ernst wrote:I have read quite many posts, including PM´s, in this forum and elsewhere, saying that RME is an excellent choice.
When you read reviews of current good DACs (often including asynchronous USB 2.0 and headphone amplifiers), the sky is the limit. $100 - cheap, $1,000 reasonable to good, $5,000 really interesting, and there also several in the $20,000 and up area as well. Well, that focus on (super) high-end equipment regards audiophiles listening to CDs (or better media), streaming, sometimes using tube amps etc.
To what extent does this also apply to listening to Hauptwerk organ sample sets, with their noise reduction and compromises of all sorts, including not always high-end recording means?
Can there be a worthwhile gain in spending -say- $1,500 or $2,000 in DACs? Of course, if you do, the rest has to match....
Hello Ernst,
For what it is worth, I can share my experience here. Please keep in mind I am a Mac user - I don't know to which extent the below remarks and information will be met on a PC.
Since I am very much on the audio side, as you are, I was wondering if a computer external sound card could be replaced by a DAC. Quite a difficult question actually, since we are exploring two different worlds. Sound cards are coming from the IT side, where the key word is latency. The DAC is coming from the audio world, where the major concern is jitter.
The main difficulty I met on this route was to find the latency I could expect on a DAC. Although I googled a lot to find out information, absolutely nothing is available. DAC builders and users just do not care about it.
I then decided to make a test. Since I didn't know what to expect, I selected a small DAC I had already tested in an auditorium back home in France, which gave me a very good impression. Another favourable argument to select it is its relatively moderated price, given the fact some DACs can easily reach thousands of dollars. Icould then benchmark it with my sound card.
I completed the tests between the two units last week only -
Cambridge Audio DAC Magic 100 ($300)
http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Audio-D ... o+dacmagicApogee Duet 2 ($500)
http://www.amazon.com/Apogee-Duet-Audio ... pogee+duetApogee is highly valuated in the Mac world for the quality of its audio interface. For the record, the Duet is only stereo, like the Cambridge. By the way, all DACs are stereo.
When connected, the Cambridge proved to have a slightly lower latency than the Apogee (10 ms. vs. 11 ms. as measured by Reaper). Very good surprise indeed!
I then tested the two devices.
First with my Stax earphone. Thus can avoid any room acoustic interference to the comparison. I selected several instruments (Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache, Kampen, Arlesheim, Caen). All gave better sound through the DAC. Some in a very noticeable way (e.g. Arlesheim on the Positif - Choir if you prefer) some in a more discrete way (e.g. Caen). The benefit was twofold basically -
- better sound definition where you can distinguish in a more subtle way the various stops used in your registration
- better clarity on the pedalboard, where a mix of sound and noise was replaced by sound only.
I then tried on my speakers. Like Stax, my Martin Logans are basically ESLs. They are driven by fully analogue vintage Martin Logan Signature units. The situation there was a bit complex. When on the speakers, I'm using Arc 2 software to correct the room acoustic - benefit is outstanding. The issue is Arc 2 cannot acurately measure room acoustic with the Cambridge since microphone and DAC are not on the same clock. Nevertheless I found a way to set it. Results were also very much in favour of the DAC -
- pedalboard - again - gained in clarity. In some cases where my subwoofer tends to vibrate - although already controlled by Arc 2 - the DAC is limiting such issues. It was very noticeable with Salisbury's 32' and 16' stops.
- more brilliance to the manual stops, especially on the Great. Some could find it annoying. I find it more lively. After all, no pipe organ is perfect on all divisions. And, if I am bored after some time, it's still possible to amend the room acoustic correction.
I guess some of the gains I perceived are coming from the fact the DAC is a better match for an audio setup than a sound card. It is actually its primary destination! As an exemple, its analogue outputs are unbalanced which is a better match for an amplifier than the usually balanced ones you can get from an sound card. Cabling is also easier to provide since in this case its RCA to RCA, instead of the Jack 1/4" to RCA.
Another gain for the DAC is that it doesn't need any settings - it's plug and play. It makes it better value for the money, since all the other features present in the audio board - various inputs /outputs, mixing software, reverb generator, etc...are not present. You get a better quality - or equivalent - for a lower price.
Needless to say, this is the DAC which is now in use on my setup...
Hope it can help you in your research!