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I need a DAC between my Mac and my Parasound P7/A21. Any suggestions?
USB endowed DACs appeared all over CES last week. Do you have need for one?
I selected "not sure" because my real answer is " No, and I already have one..." Funny thing, I'm still an old-couch audiophile who bought this little DAC (MHDT Constantine) which is USB-ready—but I'm the one not ready to use it as intended.
I use the Behringer U-Control UCA202. This item costs $35, delivered. It functions as a plug and play USB DAC, USB to S/PDIF converter, and headphone amp. It also lets you convert analog signals to digital files. How does it sound? For $35, buy one and find out. I'll say this though, pro audio users won't put up with a lot of the nonsense audiophiles seem to thrive on.
Computers don't go near my main system, so no need for a USB DAC right now. But I can see the advantage of a music server at some point in the future. Of course, it would be much better to have a direct Ethernet connection, but I guess a USB port would be useful for playing stuff from other sources.
I want FireWire, not USB! If all the USB DACs currently available are any indication, the USB platform can only handle 96kHz sample rates. FireWire can pass 192. The asynchronous vs isosyncronous debate is moot with FW. The issue is cost. The cheapest FireWire DAC I'm aware of is the Weiss Minerva at approximately $5000. As it seems FireWire is the only existing way to get higher than 96kHz data off your computer without resorting to expensive esoteric sound cards (an impossibility for those of us with laptops), I'm waiting (but not holding my breath) for a less expensive FireWire solution.
What's more, I also have a FireWire DAC/ADC, and should I ever upgrade, FireWire it would be (Weiss DAC2). Producing a DAC without computer connections in this day and age of computer-based streaming, FireWire, USB, or (ideally) both, is madness. Worse, it's useless.
I am looking at USB DACs to replace an ageing SoundBlaster external DAC. Note that I almost solely play stored Red Book CDs in basic stereo. The SoundBlaster is quite fine when used to "convert" USB to S/PDIF. It adds no coloration compared very carefully to the original CDs. The stupid little plastic box shows how good $69 can sound in a simple configuration. Using an appropriate lossless codec, plus attention paid to the nitty-gritty setup of your computer, it makes much more audible difference than the digital hardware. I'll probably choose a multimedia player with a 1TB HD (under $200) for my relatively simple system.
With ultra low-jitter alternatives to the USB port, such as the M2Tech hiFace, USB inputs on DACs are not really necessary for connecting your PC to your audio system any more. Any DAC with an S/PDIF or BNC input can now be connected to the PC and receive high-resolution audio streams up to 24/192. This is good for audio. Very good. So is the emerging trend of companies like Reference Recordings and HDTracks making high-resolution files available. This will only increase over the coming months with bandwidth and storage becoming ever faster and cheaper. Sure, the PC as a music transport has lots of room for improvement, but nearly everybody owns one and already downloads music. I predict that Apple, and others, wanting to keep sales of their iPods going, will soon be selling "high-def" iPods, and hopefully the industry that helped to introduce the world to accesable, albeit poor quality, music will bring good-sounding music back into fashion. This could be huge...