Looking for a good standalone DAC with SPDIF input.
Price is not a problem, but it must be good quality.

--
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millenium
http://www.theconsensus.org

"Dirk Bruere at Neopax" wrote in message
...
Looking for a good standalone DAC with SPDIF input.

Just about every DAC there is has a SP/DIF input.

Price is not a problem, but it must be good quality.

(1) M-Audio "Flying Calf"

(2) If you can find them used, the Technics SHAC 300 and 500 surround
decoders also work great as DACs with stereo digital inputs.

(3) Benchmark Media DAC-1

Dirk Bruere at Neopax wrote:
Looking for a good standalone DAC with SPDIF input.
Price is not a problem, but it must be good quality.

You want to spend $100 or $10,000?
Do you need 20-bit inputs, or are 16 bits just fine?
Do you need balanced out?

I honestly do think the Entech is a great buy and can be found used
for pretty cheap. The older Krell with the PCM-63 ladders is also
pretty damn good (but only 16-bit in) and people don't know what it
is so it sells cheap. Benchmark makes a nice one. I have one of
the Sheldon Stokes kit units from www.quadesl.com around here too
and it also sounds good. They all sound different, though.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Behringer?

I have bought a wonderful DEQ2496. For less than 300 Euro in Italy, it
has graphic/paragraphic/parametric eq, auto correction, spectrum analyzer
with mic input, peak/RMS/VU "analog look" meters, stereo imager, feedback
destroyer, 64 presets memory, midi connections, upgradable firmware,
balanced analog and digital AES/EBU and S/PDIF coax and optical in/outs...
and 24bits / 24...96kHz ADC/DACs.

This is only the one I have bought two weeks ago, but there are many
other wonderful products for a cheap price. Behringer gives also a fast,
very good online support in many languages (also in Italian).

Try it!

Behringer?

P.S.: I don't know what quality you need, but consider that very
expensive products sometime aren't made of very expensive components.
Then... Try and Buy!...

Dirk Bruere at Neopax wrote:
Looking for a good standalone DAC with SPDIF input.
Price is not a problem, but it must be good quality.

Thanks for the replies so far.
I probably need to explain a bit more about my needs.
I want to send a digital signal to wireless speakers with onboard amps,
and want to cut out one analog stage of conversion. The wireless link
will be uncompressed data from a CD player or hard drive.

This means I need something that will do the necessary oversampling etc
for a high quality output. Having read up on the topic, SPDIF probably
has too much jitter associated and I'll maybe use I2S.

Dirk

wrote in message
ups.com...

Dirk Bruere at Neopax wrote:

Looking for a good standalone DAC with SPDIF input.
Price is not a problem, but it must be good quality.

Thanks for the replies so far.
I probably need to explain a bit more about my needs.
I want to send a digital signal to wireless speakers with onboard amps,
and want to cut out one analog stage of conversion. The wireless link
will be uncompressed data from a CD player or hard drive.

This means I need something that will do the necessary oversampling etc
for a high quality output. Having read up on the topic, SPDIF probably
has too much jitter associated and I'll maybe use I2S.

Actually, the jitter issues with SP/DIF have ceased to be a practical
problem with modern equipment. A lot of the literature about this problem is
now over a decade old. Technology changed since then, lots.

Two of the converters I mentioned are known for their ability to turn really
jittery SP/DIF signals into really clean audio. If you jitter a signal so
much that they show *any* signs of distress (which takes a lot!), they
mute.

I2S has been pretty well returned to being just an interface for connections
between chips on a board, and not as an interface between boxes in a rack or
room.

In the pro world a lot of quality audio is passing over cheap optical cables
in ADAT format. If the concept of SP/DIF gives you a tummy ache, ADAT format
would kill you dead right on the spot. The good news is that ADAT format
processing has benefited from the same technology that cleaned up SP/DIF. It
generally all just works.

Arny Krueger wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...

Dirk Bruere at Neopax wrote:


Looking for a good standalone DAC with SPDIF input.
Price is not a problem, but it must be good quality.


Thanks for the replies so far.
I probably need to explain a bit more about my needs.
I want to send a digital signal to wireless speakers with onboard amps,
and want to cut out one analog stage of conversion. The wireless link
will be uncompressed data from a CD player or hard drive.

This means I need something that will do the necessary oversampling etc
for a high quality output. Having read up on the topic, SPDIF probably
has too much jitter associated and I'll maybe use I2S.


Actually, the jitter issues with SP/DIF have ceased to be a practical
problem with modern equipment. A lot of the literature about this problem is
now over a decade old. Technology changed since then, lots.

Two of the converters I mentioned are known for their ability to turn really
jittery SP/DIF signals into really clean audio. If you jitter a signal so
much that they show *any* signs of distress (which takes a lot!), they
mute.

I2S has been pretty well returned to being just an interface for connections
between chips on a board, and not as an interface between boxes in a rack or
room.

In the pro world a lot of quality audio is passing over cheap optical cables
in ADAT format. If the concept of SP/DIF gives you a tummy ache, ADAT format
would kill you dead right on the spot. The good news is that ADAT format
processing has benefited from the same technology that cleaned up SP/DIF. It
generally all just works.

The thing I am looking for is a module to place *within* a speaker, along with
the bi-amp.
The 'source' is a digital wireless receiver.

--
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millenium
http://www.theconsensus.org