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My CD player of many years is a Wadia, and I would like to get PC-based solution to digital playback of the same standard.Firstly, are PC-based solutions at that lofty standard now? I appreciate everyone's time is valuable and would simply like to be directed to a start-point where I can continue to research the topic.
I run active monitors for now, and hence, will also require a digital volume control, if possible.
Also $$ should be at minimum, which is one reason I am also considering going down this path.
Follow Ups:
They are all very instructive, and particularly MRMB's story. Another alternative I have been looking at is RWA's Olive mods.
I recently moved from a Wadia 861 to a Wavelength Brick Silver USB DAC.By selling the Wadia, I had a tidy sum left over to partially buy one of the new MacBook duos. As I didn't have a laptop, I got the best of both worlds, a music server by night, a go-anywhere laptop all other times. Please note that before the MacBook, I used an antiquated Dell PII (300 mhz) PC running Windows 2000 with the same sonic results as the MacBook. So, for a USB DAC, one needn't worry about anything havning a state of the art processor. While PC noise can be a problem, it can be resolved.
As my primary media is vinyl, ABSOLUTE sonic parity or improvement (Wadia vs PC audio) wasn't that important. I was seeking to divest myself of a technology that will ultimately go the way of the dinosaurs (IMHO); while my Wadia's value was still very good; being left with a very good to comparable, but MUCH more functional, versatile front-end. I can't tell you how much fun it is to IMMEDIATELY select from 1,000's of tunes, or to create an ad hoc playlist from my listening chair in moments. While I knew it would be a positive, I didn't imagine it would be sooo great a one!
While I didn't get the chance to do a one to one DAC to Wadia comparison, I and my son believe that the Brick is better in all respects -- in our case, a very welcome, pleasant result.
BTW, I, like you, used my Wadia direct, until my wonderful foray back into vinyl (which is another story). I bought a Supratek Chenin preamp for its phono capabilities, and was thrilled by the CD playback improvement -- more musical, more to my liking in every way -- kinda counterintuitive. In this case, more was indeed more. Thus, while the direct vs pre debate is endless, for me it ended with the Chenin/Wadia connection.
I was seeking to divest myself of a technology that will ultimately go the way of the dinosaurs
Don't tell anyone that Brick has a tube inside....
Just kiddin'. I have a Brick on order as well. It is good to hear that you preferred the Brick to the Wadia. Hopefully I won't have to wait for mine much longer. By the way: What is the difference between the silver Brick and the standard - I forgot to ask Gordon about that one?
Now I just need to find a good 500GB hard drive...
Rene
Die gefährlichste Weltanschauung ist die Weltanschauung derjenigen, die die Welt nicht angeschaut haben.
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859)
After posing the silver comparison question to Gordon Rankin, he advised the following:"There are 2 main differences between that and the standard." "The silver which I will describe later and the size which is 4x larger than it's copper counterpart." "The larger size will yield more inductance which means better bass preformance. But larger in copper would cloud the presentation so that is why we made this only in silver." "Silver does many things that are not explainable in engineering terms as silver and copper have about the same electrical capabilities with the nod to the silver." "But silver flushes out detail better and creates more of a realistic presentation than does copper." "It's a significant difference as I have had several standard bricks in my system the silver is significantly better."
With that said, you should love the Brick, and finding a 500GB drive shouldn't be a problem, there are many options. The cost per gig for 1/2 and full TB drives has been steadly decreasing. When my son and I started seriously ripping several years ago, breaking the $1.00 per GB barrier was a good deal, now one can easily do so.
As far as I'm concerned, PC Audio is the only way to go. For the most part, it's a better bang for the buck, and the flexibility of the computer is amazing and I still can't get over how good a PC can sound as a transport.
Be careful with digital volume controls - you loose resolution as you go below 0dB. Why can't you use passive analog volume control?
I guess Transformer volume Controls are the best choice.Got rid of my TVC when I got rid of the preamp.
Do you have the same resolution loss on Redbook?
I could cut down the gain on the input of my BSS - don't know what that does to the resolution of what is passing through the BSS - I think it upsamples everythng to 96K.
Thanks for pointing it out-
Still, there are truly a number of ways to skin that particular cat.You can change volume within the player application, and usually also with the mixer application that comes with the card.
You can get a sound card and use the analog outs and that's all you need.
Or go out digital AES/EBU to a DAC
Or usb to a DAC
or laptop, squeezebox, Airport - The list of various solutions is long -
I did sound card out to BSS digital crossover - because that was the quickest easiest way do to my triamped system, and AES/EBU cable can be run further.
Was the right way for me. Might not be best way for you.
You'll have to do your own due diligence as to what is right for you.
this forum is full of this information - we usually answer the same question at least two or three times a week - problem of course is that everyone comes at it slightly differently... that said read the link below which was specific to a CD changer the solution to which contains all of the same moving parts you need to understand. should give you a good place to startshort answer is yes
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