[ZzBOG]

Hello,

I'm building a nice setup of Harbeth hi-fi speakers & NAIM amplifier.

The problem is that my source is my laptop - Macbook PRo with EMU 0404 USB...

The huge percentage of music is stored in mp3s. I want to improve the computer source to a possible maximum, to compensate the quality of mp3s.

What should I do?

Buy a DAC? Another, higher class card (this seems unlikely, though)?
Which one?

I have about $2-3 thousand to spend on it.

 

[Sir Nobax]

. . . better then some Harbeth hi-fi speakers ..... mmmmm

3K to spend.....

*thinks*

k got it.


Go buy yourself a K1000

.

 

[ZzBOG]

I just don't like listening to headphones, when at home...
Street is Ok, but home - naah, I like speakers =)

Any advices on DACs?

 

[Sir Nobax]

The E-MU 1616M is pretty good so i've heard, while you wont loose any option's of the 0404.

Don' know of many other DAC's though

.

 

[SysteX]

Even though you have 2-3k to spend, it's going to be the mp3s that are your limiting factor (unless they're high-bitrate mp3, I'd say >256kbps). If you don't have original CDs any more, I would spend that $3k on going lossless--re-ripping all your CDs, buying CDs for the stuff you don't have anymore, or more harddrives if you need them.

 

[ZzBOG]

Actually, they are almost all 256-320 kbps...

 

[jbloudg20]

Use the optical out from your 0404, and run it to a NorthStar Dac. Should run you about 2500 used. Throw in 50-100 for a good optical cable and you are in heaven.

 

[TheVinylRipper]

I'm familiar with Naim and I went and looked at your other gear. Frankly that gear all looks very high quality and the specs are very good.

Depending on what model of the Harbeth you have, your best option might be to get a very high quality sub, crossover and amp.

Getting the low bass out of your primary speakers will probably clean the sound up more than anything else you can do. What low bass in primary speakers does is modulate the midrange coming through the woofers with the low bass signal. Essentially while the woofer is trying to reproduce the lower midrange, it is moving in and out toward and away from you. This adds a doppler effect to the midrange as the woofer cone moves toward and away from you.

This is particularly true with two way speakers where the woofer reproduces a substantial portion of the midrange, where human hearing is most sensitive.

Adding another Naim amp and a crossover might be an option also, I note that several of the Harbeth models are biamp capable which means you can use separate amps for the woofer and the tweeter. Active crossovers are almost always more accurate than passive ones and biamping adds considerable efficiency to a speaker system.

I would contact Harbeth and ask them about these two options, since they build biamp capability into their speakers they obviously don't think it is a bad idea..

http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm

 

[ZzBOG]

Actually I'm getting these babies

http://www.harbeth.co.uk/hifispeaker...rhl5/index.php

They're on the way =))

And they are not bi-ampable... Only bi-wiring, but I don't like bi-wiring..

Certainly I'm adding awoofer to them, probably something from REL....

But the dac problem remains...

Thanks, for the advice about Northstar 192!!!

 

[CarbonTi]

Another comrade of speakers hanging out at head-fi, well alright! (I'm an ATC aficionado)

Were I in your situation, I would henceforth move to saving or re-ripping music files as lossless only. So that means getting external hard drive capabilities up and running for larger files storage. I don't wish to open the debate on high bit-rate lossy versus loseless but I've found that even -preset insane LAME rips (or the Apple equivalent) color the aireness of a recording, to paraphrase Nigel Tufnel, it makes the recording "less more black". With speakers that image as well as Harbeth's I'd loath to give up any holography of the soundstage - vocals heard on a good Harbeth setup seemingly float out from nothingness!

Don't know how good the DAC is in the EMU but I'd guess there exist a few otions available that could better the EMU. Does a MacBook Pro output digital? then forego the EMU completely and tie in a Benchmark or Lavry DA10 caliber DAC. Perhaps the accuracy of a Benchmark would match well with the musicality of the Harbeth.

Change one piece at a time in the setup so you will know the effect and keep honing, you're starting from a pretty good base as is.

 

[CarbonTi]

Saw the posts on subs, etc...

The Harbeth should be capable of bi-amping as it has 4 posts for speaker connections, no? This gets the expense well over $2-3K for the cost on a capable sub alone, not counting a Marchand active cross-over and additional amp, for example. Good luck getting this together, it sounds like fun. Well, maybe not the sub integration part...

 

[LeChuck]

Does that budget include the speakers and amplifier, or is it in addition to them?

In my opinion getting a new transport (sound card) would be a waste of money, you already have a great digital out that supports ASIO in the EMU-0404.

Really all you're looking for here is a quality source (DAC). I'll go out and recommend the Stello DA100 because I have one, and I think it's just exceptional, I prefer it to my Benchmark. Given your budget, you could pull a DA220 Mk.2, a Benchmark DAC1, or virtually any other high-end DAC within reason. The options are endless.

If the speakers and amplifier have to come out of that budget, then I'd recommend going with the DA100. I doubt you'd be able to hear the difference.

Like others have mentioned, it would be a good idea to rip everything into a lossless format from this point forward. Even if the difference between 320Kbps MP3 (and even more so OGG and MPC) is virtually imperceptible from lossless, it's alway comforting to know that you're working with the original unadulterated track - especially when running it through expensive equipment.

 

[laxx]

I say go with a Stello DA220 MkI since you already have optical/coaxial/aes from the 0404 USB. It'll save you a few hundred if you get teh DA220 used (goes for as low as $750 to around $900). That would solve your source and I'd spend the rest on an external harddrive and CD's. Lossless is the way to go.

 

[rlanger]

The Stello is an excellent recommendation for a DAC, and given your budget, I would personally go with the DA220 MkI rather than the DA100.

I personally don't think that you need to re-rip to lossless given the current quality of your files. Although, you may want to experiment once you have a new source to see if it makes a big enough difference to warrant the time and expense. For me though, I have no problem with anything above 256.

 

[vcoheda]

forget lossy. if it's not for dap use, rerip to lossless and get a good dac.