USB to Digital converter

I would HEARTILY recommend Empirical Audio's USB to AES/EBU converter.

Form their website :
http://www.empiricalaudio.com

USB to S/PDIF Coaxial converters
Custom circuit-board designs - not a mod
All have lower jitter than any stock or even modded Transport
AES/EBU versions also available
Standard with a short S/PDIF coaxial cable permanently attached with strain-relief
Each comes with licensed copy of SRC, the best 24/96 upsampler on the market
Each comes with an 8 foot USB cable
All will pass 16/44.1kHz, 24/96kHz, MP3 and iTunes unmodified files
AC3 support is available using the M-Audio driver
Works wonderfully with both PC and MAC

You will have to order the AES/EBU as an option.

I'm told its about US $ 1,100.

I heard it at A2V fed from a Vanila (Sony) Laptop running Vista, Theta Gen VII DAC and B&W 802D speakers. It beat the AR-CD-3 CD Player by a mile.

Sound: Simply DIVINE

Our common friend has now bought it and is running it into his Gen VIII.

Operated from 12 Volt Lead Acid sealed Battery for optimal results.

The UD-10 costs US $ 120 and it works, but not in the same league by any Streatch...

Hi Dinyaar,

Yes, heard of the Off Ramp. Was wondering if there are any other options.
Anyone selling the Empirical here?

Thanks.

I am sure that A2V can source if for you.
However, reading teir website, they say, that they typically sell directly to the end user.....

I'm sure there are other prioducts, but since I have heard and liked this one, I would not take Pot Shots with Others like the UD-10.

Why ask and borrow the UD-10 ? Its just lying around, I think. Keep in mind the sound diff is chalk and cheese....

In the mean time, ENJOY your new CD Player. I envy you

Dear MSB,

You could also consider the dCS Puccini U Clock.

The U Clock is essentially a Master clock with a built in USB to SPDIF converter.

So if your Cary has a Word Clock input, it shall improve the performance further.

For more information -

http://www.dcsltd.co.uk/product/puccini-u-clock

Regards
SNV

with 1000$ u can buy a new laptop with spdif output...

Amp_Nut schrieb:

I would HEARTILY recommend Empirical Audio's USB to AES/EBU converter. Form their website : http://www.empiricalaudio.com USB to S/PDIF Coaxial converters Custom circuit-board designs - not a mod All have lower jitter than any stock or even modded Transport AES/EBU versions also available Standard with a short S/PDIF coaxial cable permanently attached with strain-relief Each comes with licensed copy of SRC, the best 24/96 upsampler on the market Each comes with an 8 foot USB cable All will pass 16/44.1kHz, 24/96kHz, MP3 and iTunes unmodified files AC3 support is available using the M-Audio driver Works wonderfully with both PC and MAC You will have to order the AES/EBU as an option. I'm told its about US $ 1,100. I heard it at A2V fed from a Vanila (Sony) Laptop running Vista, Theta Gen VII DAC and B&W 802D speakers. It beat the AR-CD-3 CD Player by a mile. Sound: Simply DIVINE Our common friend has now bought it and is running it into his Gen VIII. Operated from 12 Volt Lead Acid sealed Battery for optimal results. The UD-10 costs US $ 120 and it works, but not in the same league by any Streatch...

I think that Steve Nugent is challenged pricing his stuff reasonably. The sonics might be good but his pricing is (needlessly) stratospheric.

bombaywalla schrieb:

I think that Steve Nugent is challenged pricing his stuff reasonably. The sonics might be good but his pricing is (needlessly) stratospheric. :.

True that definitely is the case.

neono schrieb:

with 1000$ u can buy a new laptop with spdif output... :.

well not really the option being looked at with regard to jitter.

it ok if one is looking for a laptop and also a "By the way " spdif" output but if one already has a laptop for this then its better to pay $1100 for an overpriced empirical audio than a delicated laptop

neono schrieb:

with 1000$ u can buy a new laptop with spdif output...

