X-post

I am probably digging myself a hole as usual.

I want to connect a PC to my stereo and get the best quality possible.

This suggests using a digital output from the PC to an off-board DAC.

A decent off-board DAC takes optical or coaxial digital input, plus USB.

A decent PC sound card had an spdif option where you convert one of the
3.5mm jacks to spdif out.

So given the cable run of between 2m and 3m to the stereo location I
thought I would put the DAC with the stereo and run digital about 2.5m of
cable to the DAC.

Firstly normal digital coax is RCA - RCA but the sound card has a 3.5mm
jack plug.
So I would need a 3.5mm - RCA co-ax cable and they seem to be about as
common as rocking horse droppings.

I could use USB - 3 metres seems to be within the spec - yet it seems a
shame not to use the built in digital features of the sound card.

I think I have just talked myself into a USB cable.

Another alternative would be to have a pair of 2.5 metre long analogue
cables (usual hi-fi interconnect) to go to the DAC and have the DAC by the
PC but this seems clunky and expensive.

Any suggestions welcome.

Cheers

Dave R

In article ,
David.WE.Roberts wrote:
X-post

I am probably digging myself a hole as usual.

I want to connect a PC to my stereo and get the best quality possible.

This suggests using a digital output from the PC to an off-board DAC.

A decent off-board DAC takes optical or coaxial digital input, plus USB.

A decent PC sound card had an spdif option where you convert one of the
3.5mm jacks to spdif out.

So given the cable run of between 2m and 3m to the stereo location I
thought I would put the DAC with the stereo and run digital about 2.5m
of cable to the DAC.

Firstly normal digital coax is RCA - RCA but the sound card has a
3.5mm jack plug. So I would need a 3.5mm - RCA co-ax cable and they
seem to be about as common as rocking horse droppings.

I could use USB - 3 metres seems to be within the spec - yet it seems a
shame not to use the built in digital features of the sound card.

I think I have just talked myself into a USB cable.

Another alternative would be to have a pair of 2.5 metre long analogue
cables (usual hi-fi interconnect) to go to the DAC and have the DAC by
the PC but this seems clunky and expensive.

Any suggestions welcome.

Cheers

Dave R

Make up a 3.5mm jack to RCA lead? Ordinary audio co-ax will be fine for a
shortish run.

Don't suppose it has Toslink? That has the beauty of no ground connection
so no possibility of ground loops.

--
*Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 28/07/2014 14:27, David.WE.Roberts wrote:


If your PC does not have an S/PDIF port does it by any chance have an
S/PDIF header of the motherboard? (as mine does)


--
Michael Chare

On Monday, July 28, 2014 2:27:55 PM UTC+1, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
So I would need a 3.5mm - RCA co-ax cable and they seem to be about as
common as rocking horse droppings.

That's what soldering irons are for.

Or ebay.

However is it coaxial SPDIF or is it optical? If it's optical on the 3.5mm socket then use an optical to TOSLINK adapter such as
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400727587693

together with a TOSLINK cable

Owain

On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 15:35:17 +0100
Michael Chare wrote:

On 28/07/2014 14:27, David.WE.Roberts wrote:


If your PC does not have an S/PDIF port does it by any chance have an
S/PDIF header of the motherboard? (as mine does)


It's a netbook IIRC.

David.WE.Roberts wrote:
X-post

I am probably digging myself a hole as usual.

I want to connect a PC to my stereo and get the best quality possible.

This suggests using a digital output from the PC to an off-board DAC.

A decent off-board DAC takes optical or coaxial digital input, plus USB.

A decent PC sound card had an spdif option where you convert one of the
3.5mm jacks to spdif out.

So given the cable run of between 2m and 3m to the stereo location I
thought I would put the DAC with the stereo and run digital about 2.5m of
cable to the DAC.

Firstly normal digital coax is RCA - RCA but the sound card has a 3.5mm
jack plug.
So I would need a 3.5mm - RCA co-ax cable and they seem to be about as
common as rocking horse droppings.

I could use USB - 3 metres seems to be within the spec - yet it seems a
shame not to use the built in digital features of the sound card.

I think I have just talked myself into a USB cable.

Another alternative would be to have a pair of 2.5 metre long analogue
cables (usual hi-fi interconnect) to go to the DAC and have the DAC by the
PC but this seems clunky and expensive.

