[audioengr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haloxt /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^This is why I gave up on computer as transport, too many issues. Not saying it's bad, I actually got my computer to sound better than my other transports with a few tweaks, but it's just such a mess to overcome all the obstacles. We're starting to see products like Western Digital hard drive media players, and I'm hoping for an audio electronics company to pick up on the concept and make an audiophile version. Minimalistic hardware, accurate (or less inaccurate) software, and the convenience of storing music in a hard drive. Battery power would be nice too, I've also about had it trying to deal with "dirty power" .

I consider computer audio simpler than vinyl, where in order to have good results you must have:

1) LP cleaners and treatments
2) stylus gauges and setup procedures
3) expensive turntable
4) special preamp
5) special cartridge

And then you have to search through your LP library, which takes a room to itself, in order to find an album, and then after you find the album, you must queue-up the track you want to hear.

No thanks.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audioengr /img/forum/go_quote.gif I dont know if you are trying to be fececious (sp?) or not, but there are actually a LOT of things you can do: 1) for Mac, add Amarra or Pure Vinyl to improve iTunes 2) for PC, bypass Kmixer using Kernel Streaming or Wasapi 3) rip your tracks using dbpoweramp with Accurate Rip enabled 4) Rip to AIFF or .wav format 5) use an external device for S/PDIF conversion with its own power supply 6) change the power supply for (5) to LI or SLA battery 7) use an async protocol from USB or Firewire ports 8) choose the best-sounding USB port if you ar using USB Steve N. Empirical Audio

Not being facetious at all.

All my computers are XP running PCs.

I use optical out of 2 Shuttles to a Stello DA100 > M^3 and Woo3.

USB out of an HP laptop > Blue Circle Thingee (I use both optical and coaxial outputs) > North Star MKII > GS-1 and another M^3.

Headphones are 650s, '03 880s and 701s.

I use ASIO4ALL and foobar.

I don't buy CDs and rip much anymore, but when I did, I ripped to flac and 320. Now, out of laziness, I download 256 from Amazon.

Mostly, though, I listen to high bit rate internet radio for the sheer variety it offers. I've found classical at 320 and 256, jazz and modern at 192.... and artists from all over the world, like Francoise Hardy.

I realize all the gear I've listed amounts to no more than mid-fi, so I was wondering what components you might recommend for a "resolving" system?

USG

 

[haloxt]

audioengr, what I mean is the computer architecture itself must be heavily modified to be a theoretically ideal transport. It's like trying to carve a statue out of a piece of granite way too big, or out of a material that's not particularly suited for carving. Speaking from a consumer POV

, most people would sell their souls for convenience, and I would like to see a transport with the convenience of computer storage but forgoing all the inessential hardware/software combined with the components to make it audiophile-grade. There's some people doing crazy things like underclocking the CPU, using smaller sticks of RAM, to make a good computer transport. I think it might be more rational to build from the ground up not top down.

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haloxt /img/forum/go_quote.gif audioengr, what I mean is the computer architecture itself must be heavily modified to be a theoretically ideal transport. It's like trying to carve a statue out of a piece of granite way too big, or out of a material that's not particularly suited for carving. Speaking from a consumer POV , most people would sell their souls for convenience, and I would like to see a transport with the convenience of computer storage but forgoing all the inessential hardware/software combined with the components to make it audiophile-grade. There's some people doing crazy things like underclocking the CPU, using smaller sticks of RAM, to make a good computer transport. I think it might be more rational to build from the ground up not top down.

Hi Halo

Wondering what underclocking and smaller sticks of RAM do for a music computer?

USG

 

[haloxt]

Less power draw.

 

[digger945]

Am I imagining things or are there some posts missing here?

 

[rosgr63]

I think so too!

 

[haloxt]

A "member of the trade" was directly asked about product suggestions and he brought up his own products

too bad, a lot of interesting information was deleted even though it came before the forum rule breach.

 

[upstateguy]

Apparently the consensuses of opinion is that the HiFace is the best of the inexpensive transports under review.

Has any one been able to compare it to the Blue Circle Thingee I'm currently using (or a Trends UD 10.1)?

Does anyone have an opinion if the HiFace is in the same league as the Stello or Bel Canto transports?

USG

 

[himynameis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hawkhead /img/forum/go_quote.gif I tried a USB extension cable with the Hiface - a Belkin Signature cable. It was dreadful (in comparison)

I just received a custom made 50 cm USB extender from AQVOX

I am yet to use it with HiFace.

PS: The price for the extender was... [size=xx-small]140 euros[/size]

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

Originally Posted by himynameis /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just received a custom made 50 cm USB extender from AQVOX I am yet to use it with HiFace. PS: The price for the extender was... [size=xx-small]140 euros[/size]

I would be very intersted to know if you heard any sonic difference with the usb extender as I am thinking of getting one.

I was using a heavy cable (the Oyaide db-510) with the hiface, and it seems to have put too much stress on it. It stopped working a few days ago. I talked to Marco (m2tech) about the problem and he seems to think that the something must have gone loose inside. So for now I sent it back for repair and ordered a Teralink X2 while waiting.

While the usb extender could be a good idea to relieve the stress(weight) from the usb port, it could also prove beneficial to the sound quality if there is any kind of passive filtering of the power drawn from the usb port. For example if the lines that carry the power in the usb cable have a high capacitance, it would filter out some high frequency garbage generated by the power supply of the computer. Of course, this is only speculation and only my opinion.

 

[rosgr63]

Quote:

Originally Posted by himynameis /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just received a custom made 50 cm USB extender from AQVOX I am yet to use it with HiFace. PS: The price for the extender was... [size=xx-small]140 euros[/size]

As the hiface is asynchronous you could have saved a lot of money buying a cheap USB extender.
Of course it's no match for the AQVOX but would have been OK I reckon.

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rosgr63 /img/forum/go_quote.gif As the hiface is asynchronous you could have saved a lot of money buying a cheap USB extender. Of course it's no match for the AQVOX but would have been OK I reckon.

As I see things (but I could be wrong), the usb extender (for the hiface) carry 2 things: the data and the power.
1. Since the Hiface is async and properly built, we can assume that the data will not be affected by the quality of the usb extender.
2. Since the Hiface draws its power from the usb port, the quality of the usb extender will play a big role in the final outcome.

So the way I see it, if AQVOX built a usb extender for the specific purpose of filtering the power drawn from the usb port (by increasing the capacitance for example), it could improve the performance of the Hiface.

As I said earlier, this is just a theory and I might be wrong on this.

 

[slim.a]

I don't know if anybody posted this earlier but I came accross this usb to spdif converter: Morello USB-SPDIF 24bit/192khz Enabler - Max | Diy HiFi Supply. It is a modded Musiland 01 USD and it uses a tube in the digital section ...

 

[regal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slim.a /img/forum/go_quote.gif 2. Since the Hiface draws its power from the usb port, the quality of the usb extender will play a big role in the final outcome. .

It almost impossible to turn a computers +5V USB supply to a good digital power supply.