Suggestions please...
Which lap top comes with a spdif output ? Please do help & guide....

I was to buy a Lynx L22 Sound Card only to get the digital out from a computer & the damn card costs 750 US $'s
So 1 K for a lap top might be a really cheap solution...
Thanks..

sir for a sub 700 USD budget the best it to get a Mac Mini.
better and smaller than a laptop. you can get a 7" lcd screen for a display (around 7k INR) and get a small keyboard/trackpad (around 1.5K) as well...

Arj schrieb:

sir for a sub 700 USD budget the best it to get a Mac Mini. ..

How do I connect this Mac Mini to a DAC ?
That is the main thing.

If I get a Laptop @ US $'s 1/- K with spdif out, then I can connect it to a DAC.
Does the Mac Mini give me a spdif out ? I am not so sure....
Thanks,

Only prob with a Mac Mini (and all things Apple, I believe) is flac compatibility. It just won't play your flac files!*
And I have plenty flac files (thank you herculepirate) on my very very basic Acer Aspire 4720 laptop which incidentally also has an SPDIF output.

*Somebody please, please tell me I'm wrong here!

bhagwan69 schrieb:

How do I connect this Mac Mini to a DAC ? That is the main thing.

similiar to an airport express , it has a Toslink digital out.

ideally a $100 used Monarchy DIP is a good match for it..

Shahrukh schrieb:

*Somebody please, please tell me I'm wrong here!

Shahrukh you are wrong !

OS X playes FLAC..it is the previous OS which cannot

SNV schrieb:

Dear MSB, You could also consider the dCS Puccini U Clock. The U Clock is essentially a Master clock with a built in USB to SPDIF converter. So if your Cary has a Word Clock input, it shall improve the performance further. For more information - http://www.dcsltd.co.uk/product/puccini-u-clock Regards SNV

Hi,
Must be a great product but at $3950 this is more than I'm willing to spend at the moment for a USB to AES converter (what I will use it for).

Does anyone have any experience with the Toslink out on the mini-mac? That may be a superb option. How does it compare to using the USB out with a converter?

All onboard SPDIF outputs whether PC or MAC are based on realtek HD codecs. To put it bluntly, they sound worse than dog poop when connected to a good DAC. The reason is first of all the interference from the other PC components on the same PCB as the audio chip. The second is an inherent limitation of all onboard audio chips which internally resample the audio to either 16/48 or 24/96 and this resampling is done in a very very shoddy manner.

Frankly if you wish to use a computer as a source, get a professional soundcard for SPDIF output. I use an EMU 1212M which I feel offers the least jitter coaxial out for the price (~150$). It also allows itself to be slaved to a master world clock if available though I've not tried out this option. I compared this to a Trends Audio UD10 recently and I'm happy I chose the EMU over the trends. The EMU is significantly better.

The other option is the hard to procure ESI Juli@ for a similar price. The SPDIF output on this is supposed to be the same as the LynxTWO (now called L22) which bhagwan69 recommended.

Must be a great product but at $3950 this is more than I'm willing to spend at the moment for a USB to AES converter (what I will use it for).

Yes, that US $ 3950 price is Absurd ! You would probably be at the dcS price point !

However, A2V had told me it was for Rs 50 K ( approx US $ 1 K, so I presume that the 3950 product is bundled with the benchmark DAC that would otherwise sell for US $ 1200.

Drop Empirical Audio a line... or maybe even A2V ... ?

Do let us know the feedback.

Thanks

"Yes, that US $ 3950 price is Absurd ! You would probably be at the dcS price point !"

3950 is the price I found online for the DCS U-Clock.

IME AVI/A2V does not reply to emails unless the order is worth $10K or more.

I will send Empirical a mail and see what they can offer.

Thanks.

msb1 schrieb:

"I will send Empirical a mail and see what they can offer.