Any suggestions welcome.

I've been using an external DAC connected by USB for years, very happy.
It's not a long USB cable but I'd have thought 3 metres would be no problem.

My DAC is by the PC but that doesn't seem particularly clunky to me and
it (the cable, that is) wasn't expensive. One of the reasons I did it
that way was the DAC feeds three rooms in different directions.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

On 28 Jul 2014 13:27:55 GMT
"David.WE.Roberts" wrote:

X-post

I am probably digging myself a hole as usual.

I want to connect a PC to my stereo and get the best quality possible.

This suggests using a digital output from the PC to an off-board DAC.

A decent off-board DAC takes optical or coaxial digital input, plus
USB.

A decent PC sound card had an spdif option where you convert one of
the 3.5mm jacks to spdif out.

So given the cable run of between 2m and 3m to the stereo location I
thought I would put the DAC with the stereo and run digital about
2.5m of cable to the DAC.

Firstly normal digital coax is RCA - RCA but the sound card has a
3.5mm jack plug.
So I would need a 3.5mm - RCA co-ax cable and they seem to be about
as common as rocking horse droppings.

Just get a composite video RCA cable (yellow plugs) and solder on the
necessary jack plug - is it one of those TRRS ones? Maplin is your
friend (although eBay is a lot cheaper if you know what you want and
dont mind waiting a few days).

On Monday, 28 July 2014 14:27:55 UTC+1, David.WE.Roberts wrote:



I want to connect a PC to my stereo and get the best quality possible.

This suggests using a digital output from the PC to an off-board DAC.

A decent off-board DAC takes optical or coaxial digital input, plus USB.



A decent PC sound card had an spdif option where you convert one of the

3.5mm jacks to spdif out.


I've been doing this for a while with a Roland UA25 and a Maplin DAC, but two problems:
1. my Sony Viao Vista laptop has a bug in the USB driver that freezes the computer if I put it in standby then try to wake it up while the USB audio is in use. A not-unknown problem. One work-around is to disable enhanced USB modes in control panel. This has the side effect of disabling any USB printers.
2. With Win 8 on my desktop there were big problems and it probably needs the Win 8 multimedia extensions for USB audio to work, not sure about SPDIF.. Quite expensive. I downloaded Roland's own Win 8 drivers but they just didn't work. Finished up scrapping Win 8 and installed a new Win 7 pro which works beautifully. Another Win 8 problem was not being able to access the app store, another common problem.

rusty

On 28/07/2014 14:27, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
X-post

I am probably digging myself a hole as usual.

I want to connect a PC to my stereo and get the best quality possible.

This suggests using a digital output from the PC to an off-board DAC.

A decent off-board DAC takes optical or coaxial digital input, plus USB.

A decent PC sound card had an spdif option where you convert one of the
3.5mm jacks to spdif out.

So given the cable run of between 2m and 3m to the stereo location I
thought I would put the DAC with the stereo and run digital about 2.5m of
cable to the DAC.

Firstly normal digital coax is RCA - RCA but the sound card has a 3.5mm
jack plug.
So I would need a 3.5mm - RCA co-ax cable and they seem to be about as
common as rocking horse droppings.

If its on the 3.5 mm jack its probably optical.
A tos link cable is probably what you want depending on what the DAC has.


I could use USB - 3 metres seems to be within the spec - yet it seems a
shame not to use the built in digital features of the sound card.

If you are using the digital out there probably aren't any digital
features worth using.


I think I have just talked myself into a USB cable.

Another alternative would be to have a pair of 2.5 metre long analogue
cables (usual hi-fi interconnect) to go to the DAC and have the DAC by the
PC but this seems clunky and expensive.

You want to stay digital for as long as possible.


Any suggestions welcome.

Can you tell the difference between these?

http://www.ebuyer.com/208980-dynamod...b-soundcard2-0

http://www.ebuyer.com/234815-creativ...-70sb124000002

http://www.audiblefidelity.co.uk/aud...ul4aAqK-8P8HAQ


In a blind test?

