[yaufei]

I am looking for an upgrade for my source very soon.

Right now my main source is a superpro usb dac running off my mbp.

I have a budget of about $1000 and I am not sure which will be a better upgrade: a USB DAC or a CD player.

Some factors to consider as well
1. I recently got most of my music on to iTunes(apple loseless) and i enjoyed the convenience of using it

2. I may go the balanced route in the future(new amp, balanced cables for my hd650 etc). Is it something i should worry now(source with balanced output)?

 

[Genelex]

with that kind of budget you can get both dac and a cd player .

 

[tosehee]

Go with Buffalo 32s.

 

[WesMiaw]

No need to limit yourself to a USB DAC if you have a MacBook Pro, as it should support optical straight out via mini-TOSLink.

IMO, a good DAC will be worth more than a good CDP because you can feed both your computer and a CDP to the same DAC.

 

[somestranger26]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WesMiaw /img/forum/go_quote.gif No need to limit yourself to a USB DAC if you have a MacBook Pro, as it should support optical straight out via mini-TOSLink. IMO, a good DAC will be worth more than a good CDP because you can feed both your computer and a CDP to the same DAC.

Agreed. Go for a DAC, with $1000 you could get something truly breathtaking.

 

[fhuang]

do you plan to use cd or files to listen to music? by the way, not much people use cd player here.

 

[somestranger26]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fhuang /img/forum/go_quote.gif do you plan to use cd or files to listen to music? by the way, not much people use cd player here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yaufei 1. I recently got most of my music on to iTunes(apple loseless) and i enjoyed the convenience of using it

And plenty of people use CDPs here...

 

[The Monkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WesMiaw /img/forum/go_quote.gif No need to limit yourself to a USB DAC if you have a MacBook Pro, as it should support optical straight out via mini-TOSLink. IMO, a good DAC will be worth more than a good CDP because you can feed both your computer and a CDP to the same DAC.

Good advice here.

 

[yaufei]

thank you for all the replies

i have decided to go for a DAC. hwoever i am abit confused on the optical out on my mbp. is it the same one as the 3.5mm stereo/headphone out? what kind of cable will i need to connect it to a DAC?

 

[Cankin]

Apple combined both optical/headphone output into one, all you need is this:

For only $0.48 each when QTY 50+ purchased - Toslink Female to Toslink Mini Male Adapter | Toslink Adapter