When i play music im currently running HDMI from a Windows PC into my TV, then Phono cable from the TV to my Stereo Amp, im really looking forward to bypassing my TV when i play music as having it switched on is so uneconomical, and if i end up with a better DAC than the TV's inbuilt one then that would be great aswell So i'm going to be buying one of these HDMI Audio Converters soon and im wondering if anyone knows the quality of the Stereo & Toslink DAC on the Octava as it seems the only brand around that are making them? For example im wondering ifit would it be better to run the Toslink output of the Octava into a better DAC to then take it to Stereo/Phono, or if the onbaord DAC is good enough then surely it would be wiser to go with the Octavas HDMI>Stereo/Phono rather than adding an extra DAC to go HDMI>Toslink>Stereo/Phono? Thanks in advance .
Im now wondering if this is even worth doing as im not sure if the audio quality would be better than running a toslink from my PC, saving me £140 if i don't get/need the Octava. Im basically wondering if PC HDMI>Octava DAC>Stereo Amp would be better audio quality than PC Toslink>DAC>Stereo Amp? .
Assuming you have some form of Display/Monitor to see what you are doing in terms of controlling the PC Id be tempted to suggest a decent quality USB DAC is where you should be looking if your wanting the best audio into your Hi-Fi. Another option would be Sonos or Squeezebox with a share to the music on your PC!!! Joe
Cheers mate, i spoke to you over email today as you may have figured out I have another monitor for my PC so all good, plus i can always output HDMI to my TV for picture & change the audio playback to different output I plugged my TC Electronics BMC-2 (DAC/monitor controller) into my PC's Toslink and ran a test side by side with my HDMI/TV setup & the HDMI definitely still sounds slightly brighter on the high notes, but this could be because the BMC-2 is a monitor controller so the output at full capacity distorts So as you know im thinking of the Arcam rDAC, along with a high quality 10m phono cable to run to my Amp from the DAC, its either that or use a long 10m USB which i heard is not a good idea Do you know if i should be thinking about coax soundcard at all to then run coax into the DAC? Im assuming that the higher the kHz the better, and Coax goes upto 192kHz Nice one mate
On the wireless music front, i always thought that wireless would mean less quality, although the other day my phone started playing a bluetooth song through my car stereo out the blue & the quality blew me away!
A 'wireless' devices such as Sonos will 'sound' the same with a wired or wireless connection to your Router. Most Sonos systems have one device hard wired to your Router and the rest of the Sonos devices then form a wireless Mesh. The Zone Players have a buffer so even if you are streaming from the web they can cope with interruptions on your network. Joe