Antipodes1553552706 Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 I have two very similar computers to check it out so might do a proper comparison between SSD, HDD, HDD+ramdisk, SSD+ramdisk when I have time to check the magnitude of each difference. I just mount them manually as I never turn anything off. I still haven't figured out the best way to connect to the music files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaka Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 I have got everything in ramm now - and putting the music into a ramm disk adds some more resolution and edge, which no doubt explains why Sonic Studios intends adding a play from memory setting. The gains may be less with a SSD rather than a mechanical drive How much ram can a Hackintosh run ? I am topped out at 4 Gb which limits memory use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antipodes1553552706 Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Depends on the motherboard you choose. The ones I chose to play with were chosen originally to keep power consumption and heat down and to be compatible with existing drivers. But they top out at 4GB too. Looks like I need to buy a new motherboard and reassemble one of my spares and see what lots of RAM can do. I did some comparisons and the improvements from the SSD are similar but different than the improvements from Ramdisk. With SSD the biggest improvement is in smoothness and harmonic structure. With Ramdisk it is more speed and fine detail resolution. Together the effect is mainly cumulative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antipodes1553552706 Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 nixon76;99842 wrote: Very interesting frizzup. One reviewer rates it as good as the BelCanto but as it's cheaper it being the better bet (as long as you don't mind no linux support and needing to install drivers). Possibly waiting for a mac driver though? Appears to be async: Anitpodes, does this sound like what async is meant to be? I had a closer look at some decent pics of it and could make out the chips used. There is definitely some inconsistency between the claims and the items on the board, is all I will say. I am now quite doubtful that this is truly async, and even 192kHz doesn't sound quite right either. But maybe they have performed a miracle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaka Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 Incremental progress continues - I am routinely running iTunes and Amarra Mini from ram disk now, and playing material upsampled to 24/96 in Sample Manager. There are some hardware changes going on - the top Locus USB cable (Nucleus) is settling in and is boosting energy and detail, and a battery power supply for the Offramp has just got to the USPS in the US. The final target will be the power supply to the B22 phone amp as it is shared with routers, cable modems and computers at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaka Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 A thread has just kicked off on Computer Audiophile comparing the PS Audio duo with the Berkeley - any guesses re the preference ? http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/PerfectWave-combo-vs-PWTBerkeley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie1553552694 Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 No surprises there. Sounds like the Berkeley would clean up town if you had circa $10K to spend. Interesting that the Transporter was in the mix. Interesting too how IS2 implementation was not such a big deal for those guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixon76 Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 I've been reading a bit lately and have come to two conclusions (for me). 1) a dCS Scarlatti 4 box front-end might be quite nice and 2) I'm going to wait for an asynchronous version of the OffRamp or BC USB Link to come out before making any more moves in this area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaka Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I went along to my first ever Wgtn Audio Club meeting last night where they were trying out a Dac Magic, via USB from a mac playing iTunes. The first track was a Radio NZ provided 192 bit rate mp3 concert performance - and it was predictably dreadful. Poor bitrate, and not the best of the lossy formats either. Then we heard some of the tracks from the standard collection that the club uses for demoing gear. I'm not sure how well the Dac Magic did as I don't know the tracks, or what the amps, speakers and cables usually deliver. But the interesting thing was how much better my lesser Locus USB cable (Polestar @ US$250, the bottom of their range) was than the $0.50 USB that was also in play. The generic cable suppressed the dynamics and presentation markedly, and was certainly not showing what computer based playback can provide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Glad to hear the Wellington Audio Club is still going. I used to produce their newsletter, which led on to me producing a hi-fi magazine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie1553552694 Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Was the old switcheroo enough for the non-believers? kaka;102273 wrote: I went along to my first ever Wgtn Audio Club meeting last night where they were trying out a Dac Magic, via USB from a mac playing iTunes. The first track was a Radio NZ provided 192 bit rate mp3 concert performance - and it was predictably dreadful. Poor bitrate, and not the best of the lossy formats either. Then we heard some of the tracks from the standard collection that the club uses for demoing gear. I'm not sure how well the Dac Magic did as I don't know the tracks, or what the amps, speakers and cables usually deliver. But the interesting thing was how much better my lesser Locus USB cable (Polestar @ US$250, the bottom of their range) was than the $0.50 USB that was also in play. The generic cable suppressed the dynamics and presentation markedly, and was certainly not showing what computer based playback can provide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaka Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Ernie;102293 wrote: Was the old switcheroo enough for the non-believers? Absolutely - I was a bit dubious about the cable price vs the dac price when I offered to take it along, but the difference was pronounced. And the top Locus cable would be out of the question - several times the price of the dac, but a lot better again. When the NZ/US exchange rate hit 0.67 I ordered my one I haven't heard the Kimber or Belkin USB offerings, they might offer cost effective performance combined with the Dac Magic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixon76 Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Wireworld do a USB now as well - not sure where it would fit in the price range though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 I have a Kimber USB cable sitting here. I'll try it sometime (maybe next week) in comparison to the bog standard and report back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