Sir,
Find me an HTPC Case in India.
A.N. this is a request for you too;
Please.
I have my sound card in place;
[M Audio Delta 1010]
I will buy a Power Supply from Corsair VX 450W Power Supply :-
http://www.primeabgb...virtuemart&Itemid=28
1TB of Western Digital HDD

Get the Server started -
Control it from my Lap Top so I do not need any Keyboard / Mouse etc. No Wires [Wi Fi Network Connection]
I just need that BOX - Please do help - suggest..
Thanks ..

The Antec NSK 2480 is available in India. Here is a link

http://www.theitdepo...=354&product_id=2656

6000 odd including a good 380W power supply is quite a nice deal. The earthwatts is made by seasonic - the same OEM as the Corsair VX450.

Is any case available here with an integrated touchscreen and remote sensor like the Zalman, etc.?

Guys, check out:

http://www.zerooneaudio.com/

It implements almost everything that we are looking for.

The transport not only re-reads if required ( like EAC ) but also Upsamples ( user Selectable ) and even adds ( user selactable, Dithered noise to provide blacker percieved backgrounds and better persceived sound when read-stored-replayed from HDD compared to direct playback on the same transport.

Check out this tnt review:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/zero-one_e.html



I am taking it home tonight for a listen. Will probably listen to it closely tomorrow or on Sunday.

Anyone in Mumbai wanna drop by ? PM me.

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Guys, check out: http://www.zerooneaudio.com/ It implements almost everything that we are looking for. The transport not only re-reads if required ( like EAC ) but also Upsamples ( user Selectable ) and even adds ( user selactable, Dithered noise to provide blacker percieved backgrounds and better persceived sound when read-stored-replayed from HDD compared to direct playback on the same transport. Check out this tnt review: http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/zero-one_e.html I am taking it home tonight for a listen. Will probably listen to it closely tomorrow or on Sunday. Anyone in Mumbai wanna drop by ? PM me.

Looks good. Eager to know your impression. Is it available in India?

Yes, its available in India.
Dealer is Nova Audio, Mumbai

Tel: 022-26007700
E-Mail: novaudio@gmail.com

My demo unit is from them.

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Yes, its available in India. Dealer is Nova Audio, Mumbai Tel: 022-26007700 E-Mail: novaudio@gmail.com My demo unit is from them.

Excellent will speak to S.A. once we hear your comments. What will you compare it to? Do you think you could take it to our common friends place in your building and compare with his player/empirical?

While you're at it, demo the Sine cables from Nova. Pretty good.

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Guys, check out: http://www.zerooneaudio.com/ It implements almost everything that we are looking for.

From what I could read it uses a dedicated HDD..do you know if it has any option to read/write to an external HDD ?

reignofchaos schrieb:

6000 odd including a good 380W power supply is quite a nice deal. The earthwatts is made by seasonic - the same OEM as the Corsair VX450.

Thanks ROC !

This I am aware of;
However, it does not have a 'display'

None the less, thanks.

Please do explain the Power Supply part of things;
Corsair is good to buy or not ? What do you recommend ?
What is Seasonic ?
Since you are from the field, please do shed some light.
It would be appreciated. Thanks,,,,

msb1 schrieb:

Is any case available here with an integrated touchscreen and remote sensor like the Zalman, etc.?

Yes,
This is what I am looking for.
Any suggestions ?
Antec os Ok Ok. Need a 'better product' !

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Guys, check out: http://www.zerooneaudio.com/ It implements almost everything that we are looking for. The transport not only re-reads if required ( like EAC ) but also Upsamples ( user Selectable ) and even adds ( user selactable, Dithered noise to provide blacker percieved backgrounds and better persceived sound when read-stored-replayed from HDD compared to direct playback on the same transport. Check out this tnt review: http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/zero-one_e.html I am taking it home tonight for a listen. Will probably listen to it closely tomorrow or on Sunday. Anyone in Mumbai wanna drop by ? PM me.