On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 15:55:31 +0100, Rob Morley wrote:

On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 15:35:17 +0100 Michael Chare
wrote:

On 28/07/2014 14:27, David.WE.Roberts wrote:


If your PC does not have an S/PDIF port does it by any chance have an
S/PDIF header of the motherboard? (as mine does)


It's a netbook IIRC.

Aha - bonus point for remembering previous conversations, and two demerits
for not remembering all previous conversations ;-)

The PC in question is a somewhat modified PCSpecialist tower, currently in
limbo between Vista 32 and W8.1 x64.

It has sound (including digital) on the MoBo (Realtek) and on the add on
sound card (SB Audigy).

Although I also have a Sandy Bridge W7 box which might at some time be
linked via a DAC to an audio system.

However I suspect that the S/PDIF header is unlikely to be a co-ax socket
so I would have to get a connector from the MoBo to a rear panel to expose
the S/PDIF as a co-ax connector.

Interesting thought, but at the moment I am searching for the downside of
using USB.

Cheers

Dave R

Dennis@home wrote:
Can you tell the difference between these?

http://www.ebuyer.com/208980-dynamod...b-soundcard2-0

http://www.ebuyer.com/234815-creativ...-70sb124000002

http://www.audiblefidelity.co.uk/aud...ul4aAqK-8P8HAQ


In a blind test?

Continuing the upward trend in prices there's this...

http://sxpro.co.uk/benchmark-dac1-usb

.... which I've used for many years and I have to say it does sound
pretty good.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 18:21:43 +0100
"Dennis@home" wrote:

Can you tell the difference between these?

http://www.ebuyer.com/208980-dynamod...b-soundcard2-0

http://www.ebuyer.com/234815-creativ...-70sb124000002

http://www.audiblefidelity.co.uk/aud...ul4aAqK-8P8HAQ


In a blind test?

Yes - the Audiolab one smells of ... bull****. :-)
The little blue jobbie doesn't get on with Linux (or at least it didn't
when I last tried it - it made nasty screeching noises).

I got one of these for about a tenner on eBay
http://us.store.creative.com/Creativ...B000IZ96LQ.htm
which sounds fine - I like that it has a real mute switch and volume
knob, I don't think I've ever used the "audio enhancing" features.

In article , Rob Morley
scribeth thus
On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 18:21:43 +0100
"Dennis@home" wrote:

Can you tell the difference between these?

http://www.ebuyer.com/208980-dynamod...b-soundcard2-0

http://www.ebuyer.com/234815-creativ...-external-usb-
70sb124000002

http://www.audiblefidelity.co.uk/aud...Qjw6deeBRCswoa
uquC8haUBEiQAdq5zh_roZh9HIussYza88-T2eIt5SPHY78lRP-6tTZJqul4aAqK-8P8HAQ


In a blind test?

Yes - the Audiolab one smells of ... bull****. :-)
The little blue jobbie doesn't get on with Linux (or at least it didn't
when I last tried it - it made nasty screeching noises).

I got one of these for about a tenner on eBay
http://us.store.creative.com/Creativ...B000IZ96LQ.htm
which sounds fine - I like that it has a real mute switch and volume
knob, I don't think I've ever used the "audio enhancing" features.


"Make your MP3s sound better than CDs

MP3s and other digital music are great because they are small and fast
to download. But because this music is compressed, your songs sound
squashed and lifeless. Xmod intelligently restores the highs and lows
for rich, crystal clear music playback".


Humm ... think I'll pass on that one then, perhaps the Audiolab isn't
quite so much bull ****e;!...

--
Tony Sayer

On 28/07/2014 20:28, tony sayer wrote:
In article , Rob Morley
scribeth thus
On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 18:21:43 +0100
"Dennis@home" wrote:

Can you tell the difference between these?

http://www.ebuyer.com/208980-dynamod...b-soundcard2-0

http://www.ebuyer.com/234815-creativ...-external-usb-
70sb124000002

http://www.audiblefidelity.co.uk/aud...Qjw6deeBRCswoa
uquC8haUBEiQAdq5zh_roZh9HIussYza88-T2eIt5SPHY78lRP-6tTZJqul4aAqK-8P8HAQ


In a blind test?

Yes - the Audiolab one smells of ... bull****. :-)
The little blue jobbie doesn't get on with Linux (or at least it didn't
when I last tried it - it made nasty screeching noises).

