Would A DAC really help improve music on my Rotel RA?

tvdavid

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Hi
Someone said playing music from a PC is the worst way to do so.
Would An Digital to Analogue Converter really help improve music from my PC if so which one for up to say £150 on my Rotel RA?

This is how my PC is set up right now for just playing sound to my stereo.

20150325_115518 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

And for HD audio when playing films I just need to use my HDMI cable.

Also would getting other speakers help?

I am using some mission 700 2 way ones now.
There are OK but going to sell my Xarus 5000 speakers as don't really need loud music any more.

Thinking about buying a pair of monitor audio bookshelf speakers for up to around £250?
I have my kef psw 2010 sub for when more bass is needed and really like this speaker.
Would say Monitor Audio Bronze BX2 be an improvement?

Ones I have seen are
Cambridge Audio Azur DacMagic B
&
PROJECT DAC BOX S
Or
NAD DAC 2

I should add most my music is
320K mp3 & FLAC
And I like dance house and all sorts really.
 
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I found analogue out on soundcards a bit noisy. I have a couple of computers, both are connected to a AVR, and the second is connected to a av pre-amp (so if I use HTPC as source for video/audio to AVR, and also to av pre-amp) and gaming computer to AVR for gaming.
 
That looks like it'll output CD audio as 48khz. My onboard digital out keeps 44.1khz as 44.1khz, through plug in with foobar.

Main problem with a 2 channel DAC is for DD/DTS support, and in gaming. You'll need to output everything as 2 channel PCM, to rate the DAC supports.

"Someone said playing music from a PC is the worst way to do so."

Why? If using digital out
 
I play music on my rotel ra01 which is just a stereo amp.
 
yeah. so for that you want a regular DAC.

But if your sources are multi-channel, then your soundcard/software player have to setup output as PCM, not raw/bitstream otherwise get digital noise, or no signal.
 
I realise I may be stating the obvious here but your question is a bit like asking if buying a new cd player would improve upon the one bundled in a midi system. Arguably the only thing that really separates the sound from the cheapest and more expensive cd players is the DAC chip used. The point of this comment is I'm confident a DAC would bring about an improvement but do remember, the better the DAC you buy the more improvement you are likely to hear....it's not as simple as just buying any DAC and thinking job done. With that in mind think about a ballpark budget, look at what's out there that suits then maybe try and find a place to listen to them side by side to see if you think any improvements between each are worth the extra cost.

For the record and kind of going against my suggestion above, I bought an Arcam rdac secondhand without audition to connect to my Squeezebox (streams FLAC from my NAS) and felt it was worth it and sounded better than the DAC's in my AV8 processor that cost thousands at RRP. For the sub £200 secondhand price tag I feel it was well worth it. Good luck!
 
I mostly agree with Timmy above but...
Arguably the only thing that really separates the sound from the cheapest and more expensive cd players is the DAC chip used.
I debate the validity of this statement. If you read the specs of various players you will often find (for example) £200 and £2000 (and even £20,000) players using the same DAC chip. The difference between these players is the analogue section, the clocks and the power supply (amongst other things).

As Timmy says, if you can find a second hand Arcam rDAC that would be a good option though if you are stepping up your budget to £200 there are other DACs I would add to my list above.
 
I mostly agree with Timmy above but...

I debate the validity of this statement. If you read the specs of various players you will often find (for example) £200 and £2000 (and even £20,000) players using the same DAC chip. The difference between these players is the analogue section, the clocks and the power supply (amongst other things).

As Timmy says, if you can find a second hand Arcam rDAC that would be a good option though if you are stepping up your budget to £200 there are other DACs I would add to my list above.

That's why I said arguably as I'm aware some would say there's a lot more to it but didn't feel for the purposes of this thread there was any point in going into detail. As someone who uses more expensive one box cd players rather than any old transport and a separate DAC, I would like to believe everything else makes big improvements too but I've heard convincing arguments for both sides. Anyway, the point is as I'm sure you'll agree, the DAC chip used does make a big difference so offboard DAC units should be compared rather than just buying the first one you come across.
 
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If you're playing through USB from computer, then check out the Meridian Explorer 2. Also some of the stuff from Schiit Audio. Direct from manufacturer so is very good VFM.

Just some leftfield suggestions to the usual Arcam/CA offerings.
 
wow £200 for just something that plugs into a USB LOL.
With it being Easter mine not come yet.
Really quite mad when you can get a very good 7.1 amp or an older stereo amp for half the price on ebay.
 
Then do so. Be happy. And not wonder if it was a step up, down or sideways.
 
wow £200 for just something that plugs into a USB LOL.
With it being Easter mine not come yet.
Really quite mad when you can get a very good 7.1 amp or an older stereo amp for half the price on ebay.


Given you use high bitrate mp3 and FLAC and have what seems to be a reasonably decent Rotel amp (not sure which Mission 700s you have) I would have thought spending £200 on a DAC would bring about worthwhile improvements without outclassing the rest of you system. It may seem a lot for 'something that plugs into a USB' but it's not what it appears to do that counts, it's how much it improves the sound you want to think about.
 
Just to say my DAC came and I set it up
Though still have a buzzing sound so have to still use the isolator with this which was thinking it would stop.
20150409_143647 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Is this because its still a cheap one?
 
You probably have a ground loop issue from the analogue outputs. try wiggling the cables and see if it changes then you have your answer.
 

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