TyTB
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2012
- Posts
- 140
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- 37
Hello everyone,
I'm struggling with something way over my head here and could really use some help.
My father and I are both fans of good audio quality, but we're not crazy audiophiles. My father's 2.1 sound system is worth, at the very most, 2500-3000 (Tower speakers, woofer, receiver, CD player, and the rest). His receiver, though, is getting outdated. It's the Yamaha HTR-5960. This system DOES have digital input in the form of SPDIF or Optical, with the accompanying built-in DAC. The thing is, my father's desktop does not have an SPDIF or Optical output, so to listen to music, he has to burn CD's and use a 6-disk CD changer.
For Christmas, I'd like to simplify this workflow for him, by allowing him to play music directly from his PC. Question is, what's the best way to go about this?
I can either buy a DAC, such as the Modi 2, or Modi 3 from Schiit, or I can buy a USB-to-SPDIF or USB-to-Optical converter. To me, being a non-audiophile, i figure hey, since the Yamaha receiver has what I assume to be a good DAC built in it already, there's no point wasting the money on a second DAC, right? Might as well just convert the USB to Coaxial and plug it in and let the receiver do its thing.... but I could be missing something - I mean, after all, I was surprised to find that a USB-SPDIF converter was an actual device with circuitry to begin with... I thought it would just be a simple adapter, like a Micro USB to USB type A sort of thing.. given that they're both digital formats.Goes to show how little I know about this sort of thing.
My budget is around 100-120 Canadian Pesos, so around 90 US Freedom Dollars™, if possible. This places the Modi 3 at the very edge of my budget, but makes the Modi 2 (at 59 dollars) a very attractive option.... I just don't know what would be best for a non-audiophile.
Any help and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
I'm struggling with something way over my head here and could really use some help.
My father and I are both fans of good audio quality, but we're not crazy audiophiles. My father's 2.1 sound system is worth, at the very most, 2500-3000 (Tower speakers, woofer, receiver, CD player, and the rest). His receiver, though, is getting outdated. It's the Yamaha HTR-5960. This system DOES have digital input in the form of SPDIF or Optical, with the accompanying built-in DAC. The thing is, my father's desktop does not have an SPDIF or Optical output, so to listen to music, he has to burn CD's and use a 6-disk CD changer.
For Christmas, I'd like to simplify this workflow for him, by allowing him to play music directly from his PC. Question is, what's the best way to go about this?
I can either buy a DAC, such as the Modi 2, or Modi 3 from Schiit, or I can buy a USB-to-SPDIF or USB-to-Optical converter. To me, being a non-audiophile, i figure hey, since the Yamaha receiver has what I assume to be a good DAC built in it already, there's no point wasting the money on a second DAC, right? Might as well just convert the USB to Coaxial and plug it in and let the receiver do its thing.... but I could be missing something - I mean, after all, I was surprised to find that a USB-SPDIF converter was an actual device with circuitry to begin with... I thought it would just be a simple adapter, like a Micro USB to USB type A sort of thing.. given that they're both digital formats.Goes to show how little I know about this sort of thing.
My budget is around 100-120 Canadian Pesos, so around 90 US Freedom Dollars™, if possible. This places the Modi 3 at the very edge of my budget, but makes the Modi 2 (at 59 dollars) a very attractive option.... I just don't know what would be best for a non-audiophile.
Any help and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
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