I got one of these for about a tenner on eBay
http://us.store.creative.com/Creativ...B000IZ96LQ.htm
which sounds fine - I like that it has a real mute switch and volume
knob, I don't think I've ever used the "audio enhancing" features.


"Make your MP3s sound better than CDs

MP3s and other digital music are great because they are small and fast
to download. But because this music is compressed, your songs sound
squashed and lifeless. Xmod intelligently restores the highs and lows
for rich, crystal clear music playback".


Humm ... think I'll pass on that one then, perhaps the Audiolab isn't
quite so much bull ****e;!...


If its for MP3 audio you may as well use the £4 one.

I have a creative labs USB sound card somewhere that's OK, but I use the
digital out into my AV amp these days. Just run HDMI into it and let it
sort it out.

In message ,
therustyone writes
I've been doing this for a while with a Roland UA25 and a Maplin DAC,
but two problems:
1. my Sony Viao Vista laptop has a bug in the USB driver that freezes
the computer if I put it in standby then try to wake it up while the
USB audio is in use. A not-unknown problem. One work-around is to
disable enhanced USB modes in control panel. This has the side effect
of disabling any USB printers.
2. With Win 8 on my desktop there were big problems and it probably
needs the Win 8 multimedia extensions for USB audio to work, not sure
about SPDIF. Quite expensive. I downloaded Roland's own Win 8 drivers
but they just didn't work. Finished up scrapping Win 8 and installed a
new Win 7 pro which works beautifully. Another Win 8 problem was not
being able to access the app store, another common problem.

And don't forget this, which can apply if the sample rate in Windows
control panel doesn't match what is playing

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2653312

Anyone know if the bodge has been issued as a proper update to W7 and
whether it is still broken in W8.x?
--
Bill

On 28/07/2014 19:24, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 15:55:31 +0100, Rob Morley wrote:

On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 15:35:17 +0100 Michael Chare
wrote:

On 28/07/2014 14:27, David.WE.Roberts wrote:


If your PC does not have an S/PDIF port does it by any chance have an
S/PDIF header of the motherboard? (as mine does)


It's a netbook IIRC.

Aha - bonus point for remembering previous conversations, and two demerits
for not remembering all previous conversations ;-)

The PC in question is a somewhat modified PCSpecialist tower, currently in
limbo between Vista 32 and W8.1 x64.

It has sound (including digital) on the MoBo (Realtek) and on the add on
sound card (SB Audigy).

Although I also have a Sandy Bridge W7 box which might at some time be
linked via a DAC to an audio system.

However I suspect that the S/PDIF header is unlikely to be a co-ax socket
so I would have to get a connector from the MoBo to a rear panel to expose
the S/PDIF as a co-ax connector.

Interesting thought, but at the moment I am searching for the downside of
using USB.

Cheers

Dave R


The adapter I bought on ebay has both coax and optical outputs. There
was a wee problem with the wiring though. The pin outs on the
motherboard are not standardised.


--
Michael Chare

On 28/07/14 19:24, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

The PC in question is a somewhat modified PCSpecialist tower, currently in
limbo between Vista 32 and W8.1 x64.

It has sound (including digital) on the MoBo (Realtek) and on the add on
sound card (SB Audigy).


The SB Audigy electrical digital output is normally presented at the
rear on a 3.5mm mono plug (tip & shield), and the signal is post
processed audio i.e. tone & environmental effects included.

Regarding S/PDIF DACs - the best sounding with voices, dry bass
percussion and piano (top key stuck hard) I have is a Sony MDS-JB920
Minidisc Deck stuck in Record Monitor mode (see eBay). I have purchased
a few USB DAC's - IMO There isn't anything remarkable there on sale for
less than £100 and I prefer my Sony S/PDIF setup.

Ah, history. A loooooong time ago, I was one of the first sound card
hackers on the web wibbling about getting S/PDIF audio out of a PC,
doing things with optical toslink modules and debugging real 44.1KHz
C-Media chipsets with aid from their tech guys. That was the days of
real noisy analogue oncard audio which really was pitiful in comparison.

--
Adrian C

On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 20:28:36 +0100
tony sayer wrote:

In article , Rob Morley
scribeth thus

I got one of these for about a tenner on eBay
http://us.store.creative.com/Creativ...B000IZ96LQ.htm
which sounds fine - I like that it has a real mute switch and volume
knob, I don't think I've ever used the "audio enhancing" features.


