Which audio setting for my DAC?

[gigatoaster]

Hello

I bought a Teac AI-503 with KEF R300. I am using a MBA connected in USB while waiting for a new Mac mini.

I plugged everything and all seems to work: the sound is astonishing especially on DSD files or "192k/24 bits" FLAC files.

However, I was just wondering if I had to configure this menu specifically:

Any recommendations?

 

[gigatoaster]

Anyone?

 

[cbautis2]

Use the same setting as your files. If you're playing 16-bits 44.1 KHz then use the same audio output setting

 

[gigatoaster]

Actually, it is changing automatically when I play different quality file, here an exemple:

... is showing when I play DSD files:

 

[cbautis2]

Looks like a good chain and audio mode transport.

I myself like portable audio more than laptop audio and keep it simple with the iPod Touch + IEM

 

[gigatoaster]

Thanks! What are these? I'm intrigued.

 

[cbautis2]

That is Campfire Audio Andromeda CK Pacific Blue https://campfireaudio.com/shop/andromeda-ck-pacific-blue/
The cable is Effect Audio Lionheart, old plug and y-split version; (link provided has the newer plug and y-split version) https://www.effectaudio.com/lionheart-preorder.html

 

[gigatoaster]

Nice! Wouldn't be better with an audiophile player than an iPhone, though?

 

[cbautis2]

I prefer using Apple Music exclusively so I use my iPod Touch 6G. It's not audiophile to others but to me it's "audiophile" enough.

 

[gigatoaster]

Fair enough, all that matters is that it fits your needs.

I found out about upsampling:https://kb.roonlabs.com/DSP_Engine:_Sample_Rate_Conversion

Is this BS or not?

 

[bopajuice]

I prefer using Apple Music exclusively so I use my iPod Touch 6G. It's not audiophile to others but to me it's "audiophile" enough.

I have twisted Kimber wire going to my monitors when I listen to stereo audio. I have even been solicited to use wood blocks to keep my cables elevated from the ground. I paid a fair amount for the privilege. Yet I am perplexed why you would spend so much on headphones and Cables to listen to audio coming from an iPod. Please explain.

 

[cbautis2]

Fair enough, all that matters is that it fits your needs.

I found out about upsampling:https://kb.roonlabs.com/DSP_Engine:_Sample_Rate_Conversion

Is this BS or not?

It’s jut an option to use a different upsampling filter other than the one built-in to the DAC. To me, Chord’s upsampling filter within their DACs and especially the Hugo M Scaler is unbeatable by any outside upsampling from Roon or HQ Player (Windows OS). There’s no harm to A/Bing the sound by turning it on or off.
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I have twisted Kimber wire going to my monitors when I listen to stereo audio. I have even been solicited to use wood blocks to keep my cables elevated from the ground. I paid a fair amount for the privilege. Yet I am perplexed why you would spend so much on headphones and Cables to listen to audio coming from an iPod. Please explain.

Headphones makes the biggest difference in sound. I only see audiophile players being worth their money if your headphones need more power, but in my case the iPod Touch is plenty powerful for my earphones. Obviously I liked the sound of the earphone from the iPod Touch 6th Gen so to me it’s worth it’s asking price. I bought the cable for the looks and not for the sound. Cable ergonomics and looks (gold and silver) matter to me but not to everyone of course so that’s also worth it’s asking price to me

 

[VideoFreek]

Hello

I bought a Teac AI-503 with KEF R300. I am using a MBA connected in USB while waiting for a new Mac mini.

I plugged everything and all seems to work: the sound is astonishing especially on DSD files or "192k/24 bits" FLAC files.

However, I was just wondering if I had to configure this menu specifically:

Any recommendations?

To your original question, the answer is "no, you don't." It appears that you are using Roon on your MBA. The key term at the end of the signal path you showed is "CoreAudio Exclusive Mode". This means that Roon is configured to take exclusive control of the DAC, and so the bit depth and sampling rate being fed from the MBA to the DAC are automatically configured to match the source (this is the default setting when adding a DAC in Roon). This is a great aspect of Roon that overcomes an irritating feature of OS X; other solutions I've used require you to manually set these parameters in the MIDI utility. One often forgets, and then you wonder "why the hell is my DAC processing my lovely 24/96 FLAC file at 16/44.1???? Oh crap, I forgot to change the &*##$ setting!!!".

 

[gigatoaster]

Hello

Exactly. I'm convinced by Roon. I asked for a discount but all they can do is 15 months for the price of 12 + 90 days free TIDAL. It's a good bargain.

Really love the interface and the responsiveness. Only 1 bug I had during 2 weeks of intensive music playing.

Thanks for your message.

 

[VideoFreek]

Fair enough, all that matters is that it fits your needs.

I found out about upsampling:https://kb.roonlabs.com/DSP_Engine:_Sample_Rate_Conversion

Is this BS or not?

Regarding your second question, cbautis2 is correct--Roon is just offering another option for oversampling. As you have bought a pretty expensive DAC, I would just let the DAC do what it was designed to do and not try to "help" it by using Roon's processing.

As to why DACs do this in the first place, it apparently has to do with minimizing the effects of jitter (higher sampling rates are said to be more resilient), and avoiding some practical issues with digital filter designs as mentioned in the Roon article. It does NOT add any info to the audio stream--you can't add what isn't there in the first place.

Some interesting additional info on sampling rates here: http://www.metal-fi.com/sample-this-again/

 

[gigatoaster]

Thanks for the explanation and the link.