[pofdstudios]

Ok Folks here is my problem in a nutshell. I am missing a crucial link in my set up. What are you folks listening to for a source? Computer? SACD? Streaming? I wish to listen to hi resolution audio but it's got to be small. So I am going with a Woo WA-7d headphone amp and a pair of Bower-Wilkins P7 Wireless/wired cans. But let's be honest the Apple way of things limits me to 44100.0 hz . So I am looking for a source that will let me play up to 96000.0 hz, lossless , FLAC etc. Right now I'm using a iPhone 7+ and a Audioquest Red for portability and while it sounds good I know it can be much better. Suggestions??

 

[obobskivich]

**I may not be fully understanding your post**

What do you mean "the Apple way of things"? I'm not aware of any hard limit to 44kHz audio on the Mac (at least in OS X), and beyond that, there's no point in configuring the output higher if your source material doesn't support it (and to the next question, no it really isn't worth the expense to go after massive bitrate files). For more: https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

The other stuff you're mentioning isn't really a hardware question, its a software question. Most modern media players will support lossless encoding (like flac, ALAC, WMAL, etc) as long as you have the right codec packages. Again, I'm envisioning this on a desktop platform, not some mobile device. Mobile devices are a bit more restricted (to put it nicely in some cases).

Random side question of the day: why are you buying a $1000+ headphone amplifier/DAC for wireless headphones (and bigger than that, why are you spending more on the amplifier than the cans?)?

 

[pofdstudios]

**I may not be fully understanding your post**

What do you mean "the Apple way of things"? I'm not aware of any hard limit to 44kHz audio on the Mac (at least in OS X), and beyond that, there's no point in configuring the output higher if your source material doesn't support it (and to the next question, no it really isn't worth the expense to go after massive bitrate files). For more: https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

The other stuff you're mentioning isn't really a hardware question, its a software question. Most modern media players will support lossless encoding (like flac, ALAC, WMAL, etc) as long as you have the right codec packages. Again, I'm envisioning this on a desktop platform, not some mobile device. Mobile devices are a bit more restricted (to put it nicely in some cases).

Random side question of the day: why are you buying a $1000+ headphone amplifier/DAC for wireless headphones (and bigger than that, why are you spending more on the amplifier than the cans?)?

Forgive me as its early and the first cup of coffee has not kicked in yet. I have an Ipad Pro and an Iphone and a Windows laptop so I do not have a mac. Thats what I meant by Apple way of doing things. It would of been nice to let Hi res music run natively on the IOS devices but its my novice understanding that it wont or cant. The hardware question is about what hardware do I need to run the hi bitrate softwware. The Woo is part of a stay at home desktop solution were as ther iphone/pad is a portable solution. So lets take portability out of the equasion for a moment. What would be a great source for the Woo?
 
To answer the random side question as to why the 1000 dollar amp/dac and the P7s? Well The P7s are a great all around set of earphones for my tastes. Now with that being said I would like to upgrade to a better set of earphones in the near future but for right now its what I have to work with. Im not a complete stranger to high end audio but my experience is in HUGE systems with dedicated amps, preamps and big speakers like K-Horns etc. Im cleaning house sort of and downsizing. So a small desktop system that I can run in my art studio while Im working at the easel is a perfect solution. I can blow my ears up and the wife can watch her TV without me bothering her and vice versa.

 

[obobskivich]

Forgive me as its early and the first cup of coffee has not kicked in yet. I have an Ipad Pro and an Iphone and a Windows laptop so I do not have a mac. Thats what I meant by Apple way of doing things. It would of been nice to let Hi res music run natively on the IOS devices but its my novice understanding that it wont or cant. The hardware question is about what hardware do I need to run the hi bitrate softwware. The Woo is part of a stay at home desktop solution were as ther iphone/pad is a portable solution. So lets take portability out of the equasion for a moment. What would be a great source for the Woo?

I'm not actually sure about getting "hi res" on the iPad Pro or iPhone - I would assume it should be possible though. I will admit right here and now: I don't own an iOS device. Some quick looking online, and this might be worth a read for you: http://www.macworld.com/article/2064868/high-fidelity-how-to-get-lossless-and-high-res-audio-on-ios-devices.html

I would assume that ALAC will work because it's an Apple format and works in iTunes (and the Mac World article confirms that), but flac requires a third party application (Mac World points out that VLC exists for iOS - that should do nicely).

It goes into hi res (just ignore the entire discussion about CDs, Blu-ray, etc - it makes my head hurt and my heart cry how astoundingly BAD that section is), but mentions you will need an external device (so that's your 44kHz limit - makes sense now). The AudioQuest you asked about is listed as compatible on their site (http://www.audioquest.com/dragonfly-series-faq#ios - they include a how-to for connection as well).