Amp_Nut, I heard this piece along with their DAC unit over a year ago at Nova. I've forgotten the exact sound signature but I do remember it to be quite detailed yet non fatiguing. I thought they could do with a better amp than the one they were using (AA). Even the MA speakers (RS6 I believe) weren't doing the duo the justice they deserved.

bhagwan69 schrieb:

reignofchaos schrieb: 6000 odd including a good 380W power supply is quite a nice deal. The earthwatts is made by seasonic - the same OEM as the Corsair VX450. Thanks ROC ! This I am aware of; However, it does not have a 'display' None the less, thanks. Please do explain the Power Supply part of things; Corsair is good to buy or not ? What do you recommend ? What is Seasonic ? Since you are from the field, please do shed some light. It would be appreciated. Thanks,,,,

Sorry for the delay in replying. Corsair does not make its own power supplies. It actually outsources it to a third party which does it on their behalf - seasonic in this case. Its hard to find a case with an LCD display in India.

reignofchaos schrieb:

The other option is the hard to procure ESI Juli@ for a similar price. The SPDIF output on this is supposed to be the same as the LynxTWO (now called L22) which bhagwan69 recommended.

I currently have my DIY DAC (the one you had for a while) set up with on board SPDIF output from my Gigabyte EP45-UD3p motherboard. I like the sound a lot. Using Blue jeans cable for the coaxial , to the DAc and the analog out to a mini3 amp and then to an assortment of headphones from HD580, Yamaha Yh-100, Pioneer Monitor 10 and Beyerdynamic DT770s.

I like it a lot.

But looking at the ESI juli@ now for a better spdif output. I would love to try it out..

Is it definitely worth the upgrade in your opinion?

Do let me know reign.

Excellent will speak to S.A. once we hear your comments. What will you compare it to? Do you think you could take it to our common friends place in your building and compare with his player/empirical? While you're at it, demo the Sine cables from Nova. Pretty good.

MSB

Sorry for this VERY delayed post.

I dont think our common friend will be comfortable swaping his equipment around...

I had then compared the Player to my Denon 2900 Universal player.

The Denon was a leaner presentation. I agree with Sharukh's comments :

I heard this piece along with their DAC unit over a year ago at Nova. I've forgotten the exact sound signature but I do remember it to be quite detailed yet non fatiguing. I thought they could do with a better amp than the one they were using (AA). Even the MA speakers (RS6 I believe) weren't doing the duo the justice they deserved.

Yes, MSB, thanks for the pointer. the Sine Interconnects are VERY nice, infact I may buy their Interconnect.

Incidentally, on my system, there was no ( ? ) difference between the CD Player outputing Balanced or Unbalanced outputs. I was fortunate to have Both - Balanced & Unbalanced cables for this comparision.

Arj said :

From what I could read it uses a dedicated HDD..do you know if it has any option to read/write to an external HDD ?

Sadly, that is one of its drawbacks. I already have more than 250 CDs of Boutique Audiophile labels, on HDD.

Only way to gfet it on the ZERO-ONE is to burn each on CDR and then feed it to the 0-1.

As 0-1 says, their primary aim is to create a leading edge HDD Based CD playback system.

I am sure there must be a way of putting that internal HDD into an external USB type case and trying to see if the dtabase structure can be hacked into any idea of the format it uses to store ?
if it does store any clock info then it cannot be a standard format right ?

1. Yes, ofcourse you can pull out the HDD from the 0-1 and throw in songs.... However, as you correctly mentioned, those songs need to be stored in the Database heircy / folder structure of its database.

( Ever looked into the folder in your iTunes ?

If files are not in that folder structure & folder name, the 0-1 HDD will not recognise the song, and cannot retrive it from the HDD for playback....

The 0-1 had a CD databse of more than 1 GB for identifying ( most ) known CDs, and their individual song names. EAC users will know what I am talking about, but EAC goes on the 'net to get the details, while the 0-1 HDD has it locally.


