[GilesM]

Hello,

I am thinking of buying a netbook as an audio source to be coupled with a
Cambridge Audio DacMagic via USB and my Cambridge Audio AMP.
Currently using an Apple TV which I am keen to return to my cinema room.

Well a netbook like the Dell Mini 10 running XP or windows 7 (1 GB of RAM and an N450 1.66 Ghz processor) be able to run iTunes well enough?

Also, If I use the Cambridge Audio DacMagic via USB interface will;

a) by pass the sound card of the netbook.
b) give a 'bit for bit' representation of the music files to the DacMagic?

Will this work well would you say?

 

[triple-u]

I often use my netbook as my audio source as well. It's an Acer model but has similar specs to yours, but I think the processor might be a bit older.

I have Windows 7 on it and for the most part it works great. I've actually never used iTunes before so I'm not sure how resource intensive it is. I've only used foobar on the netbook, which I do know uses few resources and is very fast.

I bypass the soundcard by using my my iBasso USB DAC/Amp. I do find that if I use the netbook for other purposes (internet, email, etc), the sound does cut in and out a bit if the CPU is run up a bit. It's rare, but it does happen. But if you're just going to use the netbook solely for the purpose of an audio source, it should work great.

 

[GilesM]

Great, you seem to be confirming what I am planning to do.
It's good to hear some one else does it this way as well.

Nothing is guaranteed of course, but it's good to know it should work...

 

[forbigger]

I use dell netbook, inspiron mini as transport. no problem whatsoever. You can even browse internet while listening to your songs, it wont bogged down the computer......works like a dream. All you need is to have usb dac (you mentioned that you'll be using dacmagic so thats fine). In case you wanted to use legacy dac or non-usb dac then all you need is usb-spdif converter, I uses it and again, works like dream

 

[GilesM]

Dell Inspiron mini! That's exactly the machine I am thinking of buying!

Fantastic! This is exactly the kind of advice I cam here for, thank you both so much!

I guess with the Dell Inspiron mini, there is no CD drive, so I will rip discs via my imac, put them on a memory stick and transfer them.

Thank you both again for taking the time to reply to a new forum member.

Regards

 

[WaveRider69]

win 7 all the way but you'll have to trim it way down if you want it to run smooth on 1gb. If you can get 2gb ram you'll be solid.

 

[lordsegan]

I am mostly certain that itunes cannot do bit for bit playback.

Look at foobar.

 

[.Sup]

make sure you have wireless disabled when playing audio

 

[GilesM]

So, I need to check out foobar and see if iTunes will allow 'bit for bit' playback.
Good, thank you.
Wireless will always be off as I do not have any wireless devices active at home.

.Sup I see you have an NDS-1 linked to a CA DacMagic. I had this same set up 'till last weekend. I took my NDS 1 back to the shop for a refund, for some reason it kept losing it's connection with the iPod. It was really annoying, you would be listening to music and then suddenly the music would stop and the DacMagic would get no stream from the ND-S1.
One would have to remove the ipod and reset it.
This is why I am replacing the ND-S1 & iPod combination with a netbook.

Does this ever happen with your set up?

 

[.Sup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GilesM /img/forum/go_quote.gif So, I need to check out foobar and see if iTunes will allow 'bit for bit' playback. Good, thank you. Wireless will always be off as I do not have any wireless devices active at home. .Sup I see you have an NDS-1 linked to a CA DacMagic. I had this same set up 'till last weekend. I took my NDS 1 back to the shop for a refund, for some reason it kept losing it's connection with the iPod. It was really annoying, you would be listening to music and then suddenly the music would stop and the DacMagic would get no stream from the ND-S1. One would have to remove the ipod and reset it. This is why I am replacing the ND-S1 & iPod combination with a netbook. Does this ever happen with your set up?

Hmm actually yes but works fine 99% of the time. There were this short pauses of no music. I was unsure what the cause was as my HDTV receiver's sound started to stutter as well (not that intensely) and its also connected to DacMagic. Did you have your iPod connected to the dock 24/7?

 

[GilesM]

Well, the ND-S1 is no longer in my set up, but when I had it the only time the ipod was removed was when new music had to be transferred, which was perhaps 3 times that week.

For me leaving the ipod in place all the time just was not an option. In any case I don't think this was a factor because it would be working fine, then suddenly no music, and not just a blip, but a total stop. No amount of resets of the ND-S1 would fix the issue, the only thing that worked was to remove the ipod and reset it.

 

[srserl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by .Sup /img/forum/go_quote.gif make sure you have wireless disabled when playing audio

I have used mine for audio (via usb dac) while browsing the internet in airports.

 

[GilesM]

So, by all accounts it will work then!

 

[srserl]

Posting this over wifi right now while listening.
Acer aspire-one running xp, foobar2k via asio4all > amb gamma1 via usb > amb mini^3

Seems to work fine with no audible artifacts.

Note:
There have been some who have had issues with Win7 over usb, so if you have problems (clicks and such) just do a search (I think it was some power save option for usb to turn off, but I can't remember).

 

[forbigger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by .Sup /img/forum/go_quote.gif make sure you have wireless disabled when playing audio

whats wrong with it ? I browse when I listen to songs and nothing seems to happens. all's fine and jolly well