Hello Hans, i am following your videos for a while and have learned really much, thank you for this. According to this topic: I feed my HoloAudio May DAC with the Red. Unfortunately there is no upsampling with this combo (NOS). I am wondering if a Macbook with HQPlayer and Roon could be a solution without harming the sound quality by the computer itself using the USB C output of the Macbook to the Red. Is this according to noise in such a combo a good choice or not? I do not want to have a big computer near my hifi system. Optional, what would you say about a Streamer with Resampler like the Auralic Aries G1? The May needs high quality food, but i also want to look for an affordable solution with which i wont destroy the DACs potential. Regards from Germany
HQPlayer can sound very good if you invest some time in tweaking the settings. In my setup 1b I use the Magna Mano mk III Farad (no upsampling) with the HoloAudio Cyan 2. If you want upsampling, tha Auralic is a good option.
Watching lots of videos on this channel to improve the sound quality at home. Switching from the integrated USB2 connector to a USB3 card and putting the DAC closer to the amp (with a long (actively powered) USB3 cable instead of 10 meters of RCA cable already improved things immensely; far less jitter and much more dynamics! Even sound from the jackplug from the Ziggo box used to be far superior over the sound of my Steinberg UR12 until I made those changes.
You can also connect the PC to a DAC via HDMI using a Nvidia video card. HDMI offers the most bandwidth. Obviously not all DACs support HDMI. Home theaters support it.
I use HDMI from my PC and an external NAD M51 DAC that has HDMI inputs. This sounds amazing and I'm not real sure why more DAC's don't have HDMI inputs. I have tried all the other outputs and I much prefer the sound of HDMI. I know a lot of people will disagree, but that's my preference : )
Estimado Sr. Beekhuyzen. Sigo muy atento sus videos. Me parecen muy profesionales pero lo que más aprecio es su honestidad y la simplicidad al exponer para lograr que todo publico le pueda entender en tan complejo, tema al que ud le ha dedicado gran parte de su vida. Quisiera hacerle algunas pregunta; Es importante el bit Perfect?, Existe el bit perfecen en otros ambientes (ej. reproductores externos) o es solo en PC con Windows, Es apreciable la diferencia de calidad entre el bit perfect y el no bit perfect. De antemano les doy gracias. Saludos desde Cuba.
Every CD player is bit perfect, every computer can be bit perfect, including Apple Mac's and Linux computers when you use the right software. Whether. you hear the difference between bit perfect and lossy audio depends on your equipment and how well your hearing is.
Muy agradecido por su atención. Me ayudaste ad a entender el tema del bit perfect. Seria muy provechoso que abordara el tema en.profundidad en un video suyo. Al tanto de sus nuevas lecciones su alumno Manuel.
Another great video. It's funny I used to use a Mac mini (mid2011) mainly because I thought it sounded better than my old CD player. But I've changed to two raspberry pi's 1 for Kodi and the other is running volumio with a audioquest dragonfly red DAC and an audiophonics linear power supply, and I think that beats my Mac mini any day of the week.
Why no reviewer comment about using a portable digital audio player (DAP) as a source/transport to an external dac via USB? Dap now has remote function so listening can sit on their listening position and control the music via their phone. A much cheaper solution to me. Till today, no one can answer why DAP is not “good enough” when compared to a streamer + PC/NAS
I simply limit myself to stationary equipment since I can't do everything. I have nothing against DAP's, I just don't review them so I have no opinion on them.
Though USB, the signal is sent in packets and clocked by the DAC, but those audiophile grade USB cards have a really good, independent clock on them too, This bit have always puzzled me, what's your take on it?
Steps for client and server setup if you want to use jriver media center for playback, also is there no effect on the sound quality due to the required wi-fi connectiviy
I have a balanced DAC without volume control. From what I understand, digital volume control causes loss in resolution. Is there any way around this aside from using a passive volume controller?
That digital volume control reduces resolutions comes from the begin days of digital audio where high resolution processing and dithering was not available. Today digital volume might even be more precise than analog. Try it by listening.
In the end is't all about jitter. But there are several ways jitter can be introduced in the signal. I will publish a video in due time about this subject.
Just not getting the close to end statement of Rpi about its usb port quality. Whole video u are speaking about that the usb signal is asynchronous and being clocked by receiver device. If I use decent usb/spdif transport between the Rpi and DAC and from transport via SPDIF to DAC, what may be the problem? I am speakin about decent usb/spdif, with twin clock, galvanical shielding, linear psu, etc. Please explain if possible, what may be the flaws of this path? Thank you.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel just to add to my input. My main concern is throwing away my good usb/spdif while I still want to use Rpi. My DAC has just the spdif input. This way alternative would be just the Digione signature thus I was not able to find any relevant answer on web forums if this may rly improve my current setup and not answered by Allo directly aswell.
