[russdog]

Here's the "short story" version:

1. My Toshiba laptop has USB ports everywhere, plus a S/PDIF jack.
2. I want to send 24-bit digital audio stream to a Headroom Micro DAC.
3. I really do not wanna have to buy another card to do this, and have it hanging out of the laptop, if I can do it via either of the built-ins: USB or S/PDIF.

Somebody around here somewhere said the Micro DAC can't get 24-bits via USB. I don't know if this is true.
I have no idea of I can do this via either USB or S/PDIF.
Can I?


Here's the "long story" version:

1. My old Toshiba laptop sits way up on a shelf next to my Denon receiver.
2. It's got a USB2 drive with 10,000 mp3 files, done at "LAME Extreme".
3. It's also got an Echo Indigo card in it, with analog output to the Denon 4802 receiver, driving some very nice Norh's and a Hsu.
4. I sit on the couch with my new laptop and operate Media Monkey on the old laptop remotely, using XP's Remote Desktop connection.
5. It sounded what I thought was pretty good, until I downloaded the driver that let's Media Monkey ship 24-bits to the Indigo instead of 16-bits. Wow. Night and day. Now it sounds wonderful. Now it sounds better than anything ever sounded before.

All this is very cool. I never touch anything except the laptop in my lap. Everything works great and sound great. I don't wanna mess with it.

But I do wanna be able to use headphones late at night. So, I wanna keep all that just as it is, plus I want to:

1. Have a second copy of Media Monkey on my new laptop that sits in my lap.
2. Have it get to the same files and the same database on that same USB drive, via WiFi network access to that hard drive.
3. Have the bitstream of compressed mp3 bits come from the old laptop via WiFi to the new laptop, where copy2 of Media Monkey will decode the mp3 files and generate a 24-bit bitstream (since I discovered that 24-bits sounds so much better than 16-bits).
4. Have that bitstream sent to the MicroStack sitting on the table right next to me, which will then feed my Senn650's.

This way, I will have two discrete systems playback systems (1 for speakers, 1 for headphones) that share the same mp3 files but that don't share anything else. I can mess with settings on one without messing with settings on the other. And I can control them all just by going clickety-click on this-here laptop.

The only thing I don't know is: Can I get 24-bit bitstream to the DAC via either my laptop's USB ports or it's S/PDIF port?

Can I?

(Thanks for your help.)

 

[russdog]

OK, I guess maybe nobody here knows...

Any ideas on who would know?

Quote:

Originally Posted by russdog Here's the "short story" version: My Toshiba laptop has USB ports everywhere, plus a S/PDIF jack. I want to send 24-bit digital audio stream to a Headroom Micro DAC. I really do not wanna have to buy another card to do this, and have it hanging out of the laptop, if I can do it via either of the built-ins: USB or S/PDIF. Somebody around here somewhere said the Micro DAC can't get 24-bits via USB. I don't know if this is true. I have no idea of I can do this via either USB or S/PDIF. Can I? Here's the "long story" version: My old Toshiba laptop sits way up on a shelf next to my Denon receiver. It's got a USB2 drive with 10,000 mp3 files, done at "LAME Extreme". It's also got an Echo Indigo card in it, with analog output to the Denon 4802 receiver, driving some very nice Norh's and a Hsu. I sit on the couch with my new laptop and operate Media Monkey on the old laptop remotely, using XP's Remote Desktop connection. It sounded what I thought was pretty good, until I downloaded the driver that let's Media Monkey ship 24-bits to the Indigo instead of 16-bits. Wow. Night and day. Now it sounds wonderful. Now it sounds better than anything ever sounded before. All this is very cool. I never touch anything except the laptop in my lap. Everything works great and sound great. I don't wanna mess with it. But I do wanna be able to use headphones late at night. So, I wanna keep all that just as it is, plus I want to: Have a second copy of Media Monkey on my new laptop that sits in my lap. Have it get to the same files and the same database on that same USB drive, via WiFi network access to that hard drive. Have the bitstream of compressed mp3 bits come from the old laptop via WiFi to the new laptop, where copy2 of Media Monkey will decode the mp3 files and generate a 24-bit bitstream (since I discovered that 24-bits sounds so much better than 16-bits). Have that bitstream sent to the MicroStack sitting on the table right next to me, which will then feed my Senn650's. This way, I will have two discrete systems playback systems (1 for speakers, 1 for headphones) that share the same mp3 files but that don't share anything else. I can mess with settings on one without messing with settings on the other. And I can control them all just by going clickety-click on this-here laptop. The only thing I don't know is: Can I get 24-bit bitstream to the DAC via either my laptop's USB ports or it's S/PDIF port? Can I? (Thanks for your help.)

 

[ComfyCan]

I really don't have a clue; perhaps Hydrogen Audio forum?
Good luck.

 

[aragorn18]

Help me understand why a 24-bit audio stream would help when the source material is 16-bit. Wouldn't it just generate quantization errors in the conversion?

 

[russdog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aragorn18 Help me understand why a 24-bit audio stream would help when the source material is 16-bit. Wouldn't it just generate quantization errors in the conversion?

I have no idea. Here's what I know:

1. I took all my CD's and created alt-preset-Extreme mp3's via EAC/LAME
2. I used MediaMonkey to play them thru my Echo Indigo at the default 16-bits, and it sounded pretty good.
3. I downloaded the driver that lets MediaMonkey decode into 24-bits, and the sound instantly changed dramatically from "pretty good" to "wonderful".

That's all I know. I don't know why it's true, but it is true. And it's enough to make me want 24-bits

 

[lan]

MP3s and other lossy codec are no longer in the 16bit domain even if they were made from CD so decoding them to 24bit is better / more accurate.

You can only get 24bit from the optical in on this DAC. Your optical output of your laptop has to support it also. I do not know it's specs.