got tinnitus Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 I have the Wireworld Ultraviolet USB. Cost me $80.00 landed for a 1m length. It's silver plated copper. And I did try the Kimber (brown) USB a few months back. The WW is 'better' than the Kimber which was $130. The throwawy USB cables are just that. Forget about them... With the WW cable, my AIFF playback is getting very near CD playback SQ wise. All that is missing is that little bit extra 'air' (maybe Amarra will help in this regard but I'm not too keen to shell out the dollars required for this software just yet). I also ran AIFF playback via the optical cable option of the Mac Book but the USB won out as it sounds that much more 'together'. This could be down to the reduction in jitter that USB offers. Next thing is to try a 'better' Firewire cable that runs form the external drive to the Mac Book... Logic dictates Firewire cables shouldn't matter but that is what was said about USB cables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixon76 Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 got tinnitus;102326 wrote: Next thing is to try a 'better' Firewire cable that runs form the external drive to the Mac Book... I haven't had any luck finding a 'better' one. Let me know if you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
got tinnitus Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Nix, these look OK..... http://www.macgurus.com/productpages/firewire/FW800Cables.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixon76 Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Ah great - thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyC1553552718 Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 kaka;102273 wrote: I went along to my first ever Wgtn Audio Club meeting last night where they were trying out a Dac Magic, via USB from a mac playing iTunes. The first track was a Radio NZ provided 192 bit rate mp3 concert performance - and it was predictably dreadful. Poor bitrate, and not the best of the lossy formats either. . Would be interested to know what the RNZ concert recording was and why it was an mp3 format - as concerts are not recorded, produced or broadcast by RNZ as mp3s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colton1553552741 Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Has anyone considered or had first hand experience with the Apple TV units? I've been considering setting up a music server and had my eye's set on a Mac Mini and USB DAC. Plan was to run this through a DAC via the optical and control with a iTouch./iPhone. The main advantage I can see with the ATV is price and the almost silent operational noise. The disadvantage is that you are limited to optical output and HD space. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixon76 Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Colton;102350 wrote: Has anyone considered or had first hand experience with the Apple TV units? I've been considering setting up a music server and had my eye's set on a Mac Mini and USB DAC. Plan was to run this through a DAC via the optical and control with a iTouch./iPhone. The main advantage I can see with the ATV is price and the almost silent operational noise. The disadvantage is that you are limited to optical output and HD space. Thoughts? Hi Colton. The ATV is a funny one. The chipset inside is quite capable of handling resolutions greater than 16/44 (i.e. 24/96), but the ATV code is blocking that, meaning everything is downconverted to 16/44 (in the same way as the for the AE). Nobody has been able to 'hack' around this - well not the last time I looked. This is only something to consider if HiRes is something you want to look at. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I've read that the optical out of the ATV sounds worse than the one from the AE (maybe it has even more jitter?). In general if you're only after a device to be used for audio, then I'd go an AE (as it has the same limitations). If you like all the other stuff the ATV does (and the Mac Mini is too $$$) then it's a no brainer. PS. I'm going the Mac Mini route when finances allow (as it has none of the above limitations) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajst2duk Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 kaka;102273 wrote: I went along to my first ever Wgtn Audio Club meeting last night where they were trying out a Dac Magic, via USB from a mac playing iTunes. The first track was a Radio NZ provided 192 bit rate mp3 concert performance - and it was predictably dreadful. Poor bitrate, and not the best of the lossy formats either. Then we heard some of the tracks from the standard collection that the club uses for demoing gear. I'm not sure how well the Dac Magic did as I don't know the tracks, or what the amps, speakers and cables usually deliver. But the interesting thing was how much better my lesser Locus USB cable (Polestar @ US$250, the bottom of their range) was than the $0.50 USB that was also in play. The generic cable suppressed the dynamics and presentation markedly, and was certainly not showing what computer based playback can provide. Yep my vote for the polestar as well, it made a big difference I believe in my system. If nothing else, with all the investment in the analogue interconnects in my system, I didn't want a weak link, even if it was only in my mind. I am happy with the result, just sounds a bit cleaner. AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colton1553552741 Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 nixon76;102359 wrote: Hi Colton. The ATV is a funny one. The chipset inside is quite capable of handling resolutions greater than 16/44 (i.e. 24/96), but the ATV code is blocking that, meaning everything is downconverted to 16/44 (in the same way as the for the AE). Nobody has been able to 'hack' around this - well not the last time I looked. This is only something to consider if HiRes is something you want to look at. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I've read that the optical out of the ATV sounds worse than the one from the AE (maybe it has even more jitter?). In general if you're only after a device to be used for audio, then I'd go an AE (as it has the same limitations). If you like all the other stuff the ATV does (and the Mac Mini is too $$$) then it's a no brainer. PS. I'm going the Mac Mini route when finances allow (as it has none of the above limitations) Thanks for that, was completely unaware of the resolution limitations with the ATV/AE. Possibly might have to relook at the mini, I guess it does offer the greatest flexibitly out of the apple options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixon76 Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Colton;102368 wrote: Thanks for that, was completely unaware of the resolution limitations with the ATV/AE. Possibly might have to relook at the mini, I guess it does offer the greatest flexibitly out of the apple options. One other thing to consider with the Mac Mini is the versions. If you're only concerned with USB then any will do. If you want optical out you have to get an Intel version (the older PowerPCs didn't have it). However if you want to run Amarra (even the cut down 'cheap' version I'm guessing) then the faster (and hence newer) the better. Prior to the current gen, the max ram was 3gb (even though you could fit 4gb). The new gen can do a genuine 4gb. Not many second hand Intel Mini's come up on TradeMe unfortunately. A brand spanker is a bit too much (for me) to dedicate as music server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaka Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 I have just added a Balanced Power Technology SLA battery power supply to the Offramp. Its turned out to be bigger than I expected, about the size of a small truck. I gave it an hours of charge when it arrived and found the sound little different - perhaps the Offramp wasn't going to respond much, never mind. Well tonight its had a full two days charge, and the pick up in dynamics via the Offramp is astonishing - jaw dropping stuff. Makes my curious to hear what the new 24/96 Squeezebox could do with a full-on power supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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