I will refer you back to the Xiph.org article on 24/192 and "hi res" as well - if you haven't dumped a ton of cash into it yet, I'd say save your money: CDs are more than good enough and its more relevant to worry about master quality, as opposed to the encoding. Note that there's a big difference between lossy-encodes of CD quality vs lossless CD quality and "hi res" - the point is that 24/192 or whatever other unobtanium bitrates are just not worth it, but lossless encoding shouldn't be feared unless you really don't have the space (and it isn't 2004 anymore - storage is dirt cheap these days).

As far as "what would be a great source" - it really depends on what you have for media. Do you have big stacks of CDs? A tower of vinyl? A bunch of SACDs? An ocean of files on a hard drive? etc The beautiful thing about hi-fi in today's world is just how many good options there are, especially in a digital world - its hard to really screw this up.

To answer the random side question as to why the 1000 dollar amp/dac and the P7s? Well The P7s are a great all around set of earphones for my tastes. Now with that being said I would like to upgrade to a better set of earphones in the near future but for right now its what I have to work with. Im not a complete stranger to high end audio but my experience is in HUGE systems with dedicated amps, preamps and big speakers like K-Horns etc. Im cleaning house sort of and downsizing. So a small desktop system that I can run in my art studio while Im working at the easel is a perfect solution. I can blow my ears up and the wife can watch her TV without me bothering her and vice versa.

That makes a lot more sense. I was afraid you were thinking the WA7 was somehow going to work with the P7s wirelessly, but seeing they're being used in *both* (separate) configurations explains it, as well as the "future expansion" goals.

 

[pofdstudios]

I have a huge collection of CDs and a giant iTunes collection of purchased material. Ive researched Roon and HD Tracks and the Roon is completely out of the question as far a usage cost. I dont listen to my equipment enough to justify that sort of subscription cost. HD Tracks on the other hand has some promise.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

\
Quote:

Ok Folks here is my problem in a nutshell. I am missing a crucial link in my set up. What are you folks listening to for a source? Computer? SACD? Streaming? I wish to listen to hi resolution audio but it's got to be small. So I am going with a Woo WA-7d headphone amp and a pair of Bower-Wilkins P7 Wireless/wired cans. But let's be honest the Apple way of things limits me to 44100.0 hz . So I am looking for a source that will let me play up to 96000.0 hz, lossless , FLAC etc. Right now I'm using a iPhone 7+ and a Audioquest Red for portability and while it sounds good I know it can be much better. Suggestions??

 
Note3 >​USB OTG> Pangea HP101 >> Sennheiser HD600. USB OTG works natively with 24/96khz but I don't set it to upsample 16/44.1.

 

[obobskivich]

I have a huge collection of CDs and a giant iTunes collection of purchased material. Ive researched Roon and HD Tracks and the Roon is completely out of the question as far a usage cost. I dont listen to my equipment enough to justify that sort of subscription cost. HD Tracks on the other hand has some promise.

You might look into a CD player that can also be used as a DAC, or ripping your CDs and going all digital, and then just sourcing from your computer that way.

 

[pofdstudios]

Yeah I'm thinking of maybe ripping them to an external solid state drive and also use that drive for any hi res Audio . I've heard Jriver is a good player

 

[obobskivich]

Yeah I'm thinking of maybe ripping them to an external solid state drive and also use that drive for any hi res Audio . I've heard Jriver is a good player

Why an SSD? There's just no point...

 

[pofdstudios]

No moving parts . Fast and stable.

 

[obobskivich]

No moving parts . Fast and stable.

Mechanical drives are going to be just as reliable, if not moreso, and significantly less expensive - not to mention you don't need anything approaching the performance of an SSD here. Of course its your money and you can do whatever you want, but there is not a single good reason for an SSD in this usage scenario. Personally I wouldn't even bother with an external drive, but I realize we are well into the world of mobile garbage taking over, and everything is going the way of USB and 7000 peripherals (with 7000 wallpacks) to do what we once accomplished from a single box.

If you do rip all of your CDs, you could integrate your various devices using iTunes and AirPlay, which would be nice. And then you have whatever output hardware at each "station" and all the same media is available house-wide. Would be very convenient. Like hook the PC up to the Woo's DAC, and the AudioQuest on the iOS device, and everything shared between, and away you go.