Hi, I recently discovered your channel. I have a question if you mind: What is the best setting for my soundcard when playing DSD128 files 88.2kHz? Is it 44,1kHz, 48kHz, 96kHz or 192kHz?
Please excuse my ignorance but, I’m not sure what I should do. I personally have an Acer Aspire laptop that I would like to use as a music streamer. I have a dac that has usb input. Is that all I need? Do I have to do anything else to get good streaming sound?
Well, you also need an amp and speakers. On the computer you need software to play music with that preferably can deliver bit perfect filter to the DAC.
@LD Blake not in normal mode --- when connected to mixer and gain all the way up which you cannot listen anyway at that gain -- +40 Db gain it will blow your ears out
The raw I²S output of the Pi is very noisy and not recommended for serious audio. You better use a HAT board with USB output like the Allo USB Bridge Sig: ua-cam.com/video/GV03z6kQq7w/v-deo.html
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel thank you for the answer,but my money is limited,i can only buy raspbery pi with DAC hat or with Digital out hat (i have yamaha as701 it has dac in it) or i can buy topping usb dac so i can use my old pc,what do you think ?
Question: If I connect my Laptop to my DAC via USB, with the Laptop being powered just by its battery and the screen switched off, will this give me a signal comparably high in quality as if I'd use a dedicated streamer like the Allo?
Sorry, I couldn't resist. There are many good instructions on how to setup a windows computer for lossless audio, often found with DAC manufacturers. Instructions differ per Windows version and player software used. See for instance mytekdigital.com/download_library/Mytek_Software_Setup_Guide_v3.0.pdf.
Is there a particular brand of power supply that you can get that has less electrical noise than the standard supplies you can buy to use on your windows music pc. Also is there an improvement if you connect the pc to a power conditioner.
A normal computer is in itself a generator of lots of electrical noise. Therefore I use a computer as music server but use a network bridge or streamer top play out the music. I therefore have not experienced with PSU and conditioners.
Why do you say that a hard drive is a better storage medium that optical media such as CD? The sound quality I can achieve from SACD and to a lesser extent CD is always better than anything I can achieve by playing music files stored on my computer via a USB DAC.
I say this because is is true of course 😉. OK, for real: he hard disk is a far superior storage medium that is faster, less error prone and easier to control than optical media. Especially optical media used for linear programs like cd, dvd, said and Blu-Ray. The problem you encounter is that computers are extremely noisy, have poor clocks by design and disastrous power supplies - to audio standards anyway. Compare them in an audio environment, like a digital audio player that holds both optical and hard drive and you'll see that the hard disk wins hands down. But if your comparison is between een hard disk in a computer (and laptops are the worse) and a proper said player, I understand you thoughts (and ears).
Thank you. That is very reassuring.The main problem I have is that connecting the computer to the DAC in my CD player is very clumsy and inconvenient. It requires a long USB cable trailing across the floor for people to trip over, and the computer is always doing other things when I am trying to listen to music - such as applying updates or building its search index. The next thing is that the fan starts up which is very distracting if I am listening to something quiet.Then it is also very difficult to find the music I want on the computer. Finding the right CD or SACD is easy, and then all I need to do is pop it in the player and press play. The computer software is always difficult to use and computers have a tremendous ability to hide files and give them stupid names, so finding them is not always easy.
Great methodical, thorough, yet succinct explanation of the various options concerning computer audio. Thank you!
Thanks
Thanks to you too!
Thank you for your instructive videos. Just bought your book from Amazon and already enjoying it. Good work.
Hello Hans, i am following your videos for a while and have learned really much, thank you for this. According to this topic: I feed my HoloAudio May DAC with the Red. Unfortunately there is no upsampling with this combo (NOS). I am wondering if a Macbook with HQPlayer and Roon could be a solution without harming the sound quality by the computer itself using the USB C output of the Macbook to the Red. Is this according to noise in such a combo a good choice or not? I do not want to have a big computer near my hifi system. Optional, what would you say about a Streamer with Resampler like the Auralic Aries G1? The May needs high quality food, but i also want to look for an affordable solution with which i wont destroy the DACs potential. Regards from Germany
HQPlayer can sound very good if you invest some time in tweaking the settings. In my setup 1b I use the Magna Mano mk III Farad (no upsampling) with the HoloAudio Cyan 2. If you want upsampling, tha Auralic is a good option.
Thanks!
Welcome!
Watching lots of videos on this channel to improve the sound quality at home.
Switching from the integrated USB2 connector to a USB3 card and putting the DAC closer to the amp (with a long (actively powered) USB3 cable instead of 10 meters of RCA cable already improved things immensely; far less jitter and much more dynamics!
Even sound from the jackplug from the Ziggo box used to be far superior over the sound of my Steinberg UR12 until I made those changes.
