pair of HD800 with it). Driverless would be better, as I am concerned with driver stability. The options as I see them are surprisingly limited:
I wonder if other Head-Fi members with Mac Pros use high-resolution audio interfaces and what your experience is with them.
I was looking for options to get 24/192 out of the Mac Pro. preferably via Toslink or coax SPDIF so I can keep using the DAC1 (I use a pair of HD800 with it). Driverless would be better, as I am concerned with driver stability. The options as I see them are surprisingly limited:
- On the USB front, most USB DACs are limited to 96kHz
- The Terratec DMX 6Fire USB seems to support 24/192 over USB using special driver
- The Edirol FA-66 disables the digital outs when in 192 mode. The MOTU UltraLite-mk3 digital outputs are also 96 only. Not sure about M-Audio ProFire 610 or TC Electronic Konnekt 8.
- The Apogee mini-DAC does support 24/192 over Firewire, but mostly duplicates functionality in the DAC1. I'm not overly fond of wall warts either.
- The Weiss Firewire DACs are grossly overpriced
- Pro audio multichannel Firewire interfaces are too big, expensive and require drivers
- PCIe sound cards like the Lynx AES16e will provide AES/EBU, but are also overkill and require drivers
I wonder if other Head-Fi members with Mac Pros use high-resolution audio interfaces and what your experience is with them.