NDAC Based System
Posted by: Flojoe on 31 May 2010
I want a new computer based system based around the NDAC feeding into a 82/HiCap/250.2/Spendor S6e. RipNAS & Sonos look good and easy but what other alternatives should I be thinking about ? Sound quality is very important, but so is ease of use.
Yup, I can tell the differences between the CDPs as well. I'm firmly of the opinion that bits are bits as far as the nDAC is concerned and that it is a great front end leveller as it reclocks the data coming in. See my thread a little further down the page ("Why is the nDAC so cheap?") for the gory details.quote:Originally posted by Flojoe:
Sure I can tell the difference between the Naim CDP's as they go up through the price range, but I,m not sure here that as the price increases, so does the sound quality. What are your experiances ?
Both my mate (CDS2/XPS/252/SC/250/DBLs) and I (CDS1/52/SC/135s/DBLs) replaced our CDPs with PCs streaming into the nDAC. His view was that PC/nDAC/XPS was about equivalent to CDS3/XPS, mine as that the stock nDAC was waaaay better than the CDS1. That and we can browse our CDs from the comfort of the sofa is really cool.
Others seem to hear a difference between front ends - we just can't work out a viable physical method of them actually sounding different (especially if connected via optical) unless the front ends aren't bit perfect (and most are most of the time...). I'd do some dems if you're unconvinced, but I can't tell the difference between my PC as a front end and a USB stick as the front end (everyone seems to say USB is as good as "transports" get).
Your money, your choice at the end of the day. My streamer (which also plays hi-def movie rips too using xbmc) cost me around £300 and some of my time (but I am a geek and I guess a household with 7 PCs and close to 10Terabytes of disc storage in is not the norm
).As to ripping: just google EAC REACT and the threads on hydrogen audio are the place to start looking. There are readmes and you can configure REACT to dump multiple files/formats etc all in one go. If you are PC wary or don't want to mess under the hood, I'd be looking for a more integrated approach from any one of a number of manufacturers.
quote:Originally posted by Andy S:Yup, I can tell the differences between the CDPs as well. I'm firmly of the opinion that bits are bits as far as the nDAC is concerned and that it is a great front end leveller as it reclocks the data coming in. See my thread a little further down the page ("Why is the nDAC so cheap?") for the gory details.quote:Originally posted by Flojoe:
Sure I can tell the difference between the Naim CDP's as they go up through the price range, but I,m not sure here that as the price increases, so does the sound quality. What are your experiances ?
Both my mate (CDS2/XPS/252/SC/250/DBLs) and I (CDS1/52/SC/135s/DBLs) replaced our CDPs with PCs streaming into the nDAC. His view was that PC/nDAC/XPS was about equivalent to CDS3/XPS, mine as that the stock nDAC was waaaay better than the CDS1. That and we can browse our CDs from the comfort of the sofa is really cool.
Others seem to hear a difference between front ends - we just can't work out a viable physical method of them actually sounding different (especially if connected via optical) unless the front ends aren't bit perfect (and most are most of the time...). I'd do some dems if you're unconvinced, but I can't tell the difference between my PC as a front end and a USB stick as the front end (everyone seems to say USB is as good as "transports" get).
Your money, your choice at the end of the day. My streamer (which also plays hi-def movie rips too using xbmc) cost me around £300 and some of my time (but I am a geek and I guess a household with 7 PCs and close to 10Terabytes of disc storage in is not the norm
As to ripping: just google EAC REACT and the threads on hydrogen audio are the place to start looking. There are readmes and you can configure REACT to dump multiple files/formats etc all in one go. If you are PC wary or don't want to mess under the hood, I'd be looking for a more integrated approach from any one of a number of manufacturers.
