What else can you say about it?
Hi jtwrace,
We do have a functional prototype, the poll is to find out if there would be a reasonable demand for this solution/product. And if this is the case, does the feature set fulfill most requirements, thus any comment/suggestion is appreciated.
Volume control type?
Any chance of a D/D version so that other DAC's could be used if desired?
Bryan
What chip will you be using? Async?
Volume control type?
Any chance of a D/D version so that other DAC's could be used if desired?
Bryan
We are also thinking of offering a 'wireless link only' version, thus without DAC but only with digital outputs like toslink, coax, aes/ebu and perhaps i2s.
Agreed. For something like a laptop or even an SB Touch, that would be something that would be interesting and avoid having to stretch wires across a room (which normally doesn't have high WAF) :scratch:
You mentioned 'no latency' but I think (could be alone on this) that there would be some sort of buffering in the receiving unit.
Bryan
Welcome to AC, and thanks for the interesting post.
I'll apologize right up front for not being unequivocally enthusiastic about the product - but maybe some answers to my questions will help prove what a boon the Air DAC could be.
First - we know that "wireless" devices already exist. Something like the slim devices/logitech offerings can operate wirelessly, and do so with a couple of advantages over your product. By taking a wireless signal from the computer directly, they don't need to deal with the extra transmitter component, nor to deal with USB conversion prior to transmitting the data. It seems that this new product complicates the transmission process more than solutions that already exist.
Despite all of this, almost all the people I know who use this kind of solution actually choose to use it via a wired ethernet connection. This seems to be because the wireless receiver inside the device adds some noise to the system.
What does all of this mean? Audiophiles around here seem to have shown that the wired/wireless issue is of far less importance to them than sound quality.
Especially as you can control PCs remotely with handheld devices or laptops or whatever, separating the PC controlling the music from the system seems to be becoming a less and less vital issue.
The thing that will make or break your product in the audiophile market (well, at least the Audio Circle market) is its ability to deliver superior sound quality. So, I think it would be best to address the question of why your transmission system:
PC -> USB connection -> transmitter -> some kind of wireless transmission -> Air DAC
would produce better audio quality than
PC -> USB connection -> typical USB DAC
or
PC -> USB connection -> USB-SPDIF converter -> typical SPDIF DAC
or
PC -> WI-FI transmission -> squeezebox
or
PC -> ethernet connection -> squeezebox
Many thanks.
Chad
I'm interested in hearing more. Remote volume control would be killer, esp if it's RF and not in the 2.4GHz band. :) Add an analog input or two, switchable by the same remote. Keep the wireless between the transmitter and receiver stations off of 2.4GHz too if you can.
I've been trying to set up a PC audio system but can't take the first step because I don't want to go down all the false, expensive paths only to realize how to do it better. But you're description of a laptop with wireless connections to a DAC at my system is what I'm looking for, w/o the complications (for me) of a network (one step at a time :thumb: ).
So count me interested.
And what is the next step as far as announcing/producing your product?
Thanks,
Gene
The next step is that we will review all opinions on this forum and adjust our prototype there where needed. After that (summarized) we will take the product to production level, to proceed with a first production batch.
I think this would be a HUGE item...
What do you mean by USB receiver? The 'wireless link only' system will have a USB input on the transmitter side, the receiver side has only digital outputs so that the user can use his own DAC.
Lets say my Mac Mini is in a different room than my USB DAC. I would plug the trasmitter into the Mac Mini USB port. Then the receiver can plug into the USB dac. No?
No, unfortunately this will not work as the wireless link only works in a single room. The receiver can only be plugged into your USB DAC if it also has a toslink, coax or aes/ebu input, there is no USB output on the receiver side.