The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

Thanks for the tips on good, affordable DACs. The Topping DX3 Pro+ is fantastic and I have it running Volumio on Raspberry Pi over USB.

I'm using a very cheap / basic USB A - B cable, which has been fine. Does anyone see benefit from going with one of the nicer cables with shielding, etc.?
 
MacDonals said:
Thanks for the tips on good, affordable DACs. The Topping DX3 Pro+ is fantastic and I have it running Volumio on Raspberry Pi over USB.

I'm using a very cheap / basic USB A - B cable, which has been fine. Does anyone see benefit from going with one of the nicer cables with shielding, etc.?
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No. All certified USB cables are shielded. If yours is not certified, it's probably still ok if it's not longer than a meter. If it's longer than that, just step up to a basic certified cable. I bought my last certified USB 2.0 A-B cable (15ft) from Blue Jeans Cable for less than $5.

 
My current DAC (Mytek Liberty w/LPS) is getting a bit oldish and digital technology keeps rolling forward, so I’m debating a couple of possible replacements and was hoping to get others input on them. Budget is roughly $3k USD, any option would need to work with Roon (I have a NUC with Roon Rock already), I have an interest in I2S and R2R DACs, and don’t want to build a DIY solution.

These two options are currently at the top of my candidate list:

A) Keep my old(er) Auralic Aries Mini as my streamer, using USB, and get a Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE DAC with the optically isolated USB input. The reviews are pretty great, and it seems to be near the top end of USB Dac’s. It has an I2S input for future use, but the reviews seem to state it’s really no better than the USB on this.

B) Replace both the streamer and the DAC. Looking at a Holo Audio Red streamer, using I2S over HDMI to a Denafrips Pontus II 12th DAC. I like the cosmetics of this choice more as future gear looks to be Pass or Luxman, and that both pieces are current spec. I do wonder if moving a Google Wi-Fi node close to the stereo to enable wireless connectivity causes any issues, as there’s no way to run a hardwire to where the system is. Also, the DAC is one step down (at least price wise) from the Spring 3 KTE, a Venus would be the head-to-head, but combined with the streamer exceeds my budget.

What do the digital cognoscenti here for think? Maybe someone like @Ed Selley has heard these, and I know a few people here have Denafrips DACs and RPi based streamers.

Input and advice is greatly appreciated. TIA.
 
SnowmaNick said:
My current DAC (Mytek Liberty w/LPS) is getting a bit oldish and digital technology keeps rolling forward, so I’m debating a couple of possible replacements and was hoping to get others input on them. Budget is roughly $3k USD, any option would need to work with Roon (I have a NUC with Roon Rock already), I have an interest in I2S and R2R DACs, and don’t want to build a DIY solution.

These two options are currently at the top of my candidate list:

A) Keep my old(er) Auralic Aries Mini as my streamer, using USB, and get a Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE DAC with the optically isolated USB input. The reviews are pretty great, and it seems to be near the top end of USB Dac’s. It has an I2S input for future use, but the reviews seem to state it’s really no better than the USB on this.

B) Replace both the streamer and the DAC. Looking at a Holo Audio Red streamer, using I2S over HDMI to a Denafrips Pontus II 12th DAC. I like the cosmetics of this choice more as future gear looks to be Pass or Luxman, and that both pieces are current spec. I do wonder if moving a Google Wi-Fi node close to the stereo to enable wireless connectivity causes any issues, as there’s no way to run a hardwire to where the system is. Also, the DAC is one step down (at least price wise) from the Spring 3 KTE, a Venus would be the head-to-head, but combined with the streamer exceeds my budget.

What do the digital cognoscenti here for think? Maybe someone like @Ed Selley has heard these, and I know a few people here have Denafrips DACs and RPi based streamers.

Input and advice is greatly appreciated. TIA.
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see above. denafrips is now making a streamer. havent had a chance to watch or look yet (or even see how much it is...) but denafrips might be a good solution for you. i love my AresII
 
Joe Mac said:
Not for audiophiles who moan about lag on Wi-Fi and interference and other such nonsense. Having 1Gb broadband and knowing that Wi-Fi is everywhere all the time I’m happy enough to go wireless.
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yea i get why they did that, but the option would have been nice. that makes it unusable for me i think (not that i was looking into getting a streamer). my modem is up in my office and my listening room is downstairs. i guess i could put an eero beacon downstairs and take ethernet from that? but seems annoying...
 
MikeH said:
yea i get why they did that, but the option would have been nice. that makes it unusable for me i think (not that i was looking into getting a streamer). my modem is up in my office and my listening room is downstairs. i guess i could put an eero beacon downstairs and take ethernet from that? but seems annoying...
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Yeah I don’t. It’s dumb. I bet you can add a tp link Wi-Fi dongle to it like you can with the sotm streamers that also don’t have native Wi-Fi.
 
A tech support question on Stellar Gain DAC. I get 2 channel audio when I play the DAC from my Mac. Sounds perfect. When I now switch to analog sources, I only get sound out of the left speaker and the right is either really muffled or non-existent. I've checked all the cables and even switched them around. When I move the left cable over to right channel input, I get sound out of the right speaker. I'm wondering if something went wrong on the analog portion of the motherboard. I've turned it all off and back on but same issue. I can't find anything online about it.
 
mdmost said:
A tech support question on Stellar Gain DAC. I get 2 channel audio when I play the DAC from my Mac. Sounds perfect. When I now switch to analog sources, I only get sound out of the left speaker and the right is either really muffled or non-existent. I've checked all the cables and even switched them around. When I move the left cable over to right channel input, I get sound out of the right speaker. I'm wondering if something went wrong on the analog portion of the motherboard. I've turned it all off and back on but same issue. I can't find anything online about it.
Click to expand...

That’s really weird. Because the analogue section is also engaged when you have the digital going because it is still acting as a preamp. Maybe it’s the input? Have you tried analogue inputs 2 and 3 instead of 1?

Otherwise give PS Audio a call. Their product support, even outside of warranty, is brilliant. They’ll talk you through troubleshooting steps to see what it might be.
 
Joe Mac said:
That’s really weird. Because the analogue section is also engaged when you have the digital going because it is still acting as a preamp. Maybe it’s the input? Have you tried analogue inputs 2 and 3 instead of 1?

Otherwise give PS Audio a call. Their product support, even outside of warranty, is brilliant. They’ll talk you through troubleshooting steps to see what it might be.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I have two analog sources: my turntable and a radio tuner. Both share the missing right speaker issue. I even tried with headphones and had the same issue with only the left channel appearing. Roon from my computer via USB has no issues.

I'll give them a call tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion. I guess it's good I do most of my listening via Roon now.
 
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