[danman]

Been a while I have not posted here but have been busy with renovating the house....uggggg!

I also have been experimenting with my home made music server and I am very pleased with the results. I am using a DELL mini 10V, Fantom 1TB External Hard Drive, M Audio Transit and using Foobar2000 as FLAC player and Ripper. My Cambridge Audio is used as the DAC plugged using Toslink connection and is upsampled to 24/384khz.

The results have been stunning to say the least! I have configured the little netbook only for this particular use with Windows XP as I find it more stable than Vista. Everything is loaded FLAC and I can't notice any sound difference from the original CD. Lots of work to put together a good stable playlist but the end result has been very satisfying. I keep thinking what a Bryston DAC would make this sound like???

I would add a picture but am not sure how to load them here!

[Stu Pitt]

The button directly under the bold button when you're typing will insert a picture.

The BDA-1 will definitely take the system to the next level.  That would be the next logical upgrade IMO.  Cambridge gear is very good for the money, but its no Bryston.  No offense nor insults intended.

[ian.ameline]

I agree completely -- the BDA-1 will make a significant improvement. The cambridge audio unit is no slouch, but I think you'll find the BDA-1 will kick things up quite noticeably.

I'm *very* happy with mine. (My pre and power amp are the same as yours)

James may be able to hook you up with a local dealer who can let you audition a unit in your system. (Make sure to use the balanced outs from the BDA-1 -- they sound better to me than the single ended ones)

If you were local to me, I'd invite you over for a listen....

-- Ian.

[werd]

Hi danman

get the torus before you get the dac. Better bang for your buck. Although i have never heard the cambridge it sounds like it is really nice and might be somewhat of a parallel move. The Torus will be forsure upgrade.

[danman]

Thanks all!

Werd, I also thought about the Torus and yes the DAC in the Cambridge is exceptional for the price range but I doubt in the same league as the  BDA-1.

Thanks for the invite Ian but I am quite far I believe!! I have listened to it before but with the system James used in Montreal last April so it would be hard not to have liked it 

All in all, I am quite surprised of the results I have had considering I made this whole set up for about 700$ all new! I am actually thinking that maybe it would be better to get a BDA-1 (and Torus) than re-new my CD player in the future. I would still buy CD's but FLAC load them.

[brucek]

I am using a DELL mini 10V, Fantom 1TB External Hard Drive, M Audio Transit and using Foobar2000 as FLAC player and Ripper. My Cambridge Audio is used as the DAC plugged using Toslink connection and is upsampled to 24/384khz.

I suspect you have the same problem that I do, in that your laptop has HDMI and no optical out, so I see you have to resort to a USB soundcard to get the optical out before you pass it to the DAC.

One thing to consider would be to add the Resampler dll to foobar and upsample the signal to 48kHz from 44.1kHz. The resampler is quite good in foobar and is useful when a soundcard does auto upsampling to 48kHz. There would be less artefacts by using the foobar resampler. For you, this would pass the 16bit/48kHz signal directly through the Transit card to the DAC at a 48K sample rate, which is a direct multiple of 384kHz.....

Also, if you're not using the ASIO driver for the Transit, I would use Kernel Steaming mode (bit streaming) from foobar. This bypasses the Windows Kmixer for better sound....

brucek

[danman]

Thanks brucek.............how would I set this up in Foobar?

[brucek]

Thanks brucek.............how would I set this up in Foobar?

For the resampler, be sure that you loaded the resampler option  in the initial installation. To install components from the foobar2000 installer that you did not choose to install during the initial installation, just rerun the installer and select them; your settings will be kept intact.

Component DLLs are placed in the ?components? subfolder of the foobar2000 application folder; foobar2000 will scan this folder recursively for DLLs matching the foo_*.dll naming scheme.

To check if the resampler dll is available, just pull down preferences in foobar and select Playback/DSP Manager for the list. Select resampler from the list and move it to the active pane. Then press the Configure button and select 48kHz sampling. That's it.

You can play around and see if it sounds any better.

For Kernel Streaming, you can check if the dll is in the foobar components directory. It's call foo_out_ks.dll. If not you can download it and place it in that directory.

Then under foobar preferences, select Playback/Output and you'll see the output device pulldown. You'll see your audio device listed with a DS: and a KS: label. The KS label is the kernel stream. Select it and that's it. Some cards don't allow kernel stream, but you'll know if that's the case when there's no sound. . If kernel stream is working, you'll note that the Windows Volume control doesn't work any more when foobar is running (since the kmixer is bypassed).

You can decide if the change makes any difference.

brucek

[danman]

Thanks for your help.

[danman]

I am using a DELL mini 10V, Fantom 1TB External Hard Drive, M Audio Transit and using Foobar2000 as FLAC player and Ripper. My Cambridge Audio is used as the DAC plugged using Toslink connection and is upsampled to 24/384khz.

I suspect you have the same problem that I do, in that your laptop has HDMI and no optical out, so I see you have to resort to a USB soundcard to get the optical out before you pass it to the DAC.

One thing to consider would be to add the Resampler dll to foobar and upsample the signal to 48kHz from 44.1kHz. The resampler is quite good in foobar and is useful when a soundcard does auto upsampling to 48kHz. There would be less artefacts by using the foobar resampler. For you, this would pass the 16bit/48kHz signal directly through the Transit card to the DAC at a 48K sample rate, which is a direct multiple of 384kHz.....

Also, if you're not using the ASIO driver for the Transit, I would use Kernel Steaming mode (bit streaming) from foobar. This bypasses the Windows Kmixer for better sound....

brucek

What is the ASIO driver?? How do I know if it is active? Sorry but I am new at this.

[brucek]

What is the ASIO driver?

