[TheMiddleSky]

I just curious am I have to get CEntrance or maybe desktop DAC like Matrix Mini-i, gamma2, or DacMagic. 

 
and oh yeah, I'll pair the DAC with my amp for sure.

 

[Bones13]

Quote:

Nope. I even tried it with the iPad and USB camera connection kit and got no sound.  iPad is the only one Apple makes that supports USB DAC, and only when using the camera connection kit.  The iPods do not.  It seems the iPad only has drivers for 16 bit DACs.

 
I love my DACPort, its my favorite travelling dac/amp for use with my laptop now.  iPhone Touch with Shadow while in flight.
 
I follow some threads at computeraudiophile, Gordon Rankin chimed in that the iPad connection will not support the asynchronous USB used by the DACPort, and other dacs with asynchronous USB.
 

 

[barbes]

Quote:

 
I love my DACPort, its my favorite travelling dac/amp for use with my laptop now.  iPhone Touch with Shadow while in flight.
 
I follow some threads at computeraudiophile, Gordon Rankin chimed in that the iPad connection will not support the asynchronous USB used by the DACPort, and other dacs with asynchronous USB.
 

Love mine too.  I had it on the road the last two days, and streaming Rhapsody from my laptop sounded better than my whole iMod/lossless setup.  It's a great little unit.

 

[eugenius]

How does it sound with the HF2?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

I love my DACPort, its my favorite travelling dac/amp for use with my laptop now.  iPhone Touch with Shadow while in flight.
 
I follow some threads at computeraudiophile, Gordon Rankin chimed in that the iPad connection will not support the asynchronous USB used by the DACPort, and other dacs with asynchronous USB.
 

CEntrance now has a Windows compatible app that can flash the DACport's internal software to work with the iPad IF you use a powered USB hub between the iPad and DACport.  It reduces the bit rate and there is an app to restore it back to 24/96 as well.

Quote:

How does it sound with the HF2?
 

 
The sound with HF-2 is acceptable and they can play loud enough, but the HF-2 do seem to flourish with an amp with more power.  Still, it's very useable.  I thought the RS-1 sounded much better with the DACport, dare I say almost stunning (at least my RS-1 with APS V3 cable).  the HF-2 seem a little boomier and grainer than the RS-1, more a fault of the phones than amp.

 

[AustinHorn]

CEntrance now has a Windows compatible app that can flash the DACport's internal software to work with the iPad IF you use a powered USB hub between the iPad and DACport.  It reduces the bit rate and there is an app to restore it back to 24/96 as well.

Quote:

How does it sound with the HF2?
 

 
The sound with HF-2 is acceptable and they can play loud enough, but the HF-2 do seem to flourish with an amp with more power.  Still, it's very useable.  I thought the RS-1 sounded much better with the DACport, dare I say almost stunning (at least my RS-1 with APS V3 cable).  the HF-2 seem a little boomier and grainer than the RS-1, more a fault of the phones than amp.

Larry, are you saying one could use the USB camera connector on the iPad & run the dacport off of it just like any other net book? If so, that is a big, big selling point for those of us that like to use carry our iPad around with us & listen to music.

 

[AustinHorn]

Nevermind! I checked the CEntrance website forum & got my answer. You have to use a 3rd party power supply between the iPad & dacport to power the unit. Not an elegant solution but with the camera attachment, it will work. Maybe I will just carry.my net book! Oh well...

 

[eugenius]

So the DACport is a tonal match for a RS1i? Really? To me the RS1i is unusable with the majority of solid state sources/amps. The HF2 is not.The HF2 actually has bass and while grainier than the RS1i, it's really close.

 

[warp08]

Quote:

Nevermind! I checked the CEntrance website forum & got my answer. You have to use a 3rd party power supply between the iPad & dacport to power the unit. Not an elegant solution but with the camera attachment, it will work. Maybe I will just carry.my net book! Oh well...

When I bought my DACPort at Can Jam at the CEntrance booth, Michael Goodman explained that the unit is packed with over 200 discrete components and because of the Class A-rated amp circuitry and the high-performance DAC solution the power requirements were considerable.
 
Clearly, the software switch puts some of these components into low-power mode and/or turns them off altogether to be bypassed and you'll lose some of the frills in exchange for lower power consumption sustainable from the iPad dock.
 
It's like turning an HM-801 into an HM-602 on the fly.  It would be cool, if the functionality did not require Windows and could be executed from a native iPad app.

 

[AustinHorn]

Well warp08, since you were kind enough to answer my question, which I do appreciate, I'll just buy your dacport from you tonight.  You have me convinced! Thanks!!!!!

 

[nathan_h]

I see one mention in this thread of someone streaming Rhapsody with the DacPort and liking it.  Often when at work, instead of busting out my drive of lossless files, I stream Pandora (the 192 stream), and I've found I prefer to tube-based headphone amp (TADAC for example) for that, which tends to fill out what the lossy compression on streaming services loses -- not accurately of course, but better than not doing so, for me.
 
How is the DacPort with lossy files?  So accurate that you won't want to listen to them (kind of like the Benchmark), or is the DacPort more forgiving?  I'm not worried about its performance with lossless audio, but sometimes lossy is the order of the day, so that angle is important to me.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

I see one mention in this thread of someone streaming Rhapsody with the DacPort and liking it.  Often when at work, instead of busting out my drive of lossless files, I stream Pandora (the 192 stream), and I've found I prefer to tube-based headphone amp (TADAC for example) for that, which tends to fill out what the lossy compression on streaming services loses -- not accurately of course, but better than not doing so, for me.
 
How is the DacPort with lossy files?  So accurate that you won't want to listen to them (kind of like the Benchmark), or is the DacPort more forgiving?  I'm not worried about its performance with lossless audio, but sometimes lossy is the order of the day, so that angle is important to me.

It's more forgiving of lossy music than my upgraded iBasso D4 or HDP. This is without giving up details when using 24/96 lossless.  The uDAC-2 is also fairly forgiving, as is my Pico DAC > ALO Amphora rig.

 

[nathan_h]

Interesting.  I'd guess (not having heard it) that the uDac-2 may be forgiving of low bitrates, but not as resolving of the highest bitrates -- vis a vis the DacPort?  Alas, let's just say I really enjoy tubes.  Thanks!
 

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Quote:

I just curious am I have to get CEntrance or maybe desktop DAC like Maverick, Matrix Mini-i, gamma2, or DacMagic. 

 
and oh yeah, I'll pair the DAC with my amp for sure.

I'm still curious with this, maybe anyone can help? 

 

 

[Anaxilus]