I use Mojo as an DAC and Roon as music software on my I-Mac works very well
You can also connect the PC to a DAC via HDMI using a Nvidia video card. HDMI offers the most bandwidth. Obviously not all DACs support HDMI. Home theaters support it.
I use HDMI from my PC and an external NAD M51 DAC that has HDMI inputs. This sounds amazing and I'm not real sure why more DAC's don't have HDMI inputs. I have tried all the other outputs and I much prefer the sound of HDMI. I know a lot of people will disagree, but that's my preference : )
It’s not HDMI it’s i2AES
Many many thanks for this very useful information ;)
My pleasure!
Beautiful explanation, this is Gold. Thank you
You're very welcome!
Estimado Sr. Beekhuyzen. Sigo muy atento sus videos. Me parecen muy profesionales pero lo que más aprecio es su honestidad y la simplicidad al exponer para lograr que todo publico le pueda entender en tan complejo, tema al que ud le ha dedicado gran parte de su vida. Quisiera hacerle algunas pregunta; Es importante el bit Perfect?, Existe el bit perfecen en otros ambientes (ej. reproductores externos) o es solo en PC con Windows, Es apreciable la diferencia de calidad entre el bit perfect y el no bit perfect. De antemano les doy gracias. Saludos desde Cuba.
Every CD player is bit perfect, every computer can be bit perfect, including Apple Mac's and Linux computers when you use the right software. Whether. you hear the difference between bit perfect and lossy audio depends on your equipment and how well your hearing is.
Muy agradecido por su atención. Me ayudaste ad a entender el tema del bit perfect. Seria muy provechoso que abordara el tema en.profundidad en un video suyo. Al tanto de sus nuevas lecciones su alumno Manuel.
Great video, fantastic ideas. Thank you sir!
My pleasure!
Outstanding! Thank you sir
My pleasure
Another great video. It's funny I used to use a Mac mini (mid2011) mainly because I thought it sounded better than my old CD player. But I've changed to two raspberry pi's 1 for Kodi and the other is running volumio with a audioquest dragonfly red DAC and an audiophonics linear power supply, and I think that beats my Mac mini any day of the week.
CONSIDA DA NU MAC MINI M1...GREAT AUDIO!!!
Thank you sir
Why no reviewer comment about using a portable digital audio player (DAP) as a source/transport to an external dac via USB? Dap now has remote function so listening can sit on their listening position and control the music via their phone.
A much cheaper solution to me. Till today, no one can answer why DAP is not “good enough” when compared to a streamer + PC/NAS
I simply limit myself to stationary equipment since I can't do everything. I have nothing against DAP's, I just don't review them so I have no opinion on them.
Hello Hans very nice video keep up the good work. Will There be an review of the Lindemann - Limetree bridge?
Though USB, the signal is sent in packets and clocked by the DAC, but those audiophile grade USB cards have a really good, independent clock on them too,
This bit have always puzzled me, what's your take on it?
You might want to watch ua-cam.com/video/grzoqEb2KMk/v-deo.html
Thanks for your reply, If I wanted to set up the two systems required, do you go through the steps in one of your videos.
I'm afraid a'm not sure what you're asking
Steps for client and server setup if you want to use jriver media center for playback, also is there no effect on the sound quality due to the required wi-fi connectiviy
iFi's iPurifier3 is a Godsend for USB!
Yes, but only if the USB signal is not optimal. Don't use it after an Auralic Aries G1 or SOtM sMS-200Ultra.
Hi Hans, i love your channel. If the external DAC has its own clean power supply, not using usb for power, but just for data, is it optimal?
It will be better but still in most cases there is power needed from the source (computer, streamer) to activate the USB receiver in the DAC.
I have a balanced DAC without volume control. From what I understand, digital volume control causes loss in resolution. Is there any way around this aside from using a passive volume controller?
That digital volume control reduces resolutions comes from the begin days of digital audio where high resolution processing and dithering was not available. Today digital volume might even be more precise than analog. Try it by listening.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel that eases my heart! Thanks. Is what you said true of PC volume control?
Would usb 3.0 provide better transmission of signals thus improving sound?
No, the extra speed generates more electric noise
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Thank you!
0:44 Why? Is it because of jitter?
In the end is't all about jitter. But there are several ways jitter can be introduced in the signal. I will publish a video in due time about this subject.
Just not getting the close to end statement of Rpi about its usb port quality. Whole video u are speaking about that the usb signal is asynchronous and being clocked by receiver device. If I use decent usb/spdif transport between the Rpi and DAC and from transport via SPDIF to DAC, what may be the problem? I am speakin about decent usb/spdif, with twin clock, galvanical shielding, linear psu, etc. Please explain if possible, what may be the flaws of this path? Thank you.
