[Bombarde]

Not really sure where to ask this, so it seems this is the best place.
 
For the last several years, the best quality files I've been using have been ALAC (my eco-system is heavily Apple based), which I've been serving up via iTunes/Airplay to an Airport Express connected via optical to my Peachtree iDecco.
 
Recently, however, I've ventured more into HiRes files, which of course, Apple doesn't do so well, and they certainly don't go over Airplay.
 
So I've been trying to learn about alternatives, and have been so far using BitPerfect with iTunes on my MacBook air, feeding into my Oppo HA-1. 
 
But I've also played my old iPhone loaded with ALAC files through the HA-1, and sometimes I get the feeling that sounds better than USB from the MacBook! I'm also using a Fiio X3ii via coax to the HA-1.
 
So I want to ask all of you - what's the best method of feeding lossless and hi-res files to a DAC? 
 
Every review I read of Mac apps like Amarra, Audirvana, etc make them sound not totally stable, and they want gobs of RAM - more than my MacBook Air has.
 
Yet there are lots of DAPs that seem to handle the job well.
 
There don't seem to be a lot of desktop DAPs, especially since I'm only looking for transport functionality - I'm not expecting it to have it's own DAC. 
 
If I'm just looking to feed bit-perfect sound to my DAC, what's the best quality, most efficient - or simply your favorite solution?
 
Thanks in advance!

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  For the last several years, the best quality files I've been using have been ALAC (my eco-system is heavily Apple based), which I've been serving up via iTunes/Airplay to an Airport Express connected via optical to my Peachtree iDecco.
---
So I want to ask all of you - what's the best method of feeding lossless and hi-res files to a DAC? 
 
Every review I read of Mac apps like Amarra, Audirvana, etc make them sound not totally stable, and they want gobs of RAM - more than my MacBook Air has.
 
Yet there are lots of DAPs that seem to handle the job well.
 
There don't seem to be a lot of desktop DAPs, especially since I'm only looking for transport functionality - I'm not expecting it to have it's own DAC. 
 
If I'm just looking to feed bit-perfect sound to my DAC, what's the best quality, most efficient - or simply your favorite solution?

 
A MacMini running Amarra as a headless audio server controlled by an iPad.

 

[Bombarde]

   
A MacMini running Amarra as a headless audio server controlled by an iPad.

Thanks - I've been interested in trying Amarra, but they seem not to be able to handle the latest version of iTunes, which I have installed. 

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Thanks - I've been interested in trying Amarra, but they seem not to be able to handle the latest version of iTunes, which I have installed. 

 
You can try any other apps, but basically what you want would still come down to a MacMini, otherwise you'll have to start dealing with an interface that might not like. Other players will have their own iOS remote apps if they are Network digital players, but then you'd have to manage the tracks, like putting them in neat folders into an HDD installed inside the player or an external HDD accessible via your home WLAN.

 

[Bombarde]

Do you feel the sound quality from such a setup is better than using a Hi-res capable portable DAP as a transport?

Or is the answer to that far too dependent on the DAP, even though I'd be bypassing its DAC?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Do you feel the sound quality from such a setup is better than using a Hi-res capable portable DAP as a transport?

Or is the answer to that far too dependent on the DAP, even though I'd be bypassing its DAC?

 

Not at all. The problem with DAPs is that the ergonomics can be worse. The digital output might be on top of the units if what the manufacturer had in mind was strapping them to a portable DAC-HPamp rather than home use like how you dock iPods and smartphones (save for the Sonys). That means you either keep them in your hand with a cable sprouting from the top, or you use a stand and the cable still sprouts out of the top of the player.

 

On top of that I'd much rather use a smartphone. it's technically free thanks to the carrier subsidies as well as how I need it for other things, and the ergonomics when used as a server are great My Note3 works like a Squeezebox. On top of all that, Neutron Music Player (ugly interface so I did not use it for the photo) has a 10-band parametric EQ with different curve types, center frequency, and Q-Factor settings apart from just gain.

 
In your case though you'd be limited by the iPhone's storage, so a MacMini is your best choice. Buy a used one on the cheap and set it up as a server.

 

[Bombarde]

 

 

Not at all. 

 
By that did you mean the Mac set up does not sound better than digital files from the DAP?
 
I totally get your point about storage and convenience, but am also trying to understand if there's any sonic advantage to any of the solutions if they're all feeding into the same DAC.
 
As for the computer solution, I recently bought a Synology NAS to hold my library for whichever computer I end up using. So, I'm part way there. 

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
By that did you mean the Mac set up does not sound better than digital files from the DAP?

 
It won't as long as you're using the same files and there's no software resampling, like if you used AirPlay.
 

 
I totally get your point about storage and convenience, but am also trying to understand if there's any sonic advantage to any of the solutions if they're all feeding into the same DAC.

 
None unless there's a flaw in the design implementation of the inputs on the DAC. Like how the SuperPro707 used 5v off USB to power everything, then its power brick uses more power for the analogue output section, which seems like a good idea initially but then what that does is increase the analogue output signal to 6.5volts.
 
 

Originally Posted by Bombarde /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
As for the computer solution, I recently bought a Synology NAS to hold my library for whichever computer I end up using. So, I'm part way there. 

 
All you need now is a MacMini.

 

[Bombarde]

Thanks much for the advice. And no, I'm not interested in doing any up sampling - that's the only think I'm looking for in a Mac app is setting the output sampling rate and bit depth for each track to match the file, so nothing gets resampled.