mac mini into dac magic

You could try one of the new asynchronous USB DACs such as the Arcam rdac or HRT Streamers to connect the apple via USB. For a reasonably cheap solution it sounds good, but you may find still not so good that it does justice to your amp. 

Rega Dac!

The Mac Mini is absolute fine - I think your system is let down by the Cambridge Audio DAC. I don;t think this will come anywhere the near the quality of a Naim CDP. I've not heard the Rega or Arcam DAC, but assuming it is new Mac Mini then you want a DAC that accepts optical S/PDIF, as this is very quiet jitter free to process music from the Mac. OK, the Naim and BAD Alpha DACs are the best I've heard, but you have said they are a bit pricey - so my recommendation for audition/trial would be the Chordette Peach - unless you want to play 192 KHz samples, which it won't do.  Please ignore its USB port and use S/PDIF with a cable like the Wireworld Supernova 6 (my favourite optical cable), the USB is just a marketing gimmick that they felt they had to include in my opinion (I mean that in the context of the Peach, not all DACs). The APT-X is really clever and very worthwhile though. The Chordette Gem I used to use sounded superb through APT-X and the Peach is the same, with the added benefit of S/PDIF. 

Now you have three possible DAC alternatives; if you choose a USB one then make sure it has galvanic isolation or you'll get a bit of Mac noise. 

Doesn't asynchronous usb, like network streaming, turn the master clock over to the streamer/DAC? At least, that's the blurb - you overcome any timing issues associated with the PC/Mac's sound board. 

EJ

Hello EJ

The Chord Peach doesn't have an asynchronous USB.

(I think the same applies to the Rega, but not sure)

It is adaptive. 

Hence my comment was directed at an audition of this device.

However, USB is far from ideal as it is electrically noisy (RFI/EMI).

A well engineered USB DAC can alleviate this as can using a USB cable that separates the power from the signal.

So there are USB DACs that work well. 

My comments are also Mac specific.

This may be different for a PC; I haven't ever used one to play music.

For most Macs, a USB to S/PDIF interface works best, but the the latest Mac Mini has a very well made optical out that it seems a shame not to use it, 

The old Mac Mini with a built in CD had a very poor optical out - so USB or Firewire was definitely preferable. 

All the best, Guy

Hi EJ,

You should absolutelu have a listen to the North Star Essension which has a-synchronyous USB and various Sp/Dif Tosslink and Coax connections. This DAC is very open en warm in it's sound and perfectly matches the Naim gear. They come around € 1.000 in Belgium, but I have seen various secend hand ones for very good prices.

Cheers,

Iver

Guy, Iver,

I'm quite happy leaving the serious business to the CDX2 - but as a precaution (earlier thread, some of my CDs have started to age) I have backed up all my CDs to hard drive. I use a cheapish but well received USB DAC (asynchronous) to check the rips. Enbarrasingly enough, the mac + HRT almost sounds as good as the CD player - just a bit more digital-ness and less coherency / juice to the sound. 

I tried the HDX route before, and I find the macbook experience quite similar: having a collection of 1000+ discs on hard drive just isn't much fun to manage or operate, I consider editing metadata the ultimate waste of time (for classical music, that is).

EJ

Have a look at an M2Tech Young. Simply connect via USB. Some 2nd hand ones out there already for about £650 !

Even my very budget "aune" USB dac [when in USB mode] does not lock, because it is the total clock. It bypasses the soundcard entirely. If used with the optional wired co-ax connection then it locks with the soundcard clock, and the lock light indicvates this ...

ATB from George

I use a SB touch with a dacmagic - coax connection and there is plenty of bass - I did try the optical connection and to my ears at least the sound quality was nowhere near as good.  No idea why your sound is bass light.

I had bad experiences with the MacBook pro and MacMini with optical and usb on my exposure dac. usb was a little bit flat and bass light, optical had a narrow soundstage.

Best option with pc audio was the Hi-Face bnc-usb, best was the UnitiServe bnc-bnc.