"Make your MP3s sound better than CDs

MP3s and other digital music are great because they are small and fast
to download. But because this music is compressed, your songs sound
squashed and lifeless. Xmod intelligently restores the highs and lows
for rich, crystal clear music playback".

Or don't activate the gimmicky "enhancements" and it's a reasonable
quality USB sound card.

Humm ... think I'll pass on that one then, perhaps the Audiolab isn't
quite so much bull ****e;!...

Of course some people like to think that "audiophile" equipment is
special, like they are.

En el artículo , Rob Morley
escribió:

Of course some people like to think that "audiophile" equipment is
special, like they are.

The Russ Andrews catalogue must be aimed at very "special" people, then.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On Tue, 29 Jul 2014 01:48:07 +0100
Mike Tomlinson wrote:

En el artÃ*culo , Rob Morley
escribió:

Of course some people like to think that "audiophile" equipment is
special, like they are.

The Russ Andrews catalogue must be aimed at very "special" people,
then.

Oh yes. ;-)

In article , Rob Morley
scribeth thus
On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 20:28:36 +0100
tony sayer wrote:

In article , Rob Morley
scribeth thus

I got one of these for about a tenner on eBay
http://us.store.creative.com/Creativ...B000IZ96LQ.htm
which sounds fine - I like that it has a real mute switch and volume
knob, I don't think I've ever used the "audio enhancing" features.


"Make your MP3s sound better than CDs

MP3s and other digital music are great because they are small and fast
to download. But because this music is compressed, your songs sound
squashed and lifeless. Xmod intelligently restores the highs and lows
for rich, crystal clear music playback".

Or don't activate the gimmicky "enhancements" and it's a reasonable
quality USB sound card.

Humm ... think I'll pass on that one then, perhaps the Audiolab isn't
quite so much bull ****e;!...

Of course some people like to think that "audiophile" equipment is
special, like they are.


No not at all some of it most certainly is but having spent a long time
in pro audio I'd prefer what Audiolab state to the bollix alluded to
above thanks!...
--
Tony Sayer

On Tue, 29 Jul 2014 18:12:37 +0100
tony sayer wrote:

In article , Rob Morley
scribeth thus
On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 20:28:36 +0100
tony sayer wrote:

"Make your MP3s sound better than CDs

MP3s and other digital music are great because they are small and
fast to download. But because this music is compressed, your songs
sound squashed and lifeless. Xmod intelligently restores the highs
and lows for rich, crystal clear music playback".

Or don't activate the gimmicky "enhancements" and it's a reasonable
quality USB sound card.

Humm ... think I'll pass on that one then, perhaps the Audiolab
isn't quite so much bull ****e;!...

Of course some people like to think that "audiophile" equipment is
special, like they are.


No not at all some of it most certainly is but having spent a long
time in pro audio I'd prefer what Audiolab state to the bollix
alluded to above thanks!...

Of course it's ********, but you don't have to believe it - the device
is perfectly adequate for listening to MP3s.

In article , Rob Morley
scribeth thus
On Tue, 29 Jul 2014 18:12:37 +0100
tony sayer wrote:

In article , Rob Morley
scribeth thus
On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 20:28:36 +0100
tony sayer wrote:

"Make your MP3s sound better than CDs

MP3s and other digital music are great because they are small and
fast to download. But because this music is compressed, your songs
sound squashed and lifeless. Xmod intelligently restores the highs
and lows for rich, crystal clear music playback".

Or don't activate the gimmicky "enhancements" and it's a reasonable
quality USB sound card.

Humm ... think I'll pass on that one then, perhaps the Audiolab
isn't quite so much bull ****e;!...

Of course some people like to think that "audiophile" equipment is
special, like they are.


No not at all some of it most certainly is but having spent a long
time in pro audio I'd prefer what Audiolab state to the bollix
alluded to above thanks!...

Of course it's ********, but you don't have to believe it - the device
is perfectly adequate for listening to MP3s.


Or by mysterious magick making them back to CD's again;!!!...
--
Tony Sayer

On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 13:27:55 +0000, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

X-post

I am probably digging myself a hole as usual.

