[uelover]

Quote:

Yes, I know exactly what a DAC is and what it does seeing as I have a few of them on my desktop.
 
DAC: Takes the digital signal out of the computer via USB (or other connection) and converts it to analogue, then sends it to the amplifier.
 
But that's not the question that I am asking.

That is very relevant to the question you are asking - how could the DAC send signals to the amplifier if it does not first amplify the analogue signal?
 
If you consider hooking your soundcard to your amp as double amping, then all DAC will be found guilty of double amping.
 

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

Quite question for all the audio setup savvy people out there. I'm currently using Fidelia for the Mac. Is there any way to bypass the internal soundcard and run the signal outboard to the amp? I know the DAC has to do the conversion but isn't hooking up my Valhalla to the headphone socket on my Mac considered double amping since it's going through the soundcard and then into the amp? Correct me if I'm wrong.

You should be doing this.   iMac out( for this example use USB out) to your outbooard  DAC (what are you using?)  then DAC out to your Valhalla.    How are you configured?

 

[uelover]

Quote:

You should be doing this.   iMac out( for this example use USB out) to your outbooard  DAC (what are you using?)  then DAC out to your Valhalla.    How are you configured?

Don't you all find it weird that [b]Austin Morrow[/b] has been doing audio reviews for many of the head-fi audio gears (including the high-end ones) and yet doesn't even know how to hook up a basic desktop setup?

 

[Austin Morrow]

Quote:

So why aren't you connecting your Valhalla to your DAC then?
 

I am. I;m asking for people who don't want to use a DAC and want to hook their amplifier straight to the computer.

 
Quote:

That is very relevant to the question you are asking - how could the DAC send signals to the amplifier if it does not first amplify the analogue signal?
 
If you consider hooking your soundcard to your amp as double amping, then all DAC will be found guilty of double amping.
 

 
I though the sound card was already an amp. Hooking up the Valhalla to the headphone out sends the signal to the sound card, processes it, and then amps it via the sound card, then amps it again via the Valhalla, no?
 
 


Quote:

You should be doing this.   iMac out( for this example use USB out) to your outbooard  DAC (what are you using?)  then DAC out to your Valhalla.    How are you configured?

I know exactly how to do this. That's not what I am asking thigh. Refer to the next statement. 
 


Quote:

Don't you all find it weird that [b]Austin Morrow[/b] has been doing audio reviews for many of the head-fi audio gears (including the high-end ones) and yet doesn't even know how to hook up a basic desktop setup?

 
Okay. I know exactly how to do everything perfectly well. Your not getting my question at all. Let me rephrase it. If someone were not using a DAC, then how would you bypass the sound card in the iMac so your NOT double amping because hooking up the Valhalla to the headphone out is considered DOUBLE AMPING.

 

[WarriorAnt]

 


Quote:

Yeah, Redline offers a 60 day demo license - full features.

Been using Redline extensively for a number of hours now in Garageband with my own compositions and I don't find must difference with it in or out.   

 

[liamstrain]

Lots of variables. And without seeing your set up and settings (and if you are using Hijack properly), I can't really say what to expect sound wise. I only really bother with reference recordings and mastering. I don't really bother with crossfeed for most listening. 

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

Lots of variables. And without seeing your set up and settings (and if you are using Hijack properly), I can't really say what to expect sound wise. I only really bother with reference recordings and mastering. I don't really bother with crossfeed for most listening. 

 
I'm using it as a mastering AU in Garageband and in Logic.  Tested it out on my own compositions but couldn't wrangle much of anything out of it.    iMac>W4S DAC-2>V200>LCD-2, LCD-3.  

 

[liamstrain]

May not be as useful for your needs. I like it because I can get my K702s to sound like my nearfield monitors, so I can master from my laptop remotely and not have to make field corrections later. 

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

May not be as useful for your needs. I like it because I can get my K702s to sound like my nearfield monitors, so I can master from my laptop remotely and not have to make field corrections later. 

What nearfield speakers are you using?  I have 24 years professional mixing experience and I can't get anything out of the Redline but I'm trying to add crossfeed for the headphone realm the way some headphone amps can.

 

[liamstrain]

Just some Adam ARTist 5's - I like 'em.
 
I end up doing the sound for our video work - nothing spectacular - just basic production work - but I like to try to keep things clean.
 
that's so odd - even with the default values I got a huge change using redline monitor - there is a clear difference when I bypass the plugin. I'm using -1 center, 75 soundstage and 1m distance to get pretty damn close to the room I mix in at the office. 
 
There are other more robust crossfeeds out there - if you want to take a look, I just have enjoyed redline. Midnight Walrus Canz3D is supposed to be quite good - frankly, I couldn't make heads or tails of it though. 

 

[turimbar1]

the problem with FLUKE is that it cannot support flac above 44.1khz,
 
to Austin: of course it will be double amping it, there is no way to stop this, but all the amping is done digitally (unless you have some op-amps in your soundcard, some do). There is nothing wrong with this, in fact, many phono players have a preamp. 
 
it will just not be as detailed as a separate DAC unless it is a really good soundcard.

 

[AppleheadMay]

Good to know, I always wondered about that. Used to think it was best to max the volume of the first amp in the chain.

 

[darcyb62]

Quote:

Okay. I know exactly how to do everything perfectly well. Your not getting my question at all. Let me rephrase it. If someone were not using a DAC, then how would you bypass the sound card in the iMac so your NOT double amping because hooking up the Valhalla to the headphone out is considered DOUBLE AMPING.

 
Okay, I understand.  If you are using the analog out of the computer you can't bypass the sound card so you are in effect double amping and there is really no way around that.
 
 

 

[Austin Morrow]

Quote:

 
Okay, I understand.  If you are using the analog out of the computer you can't bypass the sound card so you are in effect double amping and there is really no way around that.
 
 

Thanks you. Some people were not looking at my question correctly. Thanks you for understanding what I was trying to say. 

 

[thread]

I just wrote a little blog post about how I settled on using MPD to listen to music under OS X. It might be of interest since it's not really covered in this thread. Getting MPD running under OS X does take a little elbow grease, but it's really not too difficult, and I am delighted with the options that open up with it.

I'd truly love to hear if anyone likes what I've done or goes as far as to try it out.

http://www.threadbox.net/2011/12/27/mpd-on-mac-os-x/

MPD is the Music Player Daemon. It sits in the background and doesn't have a user interface of its own. There are MANY clients to choose from, but if you demand a pretty, native Mac interface, you'll want to check out Theremin.