 

[pofdstudios]

Mechanical drives are going to be just as reliable, if not moreso, and significantly less expensive - not to mention you don't need anything approaching the performance of an SSD here. Of course its your money and you can do whatever you want, but there is not a single good reason for an SSD in this usage scenario. Personally I wouldn't even bother with an external drive, but I realize we are well into the world of mobile garbage taking over, and everything is going the way of USB and 7000 peripherals (with 7000 wallpacks) to do what we once accomplished from a single box.

If you do rip all of your CDs, you could integrate your various devices using iTunes and AirPlay, which would be nice. And then you have whatever output hardware at each "station" and all the same media is available house-wide. Would be very convenient. Like hook the PC up to the Woo's DAC, and the AudioQuest on the iOS device, and everything shared between, and away you go.

I like the way you think! lol I figured going with an external SSD hard drive would give me the greatest reliability ( since this is the second mechanical drive I replaced this year that failed) . So no matter what PC im using I can always have my library of music without worrying. The PC would indeed be hooked up to the Woo and the Audioquest I can use on my IOS devices when I travel light like when I am on the train to NYC. Althoough I think I may go with a nice set of IEMs for travel. I am a Klipsch guy from way back so I may try their X12I or if I can swing it the X20I IEMs. I downloaded JRiver last night and purchesed a Norah Jones Album off of HD Tracks and am listening to it this morning off the ipad on the VLC player through the audioquest but I cant get the little person to play above 44100.0 hz. I think its the IOS device to be honest choking the signal.

 

[obobskivich]

I like the way you think! lol I figured going with an external SSD hard drive would give me the greatest reliability ( since this is the second mechanical drive I replaced this year that failed) . So no matter what PC im using I can always have my library of music without worrying. The PC would indeed be hooked up to the Woo and the Audioquest I can use on my IOS devices when I travel light like when I am on the train to NYC. Althoough I think I may go with a nice set of IEMs for travel. I am a Klipsch guy from way back so I may try their X12I or if I can swing it the X20I IEMs. I downloaded JRiver last night and purchesed a Norah Jones Album off of HD Tracks and am listening to it this morning off the ipad on the VLC player through the audioquest but I cant get the little person to play above 44100.0 hz. I think its the IOS device to be honest choking the signal.

According to the AQ website it should work, but I don't know anything beyond that (I'm just looking things up like a trained ape here at this point ). You might try contacting AQ about it and seeing if there's something you need to do on the iOS device for it to work. And I'll add - if the content isn't >44.1k, there's no point in setting it higher, and more broadly there's really no point to >44.1k unless you're needing it to avoid SRC to a non-integer sample rate (e.g. 48k from a DVD).

I would argue with the whole "SSD will be more reliable" thing - they won't (I'm not saying "will be worse" but on the other hand, SSDs had a very long cycle of being unreliable after their mainstream release - cheap ones still should be approached with skepticism). Your two drive failures aren't enough sample points to draw any realistic conclusions. Failure rates for mechanical drives are very low on average, and they don't have the fixed read/write lifecycles that SSDs do. They're also a lot more economical for what you're doing. Sure, they won't resist being used as a hockey puck or being cooked to death, but that doesn't seem like it should be impossible to accommodate (do keep in mind a lot of external drives are just garbage - they're usually a cheap desktop drive in a poorly ventilated plastic shell and people wonder why they fail after a few years of 24x7 operation).

 

[pofdstudios]

Came across this yesterday.
 
https://us.msi.com/product/barebone/Cubi-2-Plus.html#hero-overview
 
 
Add the memory and a hard drive and " viola" !!  I thiink this just might be the ticket to what Im looking for.

 

[obobskivich]

Came across this yesterday.

https://us.msi.com/product/barebone/Cubi-2-Plus.html#hero-overview


Add the memory and a hard drive and " viola" !!  I thiink this just might be the ticket to what Im looking for.

Oh there's an ocean of Mac Mini knock-offs that run Windows (I'm sure there's some marketing-department-approved name for this category of machines, but at the most basic level, they're Mac Mini knock-offs that can't run OS X (at least legally). Since we're looking at full-blown computers: why not a Mac Mini? It'll integrate wonderfully with AirPlay and your iOS devices, and has all the connectivity you'll need for whatever audio interface/DAC/whatever. And it's a turnkey solution.

At any rate, I wouldn't personally buy an MSI (queue someone jumping down my throat about how their MSI product cured cancer or stopped global warming) - their reliability and QC has been (and remains) somewhat inconsistent, and their customer service is just as polarizing. If you're going to buy a Mac Mini knock-off that runs Windows, I'd look at Asus, Gigabyte, Alienware, or ASRock (or you could build your own machine with a NUC or mITX platform).