[zybar]

Steve,

What kind of pc or laptop do you recommend with your turbo off-ramp?

I am not necessarily looking for a brand, but more what you feel is necessary to make the pc+turbo off-ramp a better transport than a fullly loaded S-7700.

Thanks,

George

[audioengr]

Steve,

What kind of pc or laptop do you recommend with your turbo off-ramp?

I am not necessarily looking for a brand, but more what you feel is necessary to make the pc+turbo off-ramp a better transport than a fullly loaded S-7700.

Thanks,

George

First, you must dedicate the PC or MAC to the task and even turn-off the screensaver.  I would recommend at least a 2.5GHz PC or MAC G4.  The PC needs the horsepower to do the upsampling.  They both need large disks.  There are folks trying the new cheap MAC, but no feedback yet as to their success.

This is the real advantage of the PC.  With Foobar, you can upsample to 24/96 and outperform the MAC.  However, if all you want is 16/44.1, then the MAC is superior to the PC, even with the Off-Ramp Turbo.

As for making the Off-ramp better than the Turbomod Sony 7700, this is easy.  It outperforms it even using the Freeway at 44.1.  This is because the pits in the CD itself have significant jitter.  There is nothing you can do about this unless the transport buffers the data or you rewrite the CD on a CDROM writer with an ultrastable clock (some are doing this).

[StevenACNJ]

What exactly does the "turbo" designation mean for the Off-Ramp?

Thanks

[audioengr]

What exactly does the "turbo" designation mean for the Off-Ramp?

Thanks

Turbo means that there are a number of clock improvements and signal path improvements that reduce jitter even more than the non-turbo version.  The result is a more clear, focused image.

Steve N.

[StevenACNJ]

Thanks for clarification.

I have also read that one version of the Off-Ramp uses V-Caps. Which version is that and where are they used. I didnt see anything on your website about the installation of V-Caps.

[audioengr]

Thanks for clarification.

I have also read that one version of the Off-Ramp uses V-Caps. Which version is that and where are they used. I didnt see anything on your website about the installation of V-Caps.

No, not the Off-Ramp.  That was the dAck!.

[jman66]

If a given DAC can only accept 16bit/44.1KHz input, would one still need to set Foobar's upsampling to 24/96 ?

[audioengr]

If a given DAC can only accept 16bit/44.1KHz input, would one still need to set Foobar's upsampling to 24/96 ?

No, Foobar2000 at 16 bit/44.1 will work and sound fine.

BTW - I recently heard from a customer that MAC can also upsample to 24/96 as well.