[oneinthepipe]

I ordered an Insight DAC yesterday.  Can anyone recommend a modestly-priced CD transport and digital coax cable?

I am new to digital sources and bought a JoLida JD100 CDP a few weeks ago.  When my new AVA equipment arrives, I intend to use the JD100 in a second system with my Omega 50. 

My main system will use an Insight pre-amp with phono, an Insight 240 amp and/or a Super 70i, and an Insight DAC.  Would an Oppo multifunction player or similar make a good CD transport?  What about a cable?  I've never owned a digital coax cable. 

[gjs_cds]

First off--you're going to really like the Insight DAC.  I hope to see your review of it online!

I consulted Frank about this very issue--and his opinion is one that makes sense relative to my understanding of the technology.  (In other words, we completely agreed.)  The only purpose a transport really serves is providing the Insight DAC with a bunch of 1s and 0s.  As such, spending big bucks isn't necessary.  (Perhaps even foolish...  Save your money and expand your music library.)

I got a Phillips DVD5990 just last week.  It has coax digital out, as well as a USB input.  (In theory, I'd like to get an external hard drive and store my music in uncompressed .aiff format.  Don't know if this will work though.)  This model also reads pretty much any format you would throw at it. 

As for a digital cable, there's really no reason to spend a lot on this either.  The cable will transfer a 0 or a 1, or it will not.  There's nothing in between. 

I'm a big fan of Parts Express brand cables--I think they're a great value and offer great build quality.  But to be honest, I just picked up a shielded Phillips brand digital coax cable at Walmart.  (Where I got the dvd player.)

The only negative is that DVD players don't offer you a useful display; you've got to connect it to a monitor to use the advanced functions.  (Although simple playing of CDs is fine.)  At some point, I'm going to hook it up to one of those little in-your-car monitors, so I can navigate the external USB drive...

[mark funk]

I use a Philips 3140 $ 45.00 and Blue Jeans Cable ( Belden 1694A ) works well for me.

[avahifi]

Mark and gjs are giving you good advice.  Thanks much for the order.

Frank

[BrianM]

If you believe that it is important for a digital cable to adhere as closely as possible to 75ohm capacitance throughout the run, and if you believe the Belden 1694A cable, by virtue of the Canare connectors it uses and the rigorous standards of cable construction, accomplishes this as well as any cable available, then you should definitely get it.  It's very inexpensive and works great.  And I'm not saying I believe anything one way or the other.  But it works great!

As for cheap transports some seem to run quieter than others so that might be a concern.  Sony seems good.

[oneinthepipe]

I got a Phillips DVD5990 just last week.  It has coax digital out, as well as a USB input.

Thank you, everyone, for your responses.

I wonder if my wife can play here iPod through the DVP-5990/5992.

[gjs_cds]

I wonder if my wife can play here iPod through the DVP-5990/5992.

No.  The USB input is really meant for FAT32 formatted drives.  I flipped through the owners manual, and it didn't mention iPods--so I'm quite certain that's a negative.

But to be honest--I don't see how an iPod is that much of a positive.  Get an external hard drive or (bigger) thumb drive.  Further--it reads DVDs--so you can fill up a DVD w/ tons of music files.

However, I think the Insight DAC won't be able to read compressed digital files.  (Although I've not tested this...)  So you can use a DVD player to play redbook formatted audio CDs, but use the Philips analog-outs for compressed file formats.  (Somebody correct me if I'm wrong...)

My theory, all along, is to put redbook formatted songs on an external hard drive.  Although I've yet to test this.

Be sure that you can hook it up to a TV if you plan on having the unit to playback compressed music files.

[oneinthepipe]

I wonder if my wife can play here iPod through the DVP-5990/5992.

But to be honest--I don't see how an iPod is that much of a positive.

I agree.  I don't own an iPod.  My wife and daughter like them for their convenience, however. 

We have four Macs at home.  I suppose that I could figure out how to feed my wife and daughter's music libraries to the DVP.  I am not keeping up with digital music technology very well.

[Wayner]

I have spent alot of time looking for a USB to COAX adaptor and have not had much luck, though I did find a USB to Optical output, but then you would need a optical to coaxial converter (AudioAuthority). All this just to help out the Ipod group, but there really isn't a simple type of product to be had (at least I haven't found it).

Wayner 

[JerryM]

 

We have four Macs at home.  I suppose that I could figure out how to feed my wife and daughter's music libraries to the DVP.  I am not keeping up with digital music technology very well.

[/quote]

The iPod has an internal DAC. There is really no point in piping it through the dvp as an external DAC will not recognize the non-digital signal. All you need is a mini-jack to dual RCA cable and plug it directly to your preamp. You can plug in any ipod to the mini jack whenever you want, select the source, and off you go.

