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PC audio - so what am I doing wrong?

Posted by Slothman (A) on December 20, 2006 at 10:24:02

I'm driving my amps with my DAC, through a completely digital path from my computer:

Lossless FLAC-->Foobar ASIO (no SRC)-->Waveterminal U24 USB SPDIF converter (Redbook out)-->Meridian 518-->CAL Alpha Tube DAC (18 bit)-->Hafler SE-120 Monoblock configuration-->Ascend Acoustic CBM-170's

This is my experimental PC audio/office system that is comprised entirely of classifieds/Ebay items. The Meridian 518 acts as my preamp (digital attenuator), provides jitter correction of my "inferior" USB/SPDIF signal through twin PLLs to 3pS rms (supposedly), word length matching to that of my DAC, as well as the option of shaped dithering and pre-emphasising of the DAC.

For a relatively inexpensive component, the 518 proved invaluable to me in realizing what an impact that jitter had in my system. The sound was always somewhat harsh and introducing the CAL ALpha seemed to make it more palatable, however given the current configuration (assuming the huge gains in jitter reduction) I am proud to say that I am experiencing the most detailed and analog sounding PC audio to date. Seems like what I have going for me in my setup (to some degree) are some of the attributes on my wishlist should I consider some of these "super transport mods" - stable platter, good jitter reduction (superclocks), variable output, tubes!

For a kludge of lawnsale gear, I really like to know what I'm doing wrong and still be getting sound this good? For decent REDBOOK, do I really need to consider modded transports, I2S connectivity, upsamplers, superclocks, etc.?

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