PC playback

[merlin2069er]

I'm trying to figure out what to do with my PC music server.

So far, I've got flac media on an external usb drive... windows 7 laptop - just installed media monkey with asio4all and asio plugin for media monkey.

I've got a trends ud-10 (usb transport) and an diy ezdac.

I've been able to re-sample my output to 48,000hz max. (I'm not sure what the limiting factor is here.) Maybe it's the usb transport?

I'd be interested in any suggestions.

[phofman]

Originally Posted by merlin2069er

I've been able to re-sample my output to 48,000hz max. (I'm not sure what the limiting factor is here.) Maybe it's the usb transport?

The UD-10 is using PCM2704 with maximum samplerate of 48kHz.

http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/pcm2704.pdf

[merlin2069er]

Thanks, ok I did see that when comparing the trends ud-10 to the KingRex uc192.

So, by upgrading the transport to the KingRex uc192- I'll be limited to what the ezdac can handle (I think 24/96).

[ozzyscl]

I'm using J River Media player, with windows 7 64 bits (that really doesn't matter)
A few years back I bought a Creative x-fi 5.1 card for my laptop, which now I use to extract the audio via toslink. That goes into the Dacmagic then into the Marantz 1060.

With J River you can upsample if you like, I'm running WASAPI as I don't have proper Asio Drivers. I just found now that wasapi gives me bit perfect transfer. I have an old Cambridge Audio ISomagic s700 and I couldn't tell before getting the DM (I had no way to see the Sample rate received by the dac)

Perhaps you should think about getting a second hand x-fi 5.1 usb (the first model will do) just to get hi res audio via toslink. As I think you'll be very limited via USB.

[merlin2069er]

Oh, I got home for lunch and hooked up my usb Trends ud-10 transport to my Adcom GCD750 cd player and used the digital in.

It worked perfectly, asio4all outputting 48,000hz. It sounded good.

I've read were people are all so concerned with all the extra apps and services running in the background. I guess I can eventually do that when I upgrade this laptop (and use it for audio only) (it's a dual core duo running @ ~2ghz)

I'd also be interested in testing ubuntu 10.11 (not sure if my usb transport will be picked up in linux)

[merlin2069er]

Originally Posted by ozzyscl

I'm using J River Media player, with windows 7 64 bits (that really doesn't matter)
A few years back I bought a Creative x-fi 5.1 card for my laptop, which now I use to extract the audio via toslink. That goes into the Dacmagic then into the Marantz 1060.

With J River you can upsample if you like, I'm running WASAPI as I don't have proper Asio Drivers. I just found now that wasapi gives me bit perfect transfer. I have an old Cambridge Audio ISomagic s700 and I couldn't tell before getting the DM (I had no way to see the Sample rate received by the dac)

Perhaps you should think about getting a second hand x-fi 5.1 usb (the first model will do) just to get hi res audio via toslink. As I think you'll be very limited via USB.

I don't think my laptop has an optical output (toslink). Do you know what the max sampling frequency of the Creative x-fi 5.1?

[ozzyscl]

Originally Posted by merlin2069er

I don't think my laptop has an optical output (toslink). Do you know what the max sampling frequency of the Creative x-fi 5.1?

Optical outputs are difficult to find in pc's or laptops. What I meant is to connect the x-fi via usb, then from it you can connect via toslink to a dac.

I only use the x-fi as a way to extract the audio from the computer, it just passes through directly to the dac.

The sample rate is up to 24 bit/96khz for both playback and recording.

That should be enough for playing hi res files (most of mine are 24/96khz)

[merlin2069er]

That's neat, much faster than the trends ud-10 which maxs out at 48,000.

Unfortunately my dacs don't have a optical input.

[ozzyscl]

the creative also has rca outs, here is a picture of the model I own

[JRace]

Many laptops piggyback the optical output through the headphone jack.
You need a mini-toslink adaptor.