MacBook Pro low cost upgrade.

[CycleCoach]

I recently splashed out on a cheap Chinese DAC so I could use the digital output available from the headphone jack on my MacBook.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-Digital-Op ... SwpDdVLS8F

Using a 3.5mm adaptor on one end of a toslink cable (I ended up buying another cable to make things easier.) and powering the unit via via a free USB port. There are phono outputs to the amp (I must admit to using a cheap and cheerful lead here - (an NVA lead is on order)) this is about as plug-and-play as could be.

I currently just use iTunes with all the tracks downloaded onto the Mac hard drive.

The audio output is "OK" for ordinary listening but the improvement this little box has made is quite incredible. All the usual Hi-Fi stuff about separation, definition, space etc seem to apply and I feel like there is a genuine window into what I am listening to - it's clearer, smoother and more natural. At first, I thought I detected a loss of bass, but on reflection, it's like everything is less "wooly" and muddled. Treble seems smoother, and definitely more listenable - certainly better than my old Yamaha CD player used to sound!



I welcome your thoughts, suggestions and (of course) criticisms, but leave you with one question - how much more would I need to spend on a DAC before I would hear a worthwhile improvement?

Quite a lot I suspect.

[antonio66]

Pleased you liking you new dac, my brother uses a Fiio D3 (approx £25) for tv use and it's very good. You could always try George's Dac 3 http://hifisubjectivist.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48069

[_D_S_J_R_]

I was laughed at when I recommended one of these super-cheap DAC's as a starter experiment that could surprise. Glad it surprised you too

[Daniel Quinn]

I have two of those for the digital outputs for the TV's in hif and family room.

I tried it on my sony cdp , the presentation was different but not worse .

[CycleCoach]

Pleased you liking you new dac, my brother uses a Fiio D3 (approx £25) for tv use and it's very good. You could always try George's Dac 3 http://hifisubjectivist.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48069

Thanks for that suggestion Antonio, I'd missed that thread.

[CycleCoach]

I was laughed at when I recommended one of these super-cheap DAC's as a starter experiment that could surprise. Glad it surprised you too

It was almost one of those "too good to be true" things DSJR!

[CycleCoach]

This went into a drawer when I bought George's DAC 3 (which I am pretty happy with (thanks George!)) so i have taken the plunge today and ordered the power supply the Doc recommended. Watch this space for a comparison between the two soon.

[CycleCoach]

Here are the eBay links already quoted by the Doc elsewhere.

Power supply: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hifi-linear-D ... 2749.l2649

DAC: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sis.html?_nk ... 2749.l2658

And yes, at that price I did order another DAC at the same time!

[karatestu]

The dac link takes me to fashion ?

[Fretless]

Depending on how critical you are there are a couple of slightly more expensive alternatives in the 100 - 150 pound range. The MF V-DAC, Canbridge DacMagic100 or NuForce uDac3 will all give you a good performance. As I have said elsewhere - an AudioQuest Jitterbug placed between computer USB output and DAC will improve the audio signal and ALL digital cables (USB, coax and toslink) have an impact on the sound.

Good power supplies are essential for raising a DAC into audiophile territory and look for minimal compression in audio formats (MP3 is crap, Ogg Vorbis is better, then Apple Lossless and the best sound (after WAV) is from FLAC). Further up the ladder are 24-bit and 32-bit systems (as used in recording studios) and formats like DSD.

If you rip your own CD's then use a good quality rip-program like EAC (Exact Audio Copy) or DbPowerAmp - these ensure with 'secure-ripping' that absolutely all of the audio data signal is copied from the CD, whereas a normal CD-player just grabs as much data from the disc as it can in one pass and then uses error-correction to try and approximate what the data signal should be.

Computer audio can be fun - seriously !!