[Iordani[_2_]]

codifus wrote:

On Feb 10, 11:39Â*am, Jenn wrote:
Question: Â*How many members of the group have ripped their CD
collections to a hard drive and have totally/mostly stopped playing
music via individual CDs?

Count me in. AppleLossles, MP3s, AACs etc in my iTunes on a Macintosh
G4 feeds an airport express which then optically feeds an EMU-0404 DAC
and finally terminates at my stereo, a Yamaha AX-596 with Cambridge
SoundWorks Tower II speakers. Just want to add that these may be one
of the last few speakers built by Henry Kloss before his passing in
2002.


This is maybe an OT followup but I can't find an answer elsewhere.
So, the airport express has an combined analog and optical out.
Does this mean that it also has a built in DAC?

If not, does this mean the analog out is also the digital stream?

Thanks

[Sonnova]

On Sun, 15 Feb 2009 09:00:02 -0800, Iordani wrote
(in article ):

codifus wrote:

On Feb 10, 11:39Â*am, Jenn wrote:
Question: Â*How many members of the group have ripped their CD
collections to a hard drive and have totally/mostly stopped playing
music via individual CDs?

Count me in. AppleLossles, MP3s, AACs etc in my iTunes on a Macintosh
G4 feeds an airport express which then optically feeds an EMU-0404 DAC
and finally terminates at my stereo, a Yamaha AX-596 with Cambridge
SoundWorks Tower II speakers. Just want to add that these may be one
of the last few speakers built by Henry Kloss before his passing in
2002.


This is maybe an OT followup but I can't find an answer elsewhere.
So, the airport express has an combined analog and optical out.
Does this mean that it also has a built in DAC?

If not, does this mean the analog out is also the digital stream?

Thanks

Apple's info about the Express is very sketchy on their web site, but I
suspect that it must have a DAC of some sort in it because the description
says that you can connect it to your stereo or to a pair of powered speakers.

[bob]

On Feb 15, 12:00*pm, Iordani wrote:

This is maybe an OT followup but I can't find an answer elsewhere.
So, *the airport express has an combined analog and optical out.
Does this mean that it also has a built in DAC?

If not, *does this mean the analog out is also the digital stream?

An analog out that is a digital stream would be...a digital out. So,
yes, there is a DAC in there—a pretty good one, actually, though the
jitter performance is below average, which is why people like to use
the digital out to a good DAC.

Stereophile covered it some time ago:
http://www.stereophile.com/accessory...ple/index.html

bob

[Steve[_15_]]

A year ago I purchased a Squeezebox and a few weeks ago I sold my CD
player.

The SB sounds great and is easy to use - you do need to spend a bit of
time tagging your music and I do miss CD notes, on the other hand to
listen to all the versions you have of a song you like is 20 seconds
on the remote control to set up - try that with CDs! When on the road
I use a Sansa Clip MP3 player but with the SB I listen to only FLAC

[Iordani]

bob wrote:

On Feb 15, 12:00Â*pm, Iordani wrote:

This is maybe an OT followup but I can't find an answer elsewhere.
So, Â*the airport express has an combined analog and optical out.
Does this mean that it also has a built in DAC?

If not, Â*does this mean the analog out is also the digital stream?

An analog out that is a digital stream would be...a digital out. So,
yes, there is a DAC in there€”a pretty good one, actually, though the
jitter performance is below average, which is why people like to use
the digital out to a good DAC.

Stereophile covered it some time ago:
http://www.stereophile.com/accessory...ple/index.html

Yes, not the smartest put question on Usenet but I still got good
answers
Thanks for the link. Covered all things I wanted to know, and more.

[Iordani]

bob wrote:

On Feb 15, 12:00Â*pm, Iordani wrote:

This is maybe an OT followup but I can't find an answer elsewhere.
So, Â*the airport express has an combined analog and optical out.
Does this mean that it also has a built in DAC?

If not, Â*does this mean the analog out is also the digital stream?

An analog out that is a digital stream would be...a digital out. So,
yes, there is a DAC in there€”a pretty good one, actually, though the
jitter performance is below average, which is why people like to use
the digital out to a good DAC.

Stereophile covered it some time ago:
http://www.stereophile.com/accessory...ple/index.html

Yes, not the smartest put question on Usenet but I still got good
answers
Thanks for the link. Covered all things I wanted to know, and more.

[Codifus]

On Feb 15, 12:00*pm, Iordani wrote:
codifus wrote:
On Feb 10, 11:39*am, Jenn wrote:
Question: *How many members of the group have ripped their CD
collections to a hard drive and have totally/mostly stopped playing
music via individual CDs?

