[Altair49]

Hi all,

I just got the info I needed from the Summit-Fi forum on equipment. Now I just need to set up my Macbook Air and PC to stream to my dac.

I have a few questions if someone can invest the time in helping me get the very best audio:

1- Is a Macbook Air powerfull enough to play high res files to a dac?
2- What software should I use to play files on PC and Mac?
3- what kind of files are considered the best? And where to get them? I have an HD tracks account....
4- Any recommendations on starter tracks to explore the potential of my new system?

My goal here is to try and get as close to actually be in the recording studio. My set up is a Woo Audio W5LE, Woo Audio DAC, Focal Utopias, and the PC and Macbook Air.

 

[Dulalala]

Hi all,

I just got the info I needed from the Summit-Fi forum on equipment. Now I just need to set up my Macbook Air and PC to stream to my dac.

I have a few questions if someone can invest the time in helping me get the very best audio:

1- Is a Macbook Air powerfull enough to play high res files to a dac?
2- What software should I use to play files on PC and Mac?
3- what kind of files are considered the best? And where to get them? I have an HD tracks account....
4- Any recommendations on starter tracks to explore the potential of my new system?

My goal here is to try and get as close to actually be in the recording studio. My set up is a Woo Audio W5LE, Woo Audio DAC, Focal Utopias, and the PC and Macbook Air.

1. Yes? Why wouldn't it be. All your Macbook is doing is sending a digital signal through USB to your DAC. Your DAC does all the work, not your Macbook.
2. I personally use Jriver, but you can use whatever software you want.
3. That's a bit tricky, I personally don't think it's worth getting FLAC over a well encoded high bitrate MP3, mostly because of space and price (since I don't buy CD), but others will disagree of course. At the very least though, I would say 256 AAC or 320kbps MP3 is a good bottom line.
4. Listen to whatever you like the most. I don't think you should be listening to something you won't enjoy just for the sake of "audiophile grade" recordings.

On a side note, I didn't even know Woo Audio made a DAC. Learnt something new.