PC audio extreme,competition/studio level... - Page 7

JasonWW · 02-17-2007, 12:29 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by turbocad6

that link is the same thing that Felix just showed, but that goes the wrong way... I can find similar to go from bal-unbal, but in the end it's going to be around $100 a channel...

Things sure would be simpler if you could get a device like this:
http://www.chip-pcb.cn/7300/134e.htm
that converted the signal the other way.

$15 to convert a PAIR of channels to balanced.
If you could find someone that made a simple, cheap device to go from balanced back to RCA and did a pair of channels it would only cost roughly 70 bucks total. Not $70 times 8 = $560.

See, I'm wondering why there is such a huge price gap.

JasonWW · 02-17-2007, 12:46 PM

I really don't know if bit perfect can be used across USB. Red is making her thing and since all the audio is processed in the PC and sent out to DACs, she would have no need for bit perfect as the sound would not be traveling through the XP Kmixer. That can hurt the sound quality. Vista did away with the Kmixer and it has a new Audiostack. It is way better making bit perfect obsolete.

I know you'll probably stick with XP like most folks, but I'm considering getting Vista for my carpc for like $120 just for the better sound quality without having to use bit perfect. Bit perfect has it drawbacks like no other sounds (no DVD sound or navigation voices, etc...).
Are you just going to have music only in your car?

Felix509 · 02-17-2007, 12:47 PM

Hi Ya Turbo, eBAY is good, eBay is fine..

Jensen Transformers

and

More audio Xformers

I have no idea if these are as good a quality as the jt-11p-1, but they are a heckuva lot cheaper....

Here is another interesting thread:

DIY amp inpput

Regarding the 'bit perfect, you can definitely do that via USB..

One more thing i was wondering, since you have all the boards out, can you not tap into the processor board with a digital input and bypass the analog input and AD converter in the 480??? That may be a simple mod to the right technician??

Laters

JasonWW · 02-17-2007, 12:52 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Felix509

One more thing i was wondering, since you have all the boards out, can you not tap into the processor board with a digital input and bypass the analog input and AD converter in the 480??? That may be a simple mod to the right technician??

That's a good idea. I mean, why have it go from digital from the PC to analog (buying an expensive DAC) only to have the 480 convert the analog back to digital. That is a whole step that seems redundant.

turbocad6 · 02-17-2007, 12:52 PM

thought about that too, not ruled out, but I don't have very high hopes there either...

JasonWW · 02-17-2007, 12:57 PM

Since the 480 takes a basic analog signal (balanced, but still basic analog) and must convert it to some type of digital format. If your engineer friend could figure out what format that is and see if the signal from the PC can be adapted or sent out in that format then you could link them digitally. I don't know the details of all this, but in theory it might work. If your looking for max sound quality, that would be the way to go.

turbocad6 · 02-17-2007, 12:59 PM

I'm thinking thered be some communication necissary though, clock being one of them...

Felix509 · 02-17-2007, 01:39 PM

Digital streaming of 'Bit Perfect' is simply having a usb device that windows has a driver for , either ASIO or just an audio driver.

Then it is plugged in and recognized as an Audio device by windows. After this you you can play lossless music in Foobar, WinAmp, or a different media player. The player needs to be set up to output to this USB device directly, and output format will need to be set to KernalStream or DirectSound. Doing this will send the audio directly from the player to the USB device, bypassing windows Kmixer and the resampling.

ASIO is almost the same, an audio stream that is not resampled by windows, except your device must comply to ASIO standards, it is 3rd party, developed by Steinberg. Foobar has an ASIO output format to stream to these devices as well.

Laters

turbocad6 · 02-17-2007, 09:11 PM

one idea I had was if I can use the usb dac bitperfect can I then also use the onboard audio for pc sounds & nav maybe? pc sounds ain't a big deal really, but nav might be... I know windows can use multiple soundcards, but I don't know if this applys at aiso too?

this dash has a center speaker which I won't be using, I may be able to use that for just nav & pc noises?

maybe vista might be the answer, but then I'm going to need a more grunt pc... I would rather by alpines new voice nav instead if nav's the whole issue to upgrade to vista...

Felix509 · 02-17-2007, 09:26 PM

I bet that would work, use the onboard sound card as the primary audio device for windows to do the nav and send it to your center speaker.. Then your USB DAC/480/amps would only be used for the output from Foobar, Winamp, etc..

Not sure if it would work, but it sounds promising..

Laters

00christian00 · 02-18-2007, 06:40 AM

Using a processor like that and going analogue,even if it is balanced is nuts!
You will make many unwanted ADC and DAC conversion and then you care about bitperfect?!
Doesn't it have any digital input?Something like ADAT?
Connecting it by analogue you will rely much on the card or usb dac used before it,and that will be the key point.Plus even usb dac have jitter problems,unless you go really expensive.

turbocad6 · 02-18-2007, 10:12 AM

this thing has no digital input, analog only... no choice there, xlr inputs only...

I know the dac is critical, & usb can have jitter issues, but usually much less than spdif, & I am going with an apogee dac which is expensive but should be real good...

I do know that the least da-ad conversions the better, but with this unit I have no choice... the computer will generate digital, then the apogee will do the da conversion....

this unit supposedly does what it does real well... it takes in an analog & gives out analog, but to do the processing necissary it mush convert it to digital.... this can't be avoided & should be fine.... this is a high end unit & everything in the signal chain will be high end pro stuff, I don't think it's a waste to go bitperfect here really....

I guess it would have been one less conversion back & forth if I used the 4800, but the 4800 would have cost me over $4,000 while this one was under $1,300.... not only that, but the 4800 would have been impossible for me to install the way I'm installing this... while it has a smaller screen(full color though) the controls on the 4800 are just huge & would never work the way this one does for a custom embeded installation...

00christian00 · 02-18-2007, 10:43 AM

Why not going directly with a DAC with an internal routing options then?
Something like the maxio XD,should be around 2500 usd and you can even do multichannel with it.
You can then process everything whithin the pc without any conversion.
They let you redirect the audio from windows application to some virtual input that can then be processed in realtime and sent to the speakers.
I did it with the esi wami rack 192x and now i am doing it with 1820m and it works like a charm.
I don't think adding this thing to your apogee dac will improve anything,just will add it's control to do everything in active,but why then not simply do it in the pc?

00christian00 · 02-18-2007, 10:46 AM

Link to the maxio xd review,it's a whole another story :
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/...i-maxioxd.html

turbocad6 · 02-18-2007, 11:23 AM

I originally did plan on doing this with the pc... I was going to set up a pc as an audio server... I have explored & considered many options before deciding on this driverack 480....

in the end I decided that this driverack was my best option, it does basicly everything I could have hoped my audio server would have, & does it more reliably & with a better interface...

this driverack is designed to be used as xlr in/out... the way I am using this is exactly how it is intended to be used in studios & pro venues.... the extra conversion from a-d-a is all contained in this unit, & is the only way to use this unit really, it is a quality piece & if feed a quality analog input, will put out a quality analog output.....

bitperfect & the apogee are all in place to provide the best analog signal for this driverack....