Count me in. AppleLossles, MP3s, AACs etc in my iTunes on a Macintosh
G4 feeds an airport express which then optically feeds an EMU-0404 DAC
and finally terminates at my stereo, a Yamaha AX-596 with Cambridge
SoundWorks Tower II speakers. Just want to add that these may be one
of the last few speakers built by Henry Kloss before his passing in
2002.

This is maybe an OT followup but I can't find an answer elsewhere.
So, *the airport express has an combined analog and optical out.
Does this mean that it also has a built in DAC?

If not, *does this mean the analog out is also the digital stream?

Thanks

Yes, the AX has anot too well documented capability. It is a
standalone DAC, and the mini-heaphone output jack has a dual function
as an optical output as well. I used my AX as a DAC and found its
sound to be OK.

Practically any device that accepts a digital audio stream, then
outputs analog audio, contains a DAC inside. It think that the main
reason that it is not mention for a alot of products like the AX may
be because the DAC they have implemented is not its strongest feature.
As mentioned earlier, the iMic that someone else was using also
contains a DAC because it accepts digital audio and outputs analog
audio.

CD

[Codifus]

On Feb 17, 9:23*am, codifus wrote:
On Feb 15, 12:00*pm, Iordani wrote:



codifus wrote:
On Feb 10, 11:39*am, Jenn wrote:
Question: *How many members of the group have ripped their CD
collections to a hard drive and have totally/mostly stopped playing
music via individual CDs?

Count me in. AppleLossles, MP3s, AACs etc in my iTunes on a Macintosh
G4 feeds an airport express which then optically feeds an EMU-0404 DAC
and finally terminates at my stereo, a Yamaha AX-596 with Cambridge
SoundWorks Tower II speakers. Just want to add that these may be one
of the last few speakers built by Henry Kloss before his passing in
2002.

This is maybe an OT followup but I can't find an answer elsewhere.
So, *the airport express has an combined analog and optical out.
Does this mean that it also has a built in DAC?

If not, *does this mean the analog out is also the digital stream?

Thanks

Yes, the AX has anot too well documented capability. It is a
standalone DAC, and the mini-heaphone output jack has a dual function
as an optical output as well. I used my AX as a DAC and found its
sound to be OK.

Practically any device that accepts a digital audio stream, then
outputs analog audio, contains a DAC inside. It think that the main
reason that it is not mention for a alot of products like the AX may
be because the DAC they have implemented is not its strongest feature.
As mentioned earlier, the iMic that someone else was using also
contains a DAC because it accepts digital audio and outputs analog
audio.

CD

Incidentally, on the subject of music servers, what does the Slim
Devices Transporter (what the Squeezebox wants to be when it grows
up) and the EMU0404 have in common?

At the heart of their DAC circuitry is the same DAC chip, an AKM
AK4396.

These AKMs are well regarded. The Behringer DEQ 2496 had the AK 4395,
and the new Teac Esoteric P05 high end DAC has AKM's latest bad boy
chip, the AK4397.....full 32 bit processing of digital audio data. The
4396, being a 24 bit chip, "only" gets us about 113 db dynamic range.
Boo hoo

CD

[Rob Tweed]

On 17 Feb 2009 20:05:14 GMT, codifus wrote:

Incidentally, on the subject of music servers, what does the Slim
Devices Transporter (what the Squeezebox wants to be when it grows
up) and the EMU0404 have in common?

At the heart of their DAC circuitry is the same DAC chip, an AKM
AK4396.

These AKMs are well regarded. The Behringer DEQ 2496 had the AK 4395,
and the new Teac Esoteric P05 high end DAC has AKM's latest bad boy
chip, the AK4397.....full 32 bit processing of digital audio data. The
4396, being a 24 bit chip, "only" gets us about 113 db dynamic range.
Boo hoo


There was an interesting article in January's Sound on Sound magazine
comparing 3 DACs (see
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan0...converters.htm but
unfortunately you have to subscribe to see the full article).

They compared the Apogee Mini-DAC, Benchmark DAC1 USB and the Lavry
Engineering DA10 (www.lavryengineering.com). Interestingly, the Lavry
(which I'd not come across before) came out best although it did sound
from the article that there wasn't much in it really. Shame they
hadn't included the EMU 0404: I'd love to have found out how it stacks
up against these much more expensive devices.

---

Rob Tweed
Company: M/Gateway Developments Ltd
Registered in England: No 3220901
Registered Office: 58 Francis Road,Ashford, Kent TN23 7UR

Web-site: http://www.mgateway.com

[Codifus]

On Feb 18, 10:23*am, Rob Tweed wrote:
On 17 Feb 2009 20:05:14 GMT, codifus wrote:



Incidentally, on the subject of music servers, what does the Slim
Devices Transporter (what the Squeezebox wants to be when it grows
up) and the EMU0404 have in common?

At the heart of their DAC circuitry is the same DAC chip, an AKM
AK4396.

These AKMs are well regarded. The Behringer DEQ 2496 had the AK 4395,
and the new Teac Esoteric P05 high end DAC has AKM's latest bad boy
chip, the AK4397.....full 32 bit processing of digital audio data. The
4396, being a 24 bit chip, "only" gets us about 113 db dynamic range.
Boo hoo

There was an interesting article in January's Sound on Sound magazine
comparing 3 DACs (seehttp://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan09/articles/daconverters.htmbut
unfortunately you have to subscribe to see the full article).

They compared the Apogee Mini-DAC, Benchmark DAC1 USB and the Lavry
Engineering DA10 (www.lavryengineering.com). *Interestingly, the Lavry
(which I'd not come across before) came out best although it did sound
from the article that there wasn't much in it really. *Shame they
hadn't included the EMU 0404: I'd love to have found out how it stacks
up against these much more expensive devices.

[quoted sig deleted -- deb]

I've heard of the the DA10. It's ugly, has non user friendly
interface, but when it comes to sound, apparently the DA10 bests the
DAC1. The beauty of competition at work. I'm sure there's a DAC2 (or
perhaps a DAC10) brewing at the Benchmark headquarters right now.

CD

[Iordani[_2_]]

Jenn wrote:

Question: How many members of the group have ripped their CD
collections to a hard drive and have totally/mostly stopped playing
music via individual CDs?

I got so inspired by this thread so I got myself a Squeezebox Duet
yesterday. And WOW!, this IS convenient! This will surely raise my
listening quota quite a bit! I use the internal DAC in the receiver and
will compare it to CD later on. If there is some, to me, audible
difference I will get the Musical Fidelity V-DAC.

I have only today started ripping my music to flac and have a question.

Before I get to far into this ripping thing, is there anything I should be
aware of regarding software or the likes? I'm using Linux/Ubuntu. (I also
have a Mac but don't like iTunes at all. I don't use Windows.)

Thanks

[Codifus]

On Feb 21, 10:58*am, Iordani wrote:
Jenn wrote:
Question: *How many members of the group have ripped their CD
collections to a hard drive and have totally/mostly stopped playing
music via individual CDs?

I got so inspired by this thread so I got myself a Squeezebox Duet
yesterday. *And WOW!, *this IS convenient! *This will surely raise my
listening quota quite a bit! *I use the internal DAC in the receiver and
will compare it to CD later on. *If there is some, *to me, *audible
difference I will get the Musical Fidelity V-DAC. *

I have only today started ripping my music to flac and have a question.

Before I get to far into this ripping thing, *is there anything I should be
aware of regarding software or the likes? I'm using Linux/Ubuntu. *(I also
have a Mac but don't like iTunes at all. *I don't use Windows.)

Thanks

Congrats! Once you go music server, you'll never go back. That 100 CD
changer will soon be taking its place amongst 8-track and cassette in
the hifi audio museum of history.

So you don't like iTunes, huh? What don't you like about it? The
latest version is 8.x and I'm still using v7. You'll be hard pressed
to find a better music management program. While it may not be
perfect, it is the easiest and most intuitive to use, part of the
reason it's so popular. I used to use Winamp which was simple and
good, but that program didn't quite evolve as music management
programs became more popular. Windows media player? It's all over the
place. There are others like Foobar, Media Monkey etc.

Here's a link to help you find what may suite you best;

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/11...-alternatives/

I have no idea about most any software for Linux so you're on your own
there.

Good luck!

CD

[Steve[_15_]]

On Feb 21, 5:58*pm, Iordani wrote:
I got so inspired by this thread so I got myself a Squeezebox Duet
yesterday. *And WOW!, *this IS convenient! *This will surely raise my
listening quota quite a bit! *I use the internal DAC in the receiver and
will compare it to CD later on. *If there is some, *to me, *audible
difference I will get the Musical Fidelity V-DAC. *

I have only today started ripping my music to flac and have a question.

Before I get to far into this ripping thing, *is there anything I should be
aware of regarding software or the likes? I'm using Linux/Ubuntu. *(I also
have a Mac but don't like iTunes at all. *I don't use Windows.)

Thanks

Have a look at slimdevices forums and the Wiki.;

http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/Main_Page

You need to decide which format you will rip to (FLAC which you chose
is best for most of us), which software to use for ripping, naming
conventions for ripped data, backups, etc. Its best to decide on all
these early because there is a world of difference when you are
dealing with dozens or tracks or thousands of tracks..... The SB is a
great bargain and eye opener....