Rdd-1580 dac & pc

[BWLover]

Hello everyone. Got a few questions related to using a PC with this DAC, and other related questions. I have a Lenovo W520 4282CS5 ThinkPad. I will more then likely be buying this Rotel DAC. I haven't heard it yet, but it has good reviews, it's in my price range, and I've already got Rotel gear throughout. I plan on ripping my cd library and my fathers, so about 400-500 cds. Here are my questions.

1) What is a good program to rip CD's accurately to AIFF format? Is Exact Audio Copy any good? It's interesting that you can calibrate your cd drive with it.

2) Does the sound card in the computer make any difference to how the music sounds if you are using USB to the DAC?

3) Does it make any difference what program one uses to play the files (again using USB)

4) Is there any sound difference if the files are being played off a standard hard disk vs SSD (within the laptop)

5) Any sound differences in using higher end USB cables?

Any other tips you guys can think of would be greatly appreciated. This is my first hurrah into computer based audio. Thanks again everyone.

My system (should you need the info)...

B&W 683s1
Rotel RB-1090
Rotel RCD-1072
Rotel RC-1082
Rotel RLC-1040
Tara Labs Vector 1 SC's & IC's
Shunyata Venom 3 PC's
Shunyata SR-Z1 Power outlet


Sent from my iPhone using the Tapatalk app

[BilGe]

Hi BWLover -

No one else has responded to this, so I will throw in my two cents worth. Major caveat! I do not run Windows, so the applications I use will be completely different.

1) I rip everything to FLAC format. FLAC is a lossless compression method which is completely free of license fees. It will decompress to bit-perfect reproduction of the original. When I rip an HDCD disk and then play it back, my processor correctly recognizes the HDCD bit stream.

I don't know much about AIFF. Assuming it is a lossless method, then it should work just as well.

2) I don't see how. The external USB DAC will appear to your computer as another sound card. As long as you can direct a bit stream to it, the mainboard sound card should have no part in the process.

3) Bits are bits. As long as the clocking is reasonably close, you should be OK. The external DAC is going to reclock everything, so a little jitter coming from the computer is no problem. I think your choice of software is more determined by other functions. Can you set up playlists the way you like? Does it have sensible search and sort features? Does it recognize all the tags you want it to?

4 and 5) Bits are bits. Cables make no difference. Storage device makes no difference as long as they can deliver data fast enough. For CD-rate audio the delivery rate is quite low. Even very old hard drives can deliver data plenty fast enough.

I run MPD (Music Player Daemon) on a dedicated media computer. That computer also has MythTV installed. The processor is a dual-core 3ghz. When playing CD-rate audio the CPU usage is so low it does not even show up. Higher resolution files (96 khz/24-bit) will run the CPU at about 3 or 4% on one core. There have been several occasions when I have been playing high resolution music while MythTV was recording on two channels. CPU usage was under 20%.

The mainboard in that computer has an S/PDIF output which I feed to my Rotel RSP-1068. The DACs in the RSP-1068 can handle everything I throw at it. One key thing I had to do was turn off the resampling function of MPD. Resampling is CPU intensive and, for me, not needed.

I store my music files on a separate server. It connects to the media PC over 100 mbs wired Ethernet. I have never had a problem with it dropping packets or running too slow.

MPD is a service. It is available for Windows, though I have never tried it. There are many clients which can control an MPD server. I use Gnome Music Player Client. For Windows you might want to look at MediaMonkey.

Bill Gee

[wkhanna]

Hi BWLover,

First I am going to ask Kevin D (the mod on this forum) if he can move your post to the Digital Audio forum were we will get a better chance for responses.
Second, I will contact PewterTA & have him give you some basic recommendations.

But for now, here is what I can tell you...

1) What is a good program to rip CD's accurately to AIFF format? Is Exact Audio Copy any good?

