[majid]

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:

1. On the USB front, most USB DACs are limited to 96kHz
2. The Terratec DMX 6Fire USB seems to support 24/192 over USB using special driver
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. The Weiss Firewire DACs are grossly overpriced
6. Pro audio multichannel Firewire interfaces are too big, expensive and require drivers
7. 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.

 

[Currawong]

As far as I know, you're limited to the Lynx and similar professional sound cards, or professional Firewire gear. I personally wouldn't bother with 192k audio. It's too much hassle for little benefit (lower noise floor essentially). Your money would be better spent getting a much better DAC.

 

[Quadrangulum]

I use the Lynx AES16e PCI Express card to get 24bit/192kHz out of my own Nehalem Mac Pro. It works excellently.

 

[Chucky-X]

Hi majid and all,

I think the most effective audio PCI-card for the mac and windows - when you need 192kHz digital output - is the ESI-Juil@.

It supports 192 kHz RCA input and output. It also has 192kHz Toslink optical output. The spec. says that the Toslink output is 96kHz only, however I have tested it and it is able to put out 192 kHz too, even through a 5 meter Toslink cable into my DAC

I like Toslink when connecting to computer devices, as the power noise of the computer does not pollute your DAC's power.

The Juli@ card has dedicated true audio clocks for 44.1 and 48kHz and their respective multiples, just like the Lynx has. This ensures, that your s/pdif output is on precise clock and not dependent on the computer's clock.

The card is also very small, as you can pull away the analog part, if you don't need it.

Btw. the optical out of today's imac, mac-mini, mac-pro and mac book is advertised by apple to support 192kHz, however audio-midi setup only lets you select up to 96kHz.

When booting Windows on a new intel-mac, you can make the optical output work at 192kHz. The intel audio chips are supporting 192kHz however OSX does not allow it.

It is a question of software ... and I think they (apple) will make it work in the near future ...

Charles

 

[Bredin]

ESI maya is cheap and supports 24bit 192Khz from coax and 24bit 96Khz from toslink.

 

[bordins]

If you want *real* quality S/PDIF output, then get the Lynx adapter. It sounds a lot more balanced than my Juli@ card's.

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