Andy for me the cheapest option would be to buy a NAS then rip to it using my laptop. However I have read that these DVD/CD drives are not neccesarily the best. Are you saying that in your opinion, providing the data stream can be read without error, stored and streamed to the nDAC, there is no reason why it should sound any different to data ripped froma specialist drive. I dont want to do this cheap, I want to do whats best, but I would rather spend money elsewhere in the system ( XPS for nDAC ) then on fancy drives.
quote:unfortunately I belong to that part of the forum members who clearly hear a difference between different transports when running into nDAC.
Hi AMA,
You get me wrong, I am with you on this point. I too am in the ‘you can hear a difference between transports into the nDAC’ camp. However we are now in a ‘post-why is the nDAC so cheap-world’
where no one seems to know why they sound different.What I am trying to point out is that the nDAC is designed to eliminate or massively reduce jitter, so using jitter specifications to guide your transport choice (as you suggest) may not be so clever. Best to listen to a few choices if possible and choose on your perceived SQ.
That's my belief - yes. Using a program like EAC with most (all??) modern day DVD drives should produce an accurate rip as if any errors are detected (EAC reads at the real low level) data is reread until a match is obtained over a number of reads. I'm pretty confident my rips are accurate and once on a PC drive somewhere, bits definitely are bits on a PC drive.quote:Originally posted by Flojoe:
Andy for me the cheapest option would be to buy a NAS then rip to it using my laptop. However I have read that these DVD/CD drives are not neccesarily the best. Are you saying that in your opinion, providing the data stream can be read without error, stored and streamed to the nDAC, there is no reason why it should sound any different to data ripped froma specialist drive.
EAC is also free
Good choice IMHOquote:but I would rather spend money elsewhere in the system ( XPS for nDAC ) then on fancy drives.
quote:Originally posted by Andy S:That's my belief - yes. Using a program like EAC with most (all??) modern day DVD drives should produce an accurate rip as if any errors are detected (EAC reads at the real low level) data is reread until a match is obtained over a number of reads. I'm pretty confident my rips are accurate and once on a PC drive somewhere, bits definitely are bits on a PC drive.quote:Originally posted by Flojoe:
Andy for me the cheapest option would be to buy a NAS then rip to it using my laptop. However I have read that these DVD/CD drives are not neccesarily the best. Are you saying that in your opinion, providing the data stream can be read without error, stored and streamed to the nDAC, there is no reason why it should sound any different to data ripped froma specialist drive.
EAC is also freeGood choice IMHOquote:but I would rather spend money elsewhere in the system ( XPS for nDAC ) then on fancy drives.
Andy, I've been ripping CD's using i-tunes set to WAV. What advantages will EAC give me ?
quote:Originally posted by Flojoe:quote:Originally posted by Andy S:That's my belief - yes. Using a program like EAC with most (all??) modern day DVD drives should produce an accurate rip as if any errors are detected (EAC reads at the real low level) data is reread until a match is obtained over a number of reads. I'm pretty confident my rips are accurate and once on a PC drive somewhere, bits definitely are bits on a PC drive.quote:Originally posted by Flojoe:
Andy for me the cheapest option would be to buy a NAS then rip to it using my laptop. However I have read that these DVD/CD drives are not neccesarily the best. Are you saying that in your opinion, providing the data stream can be read without error, stored and streamed to the nDAC, there is no reason why it should sound any different to data ripped froma specialist drive.
EAC is also freeGood choice IMHOquote:but I would rather spend money elsewhere in the system ( XPS for nDAC ) then on fancy drives.
Andy, I've been ripping CD's using i-tunes set to WAV. What advantages will EAC give me ?
With a perfectly read CD, there is (to my mind anyway) no difference between ripping using iTunes and using EAC (or equivilent other programmes).
The difference comes because there is no feedback with iTunes as to how effectively the rip has been made, and if there are errors iTunes interpolation may be less effective than others. EAC (and others) use a system called SecureRIP which compares the results of your own rip with others that have been made by other people. That gives you a level of confidence that your CD has been correctly ripped.
Eloise