I want to connect a PC to my stereo and get the best quality possible.

This suggests using a digital output from the PC to an off-board DAC.

A decent off-board DAC takes optical or coaxial digital input, plus USB.

A decent PC sound card had an spdif option where you convert one of the
3.5mm jacks to spdif out.

So given the cable run of between 2m and 3m to the stereo location I
thought I would put the DAC with the stereo and run digital about 2.5m
of cable to the DAC.

Firstly normal digital coax is RCA - RCA but the sound card has a
3.5mm jack plug.
So I would need a 3.5mm - RCA co-ax cable and they seem to be about as
common as rocking horse droppings.

I could use USB - 3 metres seems to be within the spec - yet it seems a
shame not to use the built in digital features of the sound card.

I think I have just talked myself into a USB cable.

Another alternative would be to have a pair of 2.5 metre long analogue
cables (usual hi-fi interconnect) to go to the DAC and have the DAC by
the PC but this seems clunky and expensive.

Any suggestions welcome.

Decided that USB is the least complicated at the moment.

Thanks for all the replies.

Ordered a Cambridge Audio DAC Magic 100 on 'special offer' from Richer
Sounds.

We shall see if it produces a significant boost in quality or just a
significant reduction in funds.

It should work with optical, coax or USB so a potentially flexible
solution.

Cheers

Dave R

On Tue, 29 Jul 2014 01:48:07 +0100, Mike Tomlinson wrote:

En el artículo , Rob Morley
escribió:

Of course some people like to think that "audiophile" equipment is
special, like they are.

The Russ Andrews catalogue must be aimed at very "special" people, then.

The whole of the Russ Andrews catalogue is some secret code on a whole different
level to that promoted by Dan Brown in his books. It's been hypothesised that
it is less to do with the sound and more to do with something else like KGB
sleepers, drug running cartels, close encounters of the fourth kind, deep fried
mars bars, 29 bank accounts in Liechtenstein and the actual location of the Ark
of the Covenant that is currently stored up on a high shelf in a B&Q Warehouse
somewhere in the UK.

--

On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 09:52:54 -0700, therustyone wrote:

On Monday, 28 July 2014 14:27:55 UTC+1, David.WE.Roberts wrote:



I want to connect a PC to my stereo and get the best quality possible.

This suggests using a digital output from the PC to an off-board DAC.

A decent off-board DAC takes optical or coaxial digital input, plus
USB.



A decent PC sound card had an spdif option where you convert one of the

3.5mm jacks to spdif out.


I've been doing this for a while with a Roland UA25 and a Maplin DAC,
but two problems:
1. my Sony Viao Vista laptop has a bug in the USB driver that freezes
the computer if I put it in standby then try to wake it up while the USB
audio is in use. A not-unknown problem. One work-around is to disable
enhanced USB modes in control panel. This has the side effect of
disabling any USB printers.
2. With Win 8 on my desktop there were big problems and it probably
needs the Win 8 multimedia extensions for USB audio to work, not sure
about SPDIF. Quite expensive. I downloaded Roland's own Win 8 drivers
but they just didn't work. Finished up scrapping Win 8 and installed a
new Win 7 pro which works beautifully. Another Win 8 problem was not
being able to access the app store, another common problem.

rusty

The DAC MAgic 100 worked straight out of the box on W8.1 64 bit.
Also working on Vista 32 bit.

Just dicking about now trying to get the CA bespoke drivers to install.

Need these to do a firmware upgrade (in case the latest firmware has not
already been installed).

Cheers

Dave R

On 31/07/14 10:43, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

The DAC MAgic 100 worked straight out of the box on W8.1 64 bit.
Also working on Vista 32 bit.

Just dicking about now trying to get the CA bespoke drivers to install.

Need these to do a firmware upgrade (in case the latest firmware has not
already been installed).

David,

In linux, can you do an lsusb?

I'm interested what chipset they are using.

Thanks

--
Adrian C

On Sat, 02 Aug 2014 09:40:11 +0100, Adrian C wrote:

On 31/07/14 10:43, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

The DAC MAgic 100 worked straight out of the box on W8.1 64 bit.
Also working on Vista 32 bit.

Just dicking about now trying to get the CA bespoke drivers to install.

