fredhammersmith
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2007
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On one end of my musical computer system...
a good computer rig / Dell server, plenty of power, Windows 7, JRiver Media Center 19
On another end...
a Metric Halo ULN-2,with FireWire inputs (Mac only) and SPDif inputs (then Neumann KH120 monitors)
The transport, from the Dell computer to the ULN-2 DAC, can be of many. Here are the possibilities I am considering, for a budget of maximum 300$
These little decisions are important, of course: we all have heard the resuts of poor digital transport and its impact on sound. And of all these solutions, I bet the AudioGD is the only one whose making any re-clocking...
So what do you think? The m2Tech seems like a sure bet (loads of praise), but am I gaining anything compared to the cheaper Musiland card? Or is there other soundcard (like the Asus) with bit-perfect output?
And for 30 feet cable transport, is there a preference between USB and SPDif?
a good computer rig / Dell server, plenty of power, Windows 7, JRiver Media Center 19
On another end...
a Metric Halo ULN-2,with FireWire inputs (Mac only) and SPDif inputs (then Neumann KH120 monitors)
The transport, from the Dell computer to the ULN-2 DAC, can be of many. Here are the possibilities I am considering, for a budget of maximum 300$
- Buy the brand new DI-2014 from Audio GD from China, to convert from USB to SPDIf, (but then I am blowing my budget) with a 30 feet USB cable from Redco (not sure which want to get). Previous experience with AudioGD: great sound, poor drivers.
- Buy a m2Tech hiface from a local vendor, with a 30-feet SPDif cable from Redco. 200$ for the m2tech, probably about 50$ for the SPDif cable
- Buy an inexpensive digital-out only PCI card (Musiland Digital Times), 50$, with a 30-feet SPDif cable from Redco.
- Buy a more expensive soundcard, like an Asus Azur (200$?), and use the digital-out with a 30-feet SPDif cable.
These little decisions are important, of course: we all have heard the resuts of poor digital transport and its impact on sound. And of all these solutions, I bet the AudioGD is the only one whose making any re-clocking...
So what do you think? The m2Tech seems like a sure bet (loads of praise), but am I gaining anything compared to the cheaper Musiland card? Or is there other soundcard (like the Asus) with bit-perfect output?
And for 30 feet cable transport, is there a preference between USB and SPDif?