DAC1 vs. HD Audio

[sadie60]

Greetings,I

I've been contemplating the integration of a music server into my two-channel stereo system. I have ripped much of my extensive CD collection to FLAC format and stored on NAS with backup capability. The last year or so I have enjoyed listening to this new collection from my Dell D630 laptop computer as the source, coupled to my home-made tube preamp and mono block amps. This setup drives a pair of Paradigm Studio 20s in a fairly small room, simply amazing sound quality.. Running the Ubuntu 8.04 OS, MPD, and the Sonata client, I am discovering s sound quality so incredible, I just wouldn't have imaged from the standard CD.

Taking this configuration further, I am researching the idea of utilizing a dedicated Linux-based VIA mini-ITX as a music server. The MB has HD Audio technology and is ideal for multi-media applications.

My question pertains to the D/A conversion. Should I expect significant inprovement in the sound quality of a PCM bit stream via TOS output feeding a high quality DAC into my preamp vs. the RCA stereo output of the VIA MB feeding my preamp directly?

All comments are welcome!

[oretez]

Probably not. The signal path information you supply is so intensely subjective that realistically you are the only person who could possibly participate in any coherent dialog concerning whether choice 'A' or 'B', particularly for variables whose impact on the final artifact is so slight (it is probably that your experiences at work on any given day will have more perceptible impact on your described listening experience then either choice), is better for you.

My gut reaction is that you will be happiest with the more arcane option, the one with the least popular support . . . My guess you already knew that.

[sadie60]

Really I was just looking for someone's experience with the difference in sound between DAC versus computer. Since the DAC I'm considering is $1K, it would be nice to validate what I suspect. I suppose I'll just build the server, listen to its analog out until I get the bug, purchase the DAC, and simply reconfigure the server for PCM out. Thanks for the response just the same.

[oretez]

It is doubtful that OP will appreciate this addendum (and am a bit loathe to beat a dead horse but . . . )

Scenario presented lacks specificity in those areas necessary for anyone to determine whether their experience is similar enough (let alone congruent) for a response to have any utility. For example: for a great many people, I would step out on a limb and hazard an opinion that, for majority of people I've met in my life, there is no objectively verifiable justification for spending $1k on a DAC for home entertainment. Information (data not audio) noise from other elements of the system (biggest noise contributor being room itself) will far outweigh and limit slight objective benefit from a high end DAC. So reasons to justify such a purchase are subjective and social (including 'a' and 'anti'). Majority of individuals whom I've met who have spent multipl's of thousands of $ on convertors do so not for enhanced 'pleasure' of a listening experience but for accuracy and again a far more important variable is the room, followed by a significant distance (in importance) by the speakers, followed by a significant distance by what provides 'data' to the speakers. Importance of convertors can well be task specific and is one of the least important variables of the entire signal chain.

A general rule of thumb is to buy the best convertors you can afford that support the task you want to achieve. (& OP did not provide quite enough info to more then guess about that task) Benefit from 'overkill' is negligible Original post did not provide enough information for any coherent objective response.

Phrased another way. If I'm functioning above 8% net profit and am confidant that a 1% increase in hardware expenditures will generate 7% more revenue, over the depreciated life of the hardware, then if cash reserves are available (i.e. I am not paying 19% interest on funds to get the gear) I have objective justification for the purchase.

(and to be honest even after all the years I've been in this business that type of analysis is very difficult to achieve. More frequently a major purchase occurs and is used to create a target revenue, which then requires a change in the way I do business. Might require a change in staffing, might require a change in marketing, etc.)

I have some specific experience based opinions concerning what signal feeds audio distribution (speakers, etc.). I don't think those opinions are of much use to the OP . . . Generally speaking I do not spend money to improve the aesthetic experience of listening, but rather the accuracy of representation of the signal . . . But the main point of my response was merely to suggest that I found the original post to present an exclusionarily subjective scenario. It was not specific enough to support objective response, yet so narrow as to preclude any significance for anecdotal experience.

In my experience, when things are presented in this way internal concepts of status outweigh anything resembling objective information (personally even if OP could afford it I think a person would be 'silly' to use that money for that purpose (given no more info then I have). On the other hand if having that device (what ever it might) became a significant factor in gaining a promotion at work, passing a necessary certification, bonding with future in-law; I might well support such a purchase for a friend even if I'd still find it silly for myself)

As I said, lack info for functional response.

(of course there is a reason why a major compeating forum is called 'Gear Slutz')