2. The Clock signal emerges only when the WAV file is being played

Amp_Nut schrieb:

( Ever looked into the folder in your iTunes ?

The iTunes folder is easy.. but if you look into theiPOD ..thats when it gets scary Apple changes the name of the file and then uses and internal cross referencing Database

The 0-1 had a CD databse of more than 1 GB for identifying ( most ) known CDs, and their individual song names. EAC users will know what I am talking about, but EAC goes on the 'net to get the details, while the 0-1 HDD has it locally.

must be using Freedb. if you want you can also download it (there is an online version which EAC uses ) and if required you can also create a local version for all that you rip . I do that to create a local one of all that i have ripped.
there is also an option of downloading the latest Freedb ..comes to around 1GB

Yes, the 0-1 uses freedb.

if you want you can also download it (there is an online version which EAC uses ) and if required you can also create a local version for all that you rip . I do that to create a local one of all that i have ripped. there is also an option of downloading the latest Freedb ..comes to around 1GB

I have been trying to figure that out, for 2 years now !

Can you PLEASE HELP ?

IO would like EAC to refer to the downloaded Freedb. Is that possible ?

Also are incremental downloads / updates available periodically for Freedb ?

It would be a dream come tru, if I could get this local databse going on my laptop...

Thanks !

There you go..

http://ftp.freedb.org/pub/freedb/

just choose the latest. it is closer to 600MB than 1 GB as i initially thought

you can go to Freedb options via the F12 key in EAC and in the 2nd tab set the path for the local one. Needless to say you can add to the local freedb..but from a community service makes sense to contribute to the online one as well.


There is an updater also available which can batch update the local one..never tried it though.


AN. i really feel a home made HTPC is the way to go now. DOubt if the 0-1 is any different ? are there any "Audiophile grade" CDROMS available ?
A good clock on it , a strong Chassis, an outboard SMPS and XP running with only basic services should do the trip. an older version of any processor such that itneeds a less noisy fan is also an option and hence a smaller form factor.

Thanks for the freedb details.

Will try it out this weekend.

Almost a dream come true.... for me when I take my laptop to friends places to Rip their CDs while I listen to music

Now my Cue files will have all the track names ..

Last week, Bhagwan69 sent me a document / manual that Very Neatly explained the benefits of FireWire over USB ( Its not just speed ).

I think its a Must Read for anyone interested in the various Computer DAC interfaces .

Firewire vs USB Firewire is a peer-to-peer protocol, meaning that every device on a Firewire network is equally capable of talking to every other device. Two video cameras on a Firewire network can share data with each other. A Firewire audio interface could save sound data directly to a Firewire hard drive. Your computer is just another peer on this network, and has no inherent special status. Firewire is always implemented in hardware, with a special controller chip on every device. So the load it puts on your CPU is much lighter than USB communications load, and you're much less likely to lose any sound data just because you're running fifteen things at once. Specialized hardware usually makes things faster and more reliable, and this is one of those times. But the real reason Firewire is more reliable than USB is more fundamental than that. It's because Firewire allows two operating modes. One is asynchronous, similar to what USB uses. The other is isochronous mode,and it lets a device carve out a certain dedicated amount of bandwidth that other devices can’t touch. It gets a certain number of time slices each second all its own. The advantages for audio should be obvious: that stream of data can just keep on flowing, and as long as there isn't more bandwidth demand than the wire can handle (not very likely) nothing will interfere with it. No collisions, no glitches. From a practical perspective, this also makes it safer to send a lot more audio via Firewire. That's why most of the multichannel interfaces (18 channels, 24 channels, etc.) are Firewire devices, and USB devices usually just send a two channel stereo signal. For hooking up your mouse, keyboard or thumb drive, USB is plenty fast and plenty cheap. For hard drives, either one will do (although Firewire is somewhat more reliable). For audio devices, USB will do fine if no other devices are competing with it and if you have processor room to spare. But Firewire will always be able to handle more load with lower latency and no glitches, because it has resources it can set aside to make sure your audio gets where it needs to go.

