[powerwindow]

I have an Eastern Electric Minimax DAC that has a USB Type B input. I experimented and used my computer cable to go from a Gateway Laptop to the DAC that is input to a Modwright SWL 9.0SE. I was sending HD Tracks FLAC files playing through the MediaMonkey player. Low and behold, I got music through my system. Since I am quite new to the HiRes world I am curious about what's happening. First off, let's not even discuss the limitations or degradation of the signal due to my use of a cheapo printer cable. I am just experimenting at this point. What I am not sure of is what data is actually flowing through the USB cable? I am pretty sure the Minimax does not take FLAC, so that means it must be getting PCM. But what sample rate and bit depth of PCM is it getting, and how do I determine that? I did find a controllable setting in the Gateway's audio settings for the Audio Manager where I can adjust the default format and have set it to 24bit/192kHz. I think the file I was sending was purchased as a 24/96. Also, if PCM is going out the USB where does the FLAC get converted, MediaMonkey or the internal soundcard and am I missing out on the full potential of HiRes with low quality hardware?

I'd really appreciate some education along these queries. I want to take advantage of the Minimax's capabilities and get more involved with HiRes, but make sure I'm getting the most out of it. My previous experiment involved burning a DVD-A disc using a trial version of Cirlinca's authoring software, but I think there were some minor errors in the transfer as I noticed some slight audio drops. Oddly enough, the drops were not heard on every playback and I was not sure if it was my Oppo-83 having reading issues, or if it was the Minmax, but that would be a new topic to discuss. Suffice it to say, I was not pleased with that method of getting my HiRes files through my system.

[ted_b]

FLAC handling is a function of your computer's software player (MediaMonkey, JRiver, iTunes, Audirvana, Pure Music,etc) not your DAC.  FLAC is compressed to save space, and is lossless (meaning when it gets decompressed back to PCM it has lost no musical sample rate or bits, as opposed to lossy containers like mp3, etc).  Although there are debates whether the decompression has a sound of its own or whether it affects the sound, that is somewhat irrelevant here.  Theory says no, anyway.

If you wanna know how to rip DVD-Audio, etc go to my sticky thread on it here on this Circle
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=69151.0

Enjoy your EE Minimax in hirez. 

[Russtafarian]

You got it working, that's the important part.  Depending on how computer-savvy you are, computer audio can be pretty simple to figure out or agonizingly complex and detailed.  Here are some resources from audiostream to get you started. 

http://www.audiostream.com/how-to

Russ

[powerwindow]

FLAC handling is a function of your computer's software player (MediaMonkey, JRiver, iTunes, Audirvana, Pure Music,etc) not your DAC.  FLAC is compressed to save space, and is lossless (meaning when it gets decompressed back to PCM it has lost no musical sample rate or bits, as opposed to lossy containers like mp3, etc). 

Ted,
So this is how I'm understanding the method the music data is handled.  Let me know if I'm incorrect.  The FLAC files from HD Tracks are compressed HiRes audio files.  Those files get decompressed to PCM by whichever media player we have capable of dealing with FLAC.  Then the PCM gets routed out the USB port at whatever rate/bit we purchased the music in to the external DAC.  Correct?

Now I have some other questions I'm not sure you can enlighten me with.  If I happen to play the music through the oh so crappy, on board speakers of the laptop, does that mean the laptop has a DAC capable of HiRes?  Another question is, is there some way to make sure I know I'm actually sending the data out as HiRes, since the DAC doesn't have an indicator?  Finally, I'm curious about the hardware quality on the computer side of this whole picture.  I spend thousands of dollars on my hifi rig and have my music on a $300 Gateway laptop using a generic USB A-B cable interconnect.  Does this matter?  Maybe the interconnect can be upgraded, but are we of the mindset that the data is data and any computer should transfer it the same?  I remember reading things when computer audio was young and people were buying super expensive audio cards.  Do I understand things correctly that my audio card is out of the loop?  Also, people were getting expensive USB-SpDIF adapters.  Was this because external DACs had not incorporated a USB input like my Minimax? 

I'm psyched to know that I may be on the verge of HiRes nirvana with what I already have at hand.

Once again, thanks for the info.