Need these to do a firmware upgrade (in case the latest firmware has
not already been installed).

David,

In linux, can you do an lsusb?

I'm interested what chipset they are using.

Thanks

Don't have Linux to hand at the moment, at least not near the DAC.

I have had a look via USBDeview which dumps out a load of information but
doesn't seem to include the name of a chip set.

Can't see the chip set for anything else either.

Do USB devices have to reveal their chip sets?

I can see that there are a device and manufacturer ID which (I assume) are
translated to various Cambridge Audio stuff.

VendorID=22e8
Product ID=dac4

The rest is about the drivers.

I will have a snoop via Linux when I get the chance - could just boot up a
Live CD.

The CA site says

"Thanks to a Wolfson 24-bit DAC, a 24-bit/96kHz driverless USB Audio 1.0
input and S/PDIF and TosLink digital inputs, the DacMagic 100 takes the
sound from your computer, iPod, TV and other digital devices and adds
detail, depth and added clarity to give you a true audio experience."

Are you looking for more specific information?

Cheers

Dave R

On Sat, 02 Aug 2014 17:45:10 +0000, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

On Sat, 02 Aug 2014 09:40:11 +0100, Adrian C wrote:

On 31/07/14 10:43, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

The DAC MAgic 100 worked straight out of the box on W8.1 64 bit.
Also working on Vista 32 bit.

Just dicking about now trying to get the CA bespoke drivers to
install.

Need these to do a firmware upgrade (in case the latest firmware has
not already been installed).

David,

In linux, can you do an lsusb?

I'm interested what chipset they are using.

Thanks

Don't have Linux to hand at the moment, at least not near the DAC.

I have had a look via USBDeview which dumps out a load of information
but doesn't seem to include the name of a chip set.

Can't see the chip set for anything else either.

Do USB devices have to reveal their chip sets?

I can see that there are a device and manufacturer ID which (I assume)
are translated to various Cambridge Audio stuff.

VendorID=22e8 Product ID=dac4

The rest is about the drivers.

I will have a snoop via Linux when I get the chance - could just boot up
a Live CD.

The CA site says

"Thanks to a Wolfson 24-bit DAC, a 24-bit/96kHz driverless USB Audio 1.0
input and S/PDIF and TosLink digital inputs, the DacMagic 100 takes the
sound from your computer, iPod, TV and other digital devices and adds
detail, depth and added clarity to give you a true audio experience."

Are you looking for more specific information?

Further Googling gives

http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/dacmagic_100_e.html

which says:

"Interestingly it uses a more recent Wolfson chip, the 8742. "

On 02/08/2014 18:45, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

"Thanks to a Wolfson 24-bit DAC, a 24-bit/96kHz driverless USB Audio 1.0
input and S/PDIF and TosLink digital inputs, the DacMagic 100 takes the
sound from your computer, iPod, TV and other digital devices and adds
detail, depth and added clarity to give you a true audio experience."

How does it, or anything else, add detail.
Sounds like more snake oil to me.


Are you looking for more specific information?

Cheers

Dave R

On 02/08/14 18:45, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

Do USB devices have to reveal their chip sets?

I can see that there are a device and manufacturer ID which (I assume) are
translated to various Cambridge Audio stuff.


VendorID=22e8
Product ID=dac4

That's the useful bit. Thanks.

The linux drivers often add the device description, some are descriptive
showing chipset, some not. However, with a customised product ID of
dac4, chances are the description doesn't go further than Dac Magic for
commercial reasons.

My interest relates to the USB to digital audio interface (not the
Wolfson DAC). I don't think I'll find interesting datasheets to read. Ah
well :-)

--
Adrian C

On Sat, 02 Aug 2014 18:52:09 +0100, Dennis@home wrote:

On 02/08/2014 18:45, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

"Thanks to a Wolfson 24-bit DAC, a 24-bit/96kHz driverless USB Audio
1.0 input and S/PDIF and TosLink digital inputs, the DacMagic 100 takes
the sound from your computer, iPod, TV and other digital devices and
adds detail, depth and added clarity to give you a true audio
experience."

How does it, or anything else, add detail. Sounds like more snake oil to
me.


Are you looking for more specific information?

Mathew 11:15

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.