Congrats on the new system,

Jerry

[gjs_cds]

OneinthePipe

I agree w/ Jerry.  You can't send compressed digital music files to the Insight DAC.  I don't think it will recognize it.  (I believe, although I have not tested) that the chipset only recognizes redbook format.  (.aiff, if I'm not mistaken.)

So yeah--a 3.5 mm to RCA cable (iPod to Pre-Amp) may be your best bet.  PartsExpress has nice beefy looking ones at a very reasonable price.

But as a Mac guy--why not consider Airtunes?  This will allow you to stream your music from your Macs--which (presumably) have a larger library.  Further, you can fool around w/ apps like PandoraJam--if you can handle the bit-rate / compression.  (It's around 128...)

Airtunes also has an optical out--but again, you're going to run into the same 2 problems.  (1) The Insight DAC won't recognize anything but redbook (I think) and (2) You'll need to get an optical to coax converter.  (80 bucks). 

So to me--the 3.5 mm to RCA cable is the best bet.  I'd also check out Airtunes; I've never used it--but my Mac friend loves it.

Hope to see a review when the DAC arrives...

g

[sueata1]

Buy a Cheap CD Player with coax out.  Faster to load,  easier to navigate + ya don't have all those cheap video circuits in there.  I use a Oppo all in one for SACD but is extremely slow to load,,,,have to push select button 5 times to play a cd ,   I wish OPPO would make just a cheap CD/SACD player,,,, with No video crap in there,,,.  Happy Listening,,,,,Mel

[oneinthepipe]

OneinthePipe
So yeah--a 3.5 mm to RCA cable (iPod to Pre-Amp) may be your best bet. 

I bought one of these a while back, and the sound is, well, terrible, as you can imagine.  There is also a connector that by-passes the volume control which might sound better, but I'll look into airtunes.  Nonetheless, it really isn't that important, as I don't mind playing an LP or a CD.  I just thought, if it weren't too difficult, that it would be convenient for my wife and daughter.

For my listening, I usually grab an LP.  I remember listening to George Merrill's modified Philips (Magnaox) CDP in his shop in Memphis in 1985 or 1986, and the CDP paled in comparison to an unmodified AR turntable in side-by-side listening.  I was told that CD players have come a long way in 20 years, and I  bought a JoLida JD100.  I auditioned a Cambridge Audio 840C CDP that had a lot of detail, most of which sounded very lifeless to me.  I also auditioned a Rotel CDP that was lacking in detail.

The JoLida JD100 is decent sounding, I suppose, although it doesn't have the definition and "air" that is produced by my turntable, even with a 25+ year old cartridge and a NOS cantilever/stylus (yes, Wayner instructed me to purchase a new cartridge). 

I am looking forward to running the JD100 through the Insight DAC.  I'll post a review after I have some time to listen and compare the outputs.

Thank you, Wayner, for looking for an adapter.

[avahifi]

One of my clients is running the digital optical output from his Apple computer into an inexpensive optical to coax digital converter and then into one of our DACs with excellent results.  Evidently the "headphone" output on his unit is dual purpose with both a hard wired and optical output, depending upon the cable end configuration.

I have no exact details of what the client is doing, except to note that he has ordered three of our DACS and three optical to digital converters, so something must be working OK for him there.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

[gjs_cds]

Hey Frank--thanks for your update.  I know that Mac products have a dual audio/TosLink out--but I assumed that the optical would be the file's raw bitstream.  It sounds like it's the standard 16-bit 44.1 format.

Cool!

My thought is that the Airport Express would then work from Optical to Coax.  All one would need is a Digital Coax A/B selector.

[gjs_cds]

Ok Everyone... I have figured it out!  (In my mind, at least.)

Franks current DAC line read the PCM, which is the standard redbook format.  (So sayeth Wikipedia.)  The Mac line of products (macbook pro, airport express, etc...) have a dual audio/optical out.  The optical out uses the PCM format.  (So sayeth another thread here on Audio circle.)

So the thing to do, if you wanted to use the DAC w/ your digital library, would be to get the airport express and a toslink to coax converter.  (As Frank has just suggested.)

Further, the Phillips player (described above) will also down-convert all digital signals to PCM format as well.  So copy your digital files on a DVD, change the settings in the Phillips DVD player to PCM, and you're good to go.

This is awesome--saves me a lot of headache.

Thanks Frank & OneinthePipe...

[JerryM]

On an older AVA post, Martyo advises that Frank told him of a nice switcher that enables one to run more than one device to a DAC without changing cables. Here is the link to the manufacturer:

http://www.inday.com/da4x/da4x.htm

The cool thing about this is that it not only switches between devices, but converts from Toslink to Coax or vice versa at the same time. Very cool device!

Have fun,

Jerry