EAC is good & free.

dBpoweramp is better IMO, V affordable & well worth the cost.
I say this after having used both.
I like dBpoweramp cuz it easily imports metadata like cover art & all the other stuff you don't know you want until it is too late.
You only want to copy your library once, if possible.
Do not take this statement for granted.
Due diligence is the rule here.
Trust me, I had to learn this the hard way.
I ended up having to re-copy my library years ago.

2) Does the sound card in the computer make any difference to how the music sounds if you are using USB to the DAC?

No, you should have your player software configured to by-pass the internal DAC in the PC.

3) Does it make any difference what program one uses to play the files (again using USB)

Yes, some provide better sound quality than others.
JRiver & Foobar are two free ones that I have experience with & are recommended often.
Again, configuration is paramount regardless of which player you use.
& again, Dan (PewterTA) can help you.

4) Is there any sound difference if the files are being played off a standard hard disk vs SSD (within the laptop)

That question is still being debated.....
There may be some V minute differences, but using SS drives have other advantageous that make them attractive.

5) Any sound differences in using higher end USB cables?

I have heard V slight improvements with certain USB cables, but I would not recommend worrying about such things at this time.
Get a good, reliable platform setup & running before spending any time or money on cables.

JMHO YMMV

[JonMarsh]

+1 on Bill's responses.

As long as the different playback programs truly are bit perfect, then bits are bits. I used to use the Mac as a playback device, program selection did have some sonic impact, though, in spite of this point. Some programs offer additional features like dither and high performance up sampling, but in general I'm in agreement that the library and playlist behavior is likely to be more important to you.

I use an NAD M50 dedicated music streamer- and here things diverge, because I'm not using USB output. Best not to make assumptions about whether USB or AES/EBU or S/PDIF sounds best with any given DAC. Please note this What Hi-Fi review indicates that the usb input may not be optimum choice for this DAC.

http://www.whathifi.com/rotel/rdd-1580/review

[BWLover]

Thank you guys so much for all the information. I can't wait to get started.

Options on using iTunes as my media player?


Sent from my iPhone using the Tapatalk app

[BWLover]

Rdd-1580 dac & pc

Oh also, with the What Hi-Fi review, I would probably just use the front USB port if I can hear a difference between the two. As my laptop won't be permanently implemented into my system.


Sent from my iPhone using the Tapatalk app

[PewterTA]

If you are going to use iTunes, I would recommend Amarra, Audirvarna or Pure Music. Just figure out which you like the looks of most and works best for you.

Depending on how your laptop is set up, the two ports might be on different host controllers... Ideally, I like to keep the port going to my DAC on it's own so there's nothing else on it. Now if you don't have anything else plugged in you're probably good. But if you use a mouse, or keyboard or any other thing plugged in, it's best to separate. In my laptop I do have separate host controllers for each side...but another laptop I have does not (I'd go out on a limb and same more don't than do).

[mjb]

1) What is a good program to rip CD's accurately to AIFF format? Is Exact Audio Copy any good? It's interesting that you can calibrate your cd drive with it.

2) Does the sound card in the computer make any difference to how the music sounds if you are using USB to the DAC?

3) Does it make any difference what program one uses to play the files (again using USB)

4) Is there any sound difference if the files are being played off a standard hard disk vs SSD (within the laptop)

5) Any sound differences in using higher end USB cables?

Any other tips you guys can think of would be greatly appreciated. This is my first hurrah into computer based audio. Thanks again everyone.

Computer based audio is the merging of two hobbies, so there are a LOT of variables, opinions, and room to experiment at every stage of the chain. Hence, definitive answers to your questions can vary. Here's my 10 cents to compliment the replies already given:

1. Try Exact Audio Copy (PC), or XLD (Mac). Both are free (donation ware).

2. No.

3. Yes. Have a look at JRiver (PC/Mac,) or Audirvana+ (Mac). iTunes is also an obvious choice, but its arguably not audiophile grade without add-ons (for example: Amarra). There are plenty of others, just ask Google - and have fun experimenting.

4. In my opinion probably not, but plenty of audiophiles report hearing a difference. You can experiment when you get your system running.

5. Again, in my opinion probably not, but see above. More experiments later