Wav through ndac

Posted by: george27 on 26 April 2011

Apart it's compactness, the main reason I bought the unitiserve was an opportunity to try 24bit. Let it Bleed played fine through the u/s (usb drive - hp 2gb v165 - first one I've ever used and I bought that one to test as it was the smallest).

The sync and the hd light came on the ndac but I couldn't tell a difference between the 24bit flac and 16bit tracks I had already ripped.

U/s broke and has now gone back (stopped reading then stopped taking discs). I'd only managed to hear  the 24bit once. I changed it to wav using Foobar (it came out at 1.2gb) and put it back on the same usb stick and stuck it in the front of the ndac. The sync and hd light came on.

My ears are old and there could be variables I'm not aware of but it sounded better (best I can tell you is more intense) Problem is, couple of times on each track, the sound went off. If I was listening to vinyl I'd think it was scratched and the needle jumped. I'm assuming Foobar produced a clean copy but I've no idea how to tell. The ndac was bought mid-december, and I don't know what the firmware version is. It hasn't been changed. This is my first foray into computer based audio.

Finally, two questions :

 

1. Why should it seem to sound different when played from the u/s.

 

2. Can someone recommend an alternative to Foobar (pc). If I start doing this stuff regularly I'm happy to buy something but this is just for experience. I tried using the Flac front end but I just kept crashing it. And as a quide for what to suggest, their can't be many people who know less than me, so easy is the key.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Posted on: 26 April 2011 by Mr Underhill

Hi George,

 

What a shame about the US, and the issue with the nDAC.

 

Some of this will be for you to take up with your dealer.

 

Some people swear the the best way to use the nDAC is via the usb - personally I use an NS01, which I prefer.

 

I did a demo with the US, which to my ears sounded somewhat 'warmer', and I could imagine many people preferring it.

 

WAV testing:

 

You can load up Audacity - free, and examine the file - are there any unexpected gaps?

 

Alternative to Foobar:

 

To extract the WAV from flac? Try flac itself - free.

 

I presume you don't mean as a player, that will be handled by the US.

 

Different Sounds:

 

I am sure you can open up a long running thread with this!

Is it that 24 bit files sound better? Or have they been remastered with more care?

 

I have 16bit rips that sound great. My rip of 'Let it Bleed' is very good.

 

When the 'Dark Side of the Moon' SACD was released it sounded different, IMO because it had been remixed and remastered.

 

I do buy 24bit files, and most sound very good, but not necc. better than the 16 bit files.

 

What is the rest of your system?

 

...and what is 'turning' as an interest? Or was your tongue firmly planted in your cheek?

 

M

Posted on: 26 April 2011 by george27

Thanks.

I get to try the cyrus streamer next week. I'll try the same file through that and the dealers ndac.

Woodturning. I make a few sticks to help pass the time and get me about.

 

I was curious, as my ndac won't play flac through it's own usb port, whether the u/s converted the file to wav but the output was 16bit. But that wouldn't make sense as the hd light comes on. This is all new to me but I'll get there in the end.

Posted on: 26 April 2011 by ash
I saw a discussion somewhere that because of the way the original recording of Let It Bleed was mastered there is not much point in a high definition version of it. Like if you look at the frequency graph of a hi Rez rip there is not much going on above 44khz (which is your standard CD resolution). so George maybe you want to try a different album to see if you could appreciate the difference between the sampling rates
Posted on: 26 April 2011 by george27

There is very little so far released (24 bit) that I've been intrested in. I've had Let it Bleed since it was first released in one format or another. The only other one I've tried is one from the Naim site (wav) which played fine.

 

Imported a Stones track into Audacity. Couldn't see any gaps so exported using other uncompressed formats option. Hd light came on the ndac and was a nice clean playback. Tried a different track - same result.

 

Thanks for your help - back to being a happy bunny

Posted on: 27 April 2011 by gav111n
Originally Posted by george27:
I was curious, as my ndac won't play flac through it's own usb port, whether the u/s converted the file to wav but the output was 16bit. But that wouldn't make sense as the hd light comes on. This is all new to me but I'll get there in the end.

Out of interest: I don't think the hd light on the nDAC comes on based on there being a 24bit input signal. It comes on based on the input sample rate. I think 96kHz or higher brings it on. I have some 24bit 48kHz files with no hd light!

 

Interesting that you prefer the sound from USB to the userve. Have you tried the USB stick in the rear port of the nDAC? You may like it even more!

 

Gav

Posted on: 27 April 2011 by AMA

My HD light comes on 88 kHz as well.

Posted on: 27 April 2011 by ash
Is it a fact that the rear USB slot sounds different from the front one? Just being curious
Posted on: 27 April 2011 by gav111n
Originally Posted by ash:
Is it a fact that the rear USB slot sounds different from the front one? Just being curious

Are there any 100% concrete 'facts' in hifi? Plenty of opinions. My opinion is that the rear port does sound better.

 

However it's more difficult for me to plug in at the back, so maybe the extra effort gives me a psychological trigger that makes it seem to sound better. Like the fact that nasty tasting medicine must work better!

 

Gav

Posted on: 27 April 2011 by ash
Gav well said:-)
Posted on: 27 April 2011 by jon h
Originally Posted by gav111n:
Originally Posted by ash:
Is it a fact that the rear USB slot sounds different from the front one? Just being curious

Are there any 100% concrete 'facts' in hifi? Plenty of opinions. My opinion is that the rear port does sound better.

 

However it's more difficult for me to plug in at the back, so maybe the extra effort gives me a psychological trigger that makes it seem to sound better. Like the fact that nasty tasting medicine must work better!

 

Gav

if the front usb socket sounds different to the back, then surely either one or the other (or potentially both...) are broken?

Posted on: 27 April 2011 by george27

With the amount of discussion on this forum about the ndac and it's sound I would have thought that there would have been some definative answers by now. Though to be honest I don't care that much. If I feed it a signal from cd player, touch, server or usb, as long as the track is well recorded it sounds great.

 

I would have been nice to know what it was I listening to as regards sample rates etc, but again, as long as it gets my foot tapping I'm happy.

 

At first sight I thought the u/s was a great idea. Everything I needed in a single half size box, but now I'm not so sure. A little more flexability would be nice especially as I'm still a novice.

 

Plan B was to just add an xps to the ndac but I couldn't get to hear it so I didn't chance my arm.

Posted on: 27 April 2011 by AMA
Originally Posted by george27:

 

Plan B was to just add an xps to the ndac but I couldn't get to hear it so I didn't chance my arm.

XPS had impressed me on nDAC. I couldn't get back to bare nDAC since. Powerline both nDAC and XPS and run Hiline from nDAC to preamp and this makes up a flawless chain. Every single addition is very audible.

Posted on: 27 April 2011 by gav111n
Originally Posted by jon honeyball:
if the front usb socket sounds different to the back, then surely either one or the other (or potentially both...) are broken?

'surely.....broken'.

 

Oh, so there is a 100% concrete fact in hifi.

Posted on: 29 April 2011 by Mr Underhill

George,

 

WRT HiDef files, here is a site where they have offered some prof. produced files from the same recording sessions with the same mastering at different sample/bit rates for comparison:

 

http://www.soundkeeperrecordings.com/format.htm

 

M