M-Audio Transit Update

lcrim · « **on:** 17 Nov 2005, 04:17 pm »

I am totally stunned by the quality of the playback. I haven't attached the storage drive yet (300Gigs) because I am waiting on a PCMCIA USB 2.0 card but the little old laptop using EAC w/ FLAC and Foobar 2K to playback through the Transit then via a fiber cable to the M-Audio Superdac 24/96 just absolutely sings.
Because I work in IT, we have older laptops because we flip them on a three year basis. I've got a Dell Latitude C610 w/ a 1GHz PIII processor & 512 MB RAM and there seems to plenty of hosepower for all tasks. A little bit of setup time for the software, there is a 804.11G WiFi card in the other PCMCIA slot for net access, I like letting EAC go search the online DB for song titles etc. (I haven't quite worked out the ID3 tagging system to my satisfaction yet). The Transit drivers installed into XP w/o a lot of drama and Foobar is a nice piece of software too.
For the small investment I've made, this is a no-brainer for the quality - I strongly recommend PC audio. I'm not selling my vinyl rigs yet but this is a really terrific source.
One question, any opinions about whether I have enough resources to run Slim Server on this box as well so that I can put a SB3 in the bedroom system, I have an analog input open on the preamp up there?

Jampot · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 Nov 2005, 04:35 pm »

Sounds an excellent way to go. Have you copied any of the 'black rings' onto the hard drive and if so was the quality of the Transit as good in that direction? Access to vinyl stuff from any where in the house is one of the best reasons I can think of for having a Squeeze Box.

lcrim · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 Nov 2005, 05:02 pm »

Jampot:
I sat down to listen @ midnight last night when I saw the lock light on DAC was on. First impressions only.
My initial thought was to get PC playback up to my bedroom system too. The laptop is around a corner and up over a pass through into the kitchen just in case there was any noise. Its very quiet so far. The storage drive has been powered on and also seems very quiet as well.
The digitizing of analog playback feels like the wrong way to go IMO. The great improvement in digital playback that I'm getting w/ this admittedly low tech system has dramatically lowered the glare and harshness. Analog, to me at least, still produces a quality that I find yet more human and alive if not as perfect and pristine. I like and listen to music in both formats. I just don't want to replace one with the other.