Still working on explaining this so it will be comprehensible. Please be patient.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Thank you Hans, waiting for your precious input on this. Thank you.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel just to add to my input. My main concern is throwing away my good usb/spdif while I still want to use Rpi. My DAC has just the spdif input. This way alternative would be just the Digione signature thus I was not able to find any relevant answer on web forums if this may rly improve my current setup and not answered by Allo directly aswell.
Hi, I recently discovered your channel. I have a question if you mind: What is the best setting for my soundcard when playing DSD128 files 88.2kHz? Is it 44,1kHz, 48kHz, 96kHz or 192kHz?
What do you mean with DSD128 files 88,2kHz?
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel I 'm not really sure but, the exact description of the player for these files is "DSD128 88.2 kHz, 11290k, Stereo"
Please excuse my ignorance but, I’m not sure what I should do. I personally have an Acer Aspire laptop that I would like to use as a music streamer. I have a dac that has usb input. Is that all I need? Do I have to do anything else to get good streaming sound?
Well, you also need an amp and speakers. On the computer you need software to play music with that preferably can deliver bit perfect filter to the DAC.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Do you have any suggestions on software that can provide the bit perfect filter to the DAC?
What is the screeching noise I hear if i turn gain high up when I move my mouse ? Happy new year in advance
That might be the influence of the digital mouse signal on the audio signal. Exactly what I meant in the video.
@LD Blake not in normal mode --- when connected to mixer and gain all the way up which you cannot listen anyway at that gain -- +40 Db gain it will blow your ears out
Raspberry pi uses i2s,so its better to use it over usb dac from pc ?
The raw I²S output of the Pi is very noisy and not recommended for serious audio. You better use a HAT board with USB output like the Allo USB Bridge Sig: ua-cam.com/video/GV03z6kQq7w/v-deo.html
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel thank you for the answer,but my money is limited,i can only buy raspbery pi with DAC hat or with Digital out hat (i have yamaha as701 it has dac in it) or i can buy topping usb dac so i can use my old pc,what do you think ?
Go for the digital out hat.
Question: If I connect my Laptop to my DAC via USB, with the Laptop being powered just by its battery and the screen switched off, will this give me a signal comparably high in quality as if I'd use a dedicated streamer like the Allo?
In general: no.
Nice video
Windows settings?
half open unless there is a strong wind.
Sorry, I couldn't resist. There are many good instructions on how to setup a windows computer for lossless audio, often found with DAC manufacturers. Instructions differ per Windows version and player software used. See for instance mytekdigital.com/download_library/Mytek_Software_Setup_Guide_v3.0.pdf.
Really cookoo clock???
Didn't you get it?
What do you think about a Bluesound node like device vs a computer for audio quality?
Easy, Bluesound. Hands down!
Awesome Thanks!
Is there a particular brand of power supply that you can get that has less electrical noise than the standard supplies you can buy to use on your windows music pc. Also is there an improvement if you connect the pc to a power conditioner.
A normal computer is in itself a generator of lots of electrical noise. Therefore I use a computer as music server but use a network bridge or streamer top play out the music. I therefore have not experienced with PSU and conditioners.
Why do you say that a hard drive is a better storage medium that optical media such as CD? The sound quality I can achieve from SACD and to a lesser extent CD is always better than anything I can achieve by playing music files stored on my computer via a USB DAC.
I say this because is is true of course 😉. OK, for real: he hard disk is a far superior storage medium that is faster, less error prone and easier to control than optical media. Especially optical media used for linear programs like cd, dvd, said and Blu-Ray. The problem you encounter is that computers are extremely noisy, have poor clocks by design and disastrous power supplies - to audio standards anyway. Compare them in an audio environment, like a digital audio player that holds both optical and hard drive and you'll see that the hard disk wins hands down. But if your comparison is between een hard disk in a computer (and laptops are the worse) and a proper said player, I understand you thoughts (and ears).
Thank you. That is very reassuring.The main problem I have is that connecting the computer to the DAC in my CD player is very clumsy and inconvenient. It requires a long USB cable trailing across the floor for people to trip over, and the computer is always doing other things when I am trying to listen to music - such as applying updates or building its search index. The next thing is that the fan starts up which is very distracting if I am listening to something quiet.Then it is also very difficult to find the music I want on the computer. Finding the right CD or SACD is easy, and then all I need to do is pop it in the player and press play. The computer software is always difficult to use and computers have a tremendous ability to hide files and give them stupid names, so finding them is not always easy.
I’m dizzy now.😵💫
Lay down, drink some ginseng tea, play yout favourite music and then watch the video again 😄
I use a AudioQuest Dragonfly Black USB DAC, along with their Jitter Filter. Sounds great and I can easily move it from PC to Laptop.
Keep in mind the AudioQuest JitterBug has been measured by both Stereophile and AudioScienceReview, it literally does nothing to the signal.
@@homeboi808Did not release that. I shall go looking for those reviews....