I now got the NDAC & Apple PC. Ready to go??

youve got it. itunes and a mini to toslink cable.

Firewire interface will sound best ( Weiss INT202 ) but that will cost more, or an M2Tech 'hiface' which will only cost a little more!

quote:

Originally posted by pcstockton:
youve got it. itunes and a mini to toslink cable.

sorry for the ignorance but the Apple has anly

2 porte USB 2.0

1 port FireWire 800

Slot SD Card

What do you mean by mini to toslink cable??

regards

salvo

Is it a Mac Pro (tower) you have or a MacBook Pro laptop..? From your listed connection ports, I'm presuming the latter and not a Mac Pro as originally mentioned....

What Patrick mentions is a optical cable, one end standard Toslink connection and the other with a 'mini' style connector, which will fit in the head-phone/audio out jack on your laptop - this port is also digital optical as well as analogue....Have a flick through the manual guide to the computer or better still the Finder Mac Help, which will explain all of the computers connections and ports....

Hope this helps.

Steve.

How would this set up compare with my CD5/HiCap/Hiline/Powerline? I am wondering if i should think about this kind of set up.

Every mac with an intel chip has an optical output.

Hi,

first af all I should mention that the Apple is a Mobile MAC Pro 15" and not a desktop. Apologies for this. With regards to connection to the Ndac i have ordered from Apple a Monter digital optical cable with one end fitted with a mini jack. Shold be with me by wednesday.

I will let you know how things progress.

Regards

Salvo

Salvo, you need an M2Tech 'hiface' it is a super little device.

quote:

Originally posted by Salvo:
what is the best way to get music out of it into my DAC without spending any more money?

....and people are suggesting and expensive firewire interface or a Hiface? Let they guy get his bearings then start with the tweakery.

-patrick

quote:

Originally posted by DHT:
Salvo, you need an M2Tech 'hiface' it is a super little device.

You need no such thing. Your Macbook already does what this device does. Although some contend that the HiFace does it better. That might be what DHT means by "need"; like the nDAC "needs" a 555PS before it is listenable .

HiFace is the way to go. Apple products tend to have, out-of-the-box, a very high Jitter.

quote:

Originally posted by DHT:
Salvo, you need an M2Tech 'hiface' it is a super little device.

NO! You don't NEED any additional devices (as pcstockton says); only a Mini TOSLink to TOSLink cable.

Once you have settled down with your new system, you may want to experiment with devices such as M2Tech HiFace or Weiss INT202 as upgrades (in much the same way you may wish to upgrade using a XPS2) to your DAC / Computer setup.

Another possibly "upgrade" you may wish yo look into is using Channel D's Pure Music or Sonic Studio's Amarra software along side iTunes to give higher quality audio and also allows automatic sample rate selection if you are using mixed sample rate files. Another (this time free) option is to try sbooth.org's Play application - get the latest pre-release version.

KISS initially is a good philosophy.

Eloise

quote:

Sonic Studio's Amarra

Thank you Guys, this is getting interesting! Il quite like the Amarra kit, specially the idea to integrate it with iTunes. Sounds easy to use and manage. For now though I like to start up with the basics as I said.

But please keep the ides flowing :-)


Thanks
salvo

Agree you could try the TOSLINK-mini to TOSLINK first. I think that interface is limited to 24/96. But last time I tried my Macbook Pro with the Naim DAC, it did sound surprisingly good.

Once you get settled and the upgrade bug hits you may want to consider an async USB to SPDIF interface (e.g. Hiface, $USD 300'ish) or for a lot more money the Firewire to SPDIF interface (e.g. Weiss INT202). Both supports 24/192. Many new async computer to SPDIF solutions are coming out as we speak, but the above two are pretty safe choices.

You may want to download Max or XLD for ripping and format conversion (e.g. from FLAC to ALAC.)

EAC on the PC side is hard-core in ensuring a rip is kosher. But according to many tests including one by Kent Poon of Weiss Asia, if a disc is not blown to bits the resultant rips have identical wave forms. My own experience with EAC is that if a disc is damaged, no miracle can fix it anyway. Of course you religion may vary, and I am sure the bit error brigade will chime in.

Amarra is a lot of money for automatic sample rate switching, especially if you do not need the EQ. Daniel Weiss and Kent Poon who has a lot of integrity and who distribute the product has kept mum about sound quality improvement of Amarra. The product is supposed to be bit-prefect so no idea what voodoo it performs that makes it sound better. The only explanation from the vendor is that it is “in the math”. But many people swears by it so they probably know better.

Salvo
This may be too late but I suggest you cancel your order for the Monster Cable; get a Chord cable instead.

If you really want a Monster Cable, you can have mine. I'll post it to you.

There you go!!!! Job done. Send James a few bucks for postage and your set-up is complete.

Until you start shopping for Chords, Hifaces, 202s, UNiserves and DC-1s and powerlines and hilines........................

Sorry to invade this post. I bought a 3m optical from richer sounds and a convertor so that one end would fit in to my Mac. It all seems a bit cheap and cheerful. Will this little Maplins convertor degrade the sound quality or should it be OK?

Regards
Huw

Hugh

I have the same maplin converter with a pure AV (belkin) optical cable. It sounds mighty fine to me in the context of Nait XS into Wilson Audio Sophia.

I also had the same concern, I do plan on getting a HiFace though.

quote:

Originally posted by HuwJ:
Sorry to invade this post. I bought a 3m optical from richer sounds and a convertor so that one end would fit in to my Mac. It all seems a bit cheap and cheerful. Will this little Maplins convertor degrade the sound quality or should it be OK?

Regards
Huw

You could borrow a more expensive cable, but if your driving an nDAC, they should sound the same (there are a couple of threads on here which both explain why and show that other people are getting that result). In fairness, there are also people who hear differences.

As far as we can deduce, the nDAC removes all jitter, so more expensive interfaces shouldn't sound any different to expensive ones (same replay software/settings) although they will sound different if you haven't set bit perfect for the output you are using.

My advice would be to setup the mac, connect via cheapest connection method you can (my PC is connected by 5m of optical cable that cost £4) and make sure you are outputting bit perfect from the software you are using. You can then audition more expensive things from the position that theory says there shouldn't be a difference as the nDAC reclocks. Fine if there is for you, and you think it worth it, but don't start out with the view that the better cable/interface must be better just because it cost more/has lower jitter etc...

quote:

Originally posted by James L:
Salvo
This may be too late but I suggest you cancel your order for the Monster Cable; get a Chord cable instead.

If you really want a Monster Cable, you can have mine. I'll post it to you.

Hi, Unfortunately I will find the cable tonight when I get home. What a Pity ;-(

regards

salvo

Hi just to update.

I received the Monster cable 2 days ago. What I have actually done is to use only the mini jack adapter from it with another cable that I have already connected to the nDAC (nothing special though). I had a brief test and I LIKE the result with this "vanilla" set-up. I have also downloaded for free a new player for the MAC called VOX. It is wonderful! It plays all the standards including FLAC and integrates beautifully with iTunes.

Regards,
salvo