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DAC newb questions.

tygr

tygr

Audiophoole
Hey kids, I have a small stereo system in my home office. I have lately been streaming music from my PC through a DAC that I picked up along my way somewhere (Aune T1, the first version), into my vintage integrated. I listen to it as background music and sometimes turn my chair around and listen carefully to it.

I guess my first question is, am I doing this the right way? Is a DAC the way to go? My next question is, could I be getting better sounding music from my computer? Maybe with a better DAC? Maybe by routing the signal some other way?

I like listening to music from youtube (I know, the quality sucks), as well as streaming from online radio services such as Spotify or Radio Paradise.

Enlighten this oldtimer a little if you would please.
 
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When you say you are listening to music from the PC, what format file are you using? And how is the DAC and computer connected? Lastly, what software are you using to manage the tunes?

You've started out well but there are improvements that can be had.
 
I use a netbook as a music server. It's running Media Monkey via an NAS HDD with only FLAC files. It's also my source for streaming. The Netbook is connected to an Emotiva XDA-2 via a USB connection. IMO/E using an external DAC produces audibly superior sound.
 
Michael, I'm not storing any files on my PC yet, just streaming online stuff. My DAC is connected via USB. I haven't yet tried using the PC as a music storage/server device.

Joe, I'm going to check out Media Monkey right now.
 
I had a netbook but replaced it with laptop. Minimum what I want: trapdoor to access fan, USB 3.0., CDROM.

You can use Windows Media Player which comes with Windows to rip and play music. If you load music files to netbook you may run out of disk space. Can get external USB drive. Rip CDs lossless.

You don't really provide much information. Details of netbook and DAC. Hard to recommend different/better DAC when you don't mention what you have.
 
I did mention the DAC I have, it's an AUNE T1 first version. The PC is my Gateway desktop and 500gb USB hard drive. Is FLAC the correct lossless format to use?
 
I have never heard your DAC but I doubt it is the problem. Your sources are less than CD quality so I doubt a new DAC or computer is going to make much of a difference. I would get a free month of Tidal (CD quality tier) and see if you can hear a difference between it an Spotify. If you can, get rid of Spotify and subscribe to Tidal. That is a cheap upgrade right there.

I have ripped all my CDs to .flac and listen to them for serious listening. I also subscribe to Spotify for new to me music and to fill in the gaps.
 
ldatlof said:
I have never heard your DAC but I doubt it is the problem. Your sources are less than CD quality so I doubt a new DAC or computer is going to make much of a difference. I would get a free month of Tidal (CD quality tier) and see if you can hear a difference between it an Spotify. If you can, get rid of Spotify and subscribe to Tidal. That is a cheap upgrade right there.

I have ripped all my CDs to .flac and listen to them for serious listening. I also subscribe to Spotify for new to me music and to fill in the gaps.
Click to expand...

+1 here. Try better source music as mentioned above and see if there is a difference. You have everything setup the right way.

What speakers are you using?
 
The music player app and how it's configured can make a large difference in the resulting sound. I had to manually tweak the settings in Media Monkey to make it use WASAPI. WASAPI is highly recommended. I've also used FOOBAR (tweaked to use WASAPI). However IMO the interface isn't as "comfortable" as the one for Media Monkey.
 
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