Nice article ..thanks or sharing !

Wonder if there are any good Firewire to SPDIF devices around ?

VESTA from Weiss

http://www.weiss-highend.ch/vesta/index.html

Thanks AN. apparently it costs USD4200

at that price i could get an empirical audio top-of-the-Line USB controller and a dedicated PC with maxed out RAM

YES !

But then you would not get the Ultra Cool "isochronous mode" available on Firewire

( Guess the Apple Looby will not miss this chance to applaud... Firewire was invented by Apple

Talking of memory, its turned Dirt Cheap.

Last Saturday's prices : Rs 400 per GB for PC RAM - current flavour. ( All earlier and obsolete flavours / speeds like DDR-2 400MHz are ofcourse more expensive )

What Really HIT me is that Memory stick prices are even Lower :

4 GB Rs 400 ( Am told was Rs 375 before the trucker's strike !)

8 GB Rs 800

Both above are with bill & warranty, reputed brands.

Memory Based HDDs are just around the corner... ?

Can Windows XP use more than 3 GB or ram ?
I was just building my music server & i was 'informed' that XP cannot work on more than 3 GB of RAM.

I got 4 GB of DDR 800 Ram.

640 GB X 02 of HDD
ASUS Mother Board
Antec Case.
etc. etc.

XP has no such limitation.

In fact when Windos Vista was launched, I was told that Vista would not use more than 2 GB of RAM. It would show whatever RAM was installed but would use only 2 GB. This was of course an unconfirmed report. I amk told that Vista no l;onger has any such limitation. May be it has been fixed through one of the zillion patches... ?

However, what I have now learned (actually just last week when I bought RAM for my PC & laptop) was that the max RAM usable is dependant on the MOTHER BOARD !

Check your Mother Board manual or search the internet for your Mother Board's specifications. These will indicate e.g. : "Upto 2 GB RAM".

I did not know this and only now realise that my PC can use a max of 2 GB. Ditto for my Fujitsu laptop.

IT is also dependent upon the operating system.

IF you are running a 32 bit OS, ten total memory that can be accessed is 4GB (includes the memory for Graphics).

I currently have 8GB installed on my machine running at 533Mhz though the motherboard can support up to 16GB and 896MB of graphics at 725Mhz.

Running Windows 7 beta, Ubuntu 64 bit and xp 64 bit on it..

but why would you need more than 4GB if the pc is used only for playing ? i thought memory is required only for applications requiring it like multimedia editing etc. for a server dedicated as a Media server, shouldnt 1GB be more than enough ?

Researched " Memory Limits for Windows Releases "

I was wrong in saying that Windows XP and Vista have no limit on RAM Usage.

I searched the Microsoft site for " Memory Limits for Windows Releases "


http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx

There are links on this page for different Windows versions.

For Win XP its at :

http://msdn.microsof...ry_limits_windows_xp

The Microsoft document says that for XP Pro its:

4 GB for the 32 Bit version

128 GB for the 64 Bit version.

The net also has posts which talk of modifying the boot.ini file to increase the max memory ...

The Motherboard limitation that I mentioned would also kick in.

But the final word, I guess is by Arj... if used exclusively as a Music Server, ... dont need much RAM

My music server runs an old single core AMD 3000+ CPU underclocked/undervolted to 1.2GHz with 1GB of ancient DDR1 and a passive FX5200 card.

There are only two 120mm fans - one exhaust and one intake/hard drive cooling fan. These are further reduced to a mere 800rpm.The CPU fan almost never turns on. The noise produced by this machine is below the noise floor of the room.

This is more than enough to play any music I throw at it including 24/96 or 24/192 when I had my old DAC. Now with a NOS dac, all my listening is limited to 16/48 or 16/44.