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DAC to ? Pream input

74.116.44.200
Posted on April 20, 2015 at 13:15:51
farmdoc
Audiophile

Posts: 190
Location: No. California
Joined: December 8, 2002
 Finnally, everything ripped; cables in place, Mac mini and music library on ext. Lacie HD primed (I think), and.....NO sound.
I think I'll change the cabling over to use the Dac (Bel Canto 2.5) as a preamp to see if that is the problem, but I just noticed I didn't change the RCA cables into the Pramp's input (Hovland HP 100) from CD input. (Before I set up the computer audio system).
Should the preamp input be changed to AUX ? Does that make any difference? Little help, please.

Mac Mini 2014 with SSD
Bel Canto 2.5
Hovland HP 100
Hovland Radia
Meadowlark Blue Heron II
Audience Au, Snake River, TWL cables

 

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RE: DAC to ? Pream input, posted on April 20, 2015 at 14:56:05
Bob_C
Audiophile

Posts: 2667
Location: NY
Joined: July 31, 2000
 Any line level input on the preamp is fine. CD or AUX are the same. How is the DAC connected to the computer?

 

RE: DAC to ? Pream input, posted on April 20, 2015 at 16:06:21
farmdoc
Audiophile

Posts: 190
Location: No. California
Joined: December 8, 2002
 USB (Wireworld Platnimum Starlight)

 

RE: DAC to ? Pream input, posted on April 20, 2015 at 17:25:32
Bob_C
Audiophile

Posts: 2667
Location: NY
Joined: July 31, 2000
 Do you need you chose the USB input on the DAC?

 

RE: DAC to ? Pream input, posted on April 20, 2015 at 17:40:19
farmdoc
Audiophile

Posts: 190
Location: No. California
Joined: December 8, 2002
 Yes, chose USB on Bel Canto. In the interim, I took my preamp out line, and Mini-->USB-->DAC-->Amp. Works fine now, but sound not great compared to CD. Need to start tweaking. Now, whats wrong with that Preamp?

 

RE: DAC to ? Pream input, posted on April 20, 2015 at 18:16:03
CraigS720
Audiophile

Posts: 52
Location: Philadelphia
Joined: January 24, 2004
 Check to see if you have the correct output from the Mac Mini. Go to Finder>Applications>Utilities>Audio MIDI Setup and in the left hand column, make sure that your DAC is set as the output.

Craig

 

RE: DAC to ? Pream input, posted on April 20, 2015 at 20:06:45
farmdoc
Audiophile

Posts: 190
Location: No. California
Joined: December 8, 2002
 Checked audio midi first; dac listed and selected on output.

 

RE: DAC to ? Pream input, posted on April 20, 2015 at 23:30:32
beppe61
Audiophile

Posts: 4705
Joined: January 29, 2004
Hi have you tried to connect a cd/dvd/BR player to the same input on the preamp ? do you get the same problems ?
Maybe it is the preamp needing some service.
The outs from a dac can be seen the same as the outs from a cd player.

Kind regards,
bg

 

RE: DAC to ? Pream input, posted on April 21, 2015 at 09:00:53
farmdoc
Audiophile

Posts: 190
Location: No. California
Joined: December 8, 2002
 Thanks all.
Looks like it might be the the preamplifier after all. I took the Hovland out of the line, ran the cabling direct Bel Canto 2.5 dac--->amplifers and Voila! Sound!
Not great sound, doesn't come close to cd quality yet, but some tweaking is in order. I'll check the tubes in the Hovland and go from there.

 

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