Do I need one

rsrguy

rsrguy

Active Member
Do I need a DAC, and if so what do I need? I'd like to Link my Samsung smart TV to my vintage pioneer system (aux). 2. Link my digital music library (on pc) to the pioneer system as well. 3. Have wireless control of the DAC, via my phone or laptop. And lastly 4. Be able to stream from my apple music account on occasion.
I have an iPad and use the apple app on my android.
I'd prefer the highest quality input for the music files. I have a hard drive and laptop that I can dedicate to my mp3's as a part of my component system.
Initially I had thought I'd like to just stream but I have all these high quality files on my 2 tb hard drive that I'd collected over the years so I figured it would be the best option for listening to tunes when I can't devote the time to vinyl.. I've read the Bluetooth connection lacks the fidelity of the wireless connection, so what are the alternatives like?
My budget is $200 to make this all happen. What are some hints tips and equipment suggestions for this ....

I don't even know where to start on my digital music files....... The learning curve is steep here.
Signed Guy,
late to the party newb.
 
Register to hide this ad
For the budget and the needs stated you will likely need to settle on an inexpensive DAC like Topping D30 or Schiit Modi 3 and a Chromecast Audio device for streaming.
 
To decode the digital files you will need a DAC. gvl made some good recommendations on a couple of popular DACs that meet your budget. You will also need an app so you can see and manage the music from your phone or some other portable wireless device, such as the iPad. JRiver has an app and there are others such as Audirvana.

Are you using an Apple device for your digital music storage? Can you access that device wirelessly?

The simplest setup would look something like this:

PC/digital file storage device ===USB cable===> DAC ===RCA cable===> Pre-amp/Receiver
 
I run PC, use a galaxy, and have 2 ipods I also have more than a Terra bite of music on a standalone seagate and a 400 disc changer. I must say I'm more than a little excited about what I can do with hifi now. As a teen in the 80s I couldn't afford audio... And as a father of 5 I really couldn't afford it. Now the kids are out and there is plenty of high quality second hand stuff, I'm stoked. What single file management program will work for my needs, or does one even exist?
 
Last edited:
Yamaki said:
PC/digital file storage device ===USB cable===> DAC ===RCA cable===> Pre-amp/Receiver
Click to expand...
Good advice here - just throw a Chromecast into the mix for wireless connectivity and control. There are a plethora of programs to manage your music. Some free, some not. Personally, being a hands on kinda guy I prefer to massage my music files on the PC and use Plex (free) as a media server. I hear Musicbee and MediaMonkey are well liked.
 
We have had success using my son's plex account for movies. So, if I setup my laptop as a plex server with the chromecast audio will I be able to run it from my phone as a remote? Pc/digital file===usb cable ===dac=== chromcast===rca splitter===Marantz IA?
So is iTunes the devil? If I continue to use my ipods am I better off using ALAC over FLAC (to keep everything compatible?)
Hats off this is an amazing forum but there is so much info here that I'm hurting my head weeding through it.
 
I want to lay out the basic structure of a digital system, what works, what won't work and a little bit about music management software.

Digital music file flow starts with the storage. Your Seagate is your storage device. How you connect that drive to your system is important as it is not a stand alone PC. So the Seagate will have to connect via USB to your PC. If you don't want that drive hanging off your PC then you can get a small laptop for system use. On your PC you will have the music management software. I like JRiver. It isn't free but the cost is not very high. You can set it up to read any drive on your PC and thereby it will access the Seagate if it is connected to the PC. You may need more storage than you have currently available

JRiver has an android app available so you can use your phone as your remote access and control of the system.

Storage (Seagate 1TB or PC & digital files) ===USB===> PC (JRiver)

Unfortunately, you can't manage your CD player with the software that is used to manage a PC based digital file repository. It has no network or USB type connections to use for transporting files through the system digitally to a DAC which makes it a stand alone component. There is a way to use those CD's though and that is to rip them.

Ripping is a process by which you extract a copy of the music files on the CD and place them in your storage device. There are programs available to do this. I use dbpoweramp cdripper which is a licensed software. There are others that can be used for free (with ads) but in my opinion, dbpoweramp cdripper does the best job of ripping the digital files accurately with all the metadata (album art, album name, track name, track number, artist, etc...) which is important to have. The CD ripper software sits on your system PC. It cannot be operated on the Seagate as it doesn't have an operating system per se, such as Windows or iOS.

Using Apple / iOS systems will work and the right music management software won't care if you have a mix of MP3, ALAC and FLAC. Neither will your DAC. I have never been an iOS fan even though I gave an iPhone, iPad and iTunes a try for a considerable period. Windows based software worked better for me.

I have not used Chromecast because I have a hard wired network and my system is wired into that as needed to use digital files. So I can't help you there.

So to this point here's how the system will look:

Storage (Seagate 1TB or PC & digital files) ===USB===> PC (JRiver)(dbpoweramp cdripper) ===USB===> DAC ===analog or balanced XLR===> pre-amp/AVR

There are other ways to skin this cat but that's how I did it.
 
Yamaki, Awesome! Did I understand correctly ? I can run jriver on the pc from my phone. I guess the only reason I'd need chromecast would be to stream..
 
Well I found bought and installed the crossover, and hooked it into the sub... SQ is simply amazing. But I just tried to hook my topping D30 DAC into the system between the TV and pm8004 via the optical cable and all I get is buzzing... I have to say it's a total buzz-kill. I was going to watch the eagles fairwell through my plex tonight. Any advice? I set the DAC to optical input and the TV to optical audio output.. No Joy
 
Did you make sure that the TV is set to use PCM for it's optical output? It sounds like the Topping is getting an optical signal which it can't handle.

Need more coffee...

Mark Gosdin
 
Yes it was set for PCM. The next thing to try is using a clean(er) power source=a different outlet not on the stereo circuit.
 
rsrguy said:
Well I found bought and installed the crossover,
Click to expand...

What crossover? You haven't mentioned that so far...

rsrguy said:
But I just tried to hook my topping D30 DAC into the system between the TV and pm8004 via the optical
Click to expand...

Have you tried the Topping with any other sources or amps? Provided the optical format is compatible, buzzing suggests a fault in the Topping or the amp input; try another amp input. Try the Topping into another amp. Try a different optical cable. Have a play with the TV audio settings.
 
Had my techie son take it home, he did a set up in another system with optical out from his tower and it worked just fine. So the D30 is actually functioning properly, and is now a known good..
 
I had the DAC's power transformer plugged into the back of a different systems amp, so my suspicion is the output wasn't the best option for my little power supply. If it does the same thing with a direct 110 outlet, than the TV isn't putting out proper optical audio, as my son's test used the same opti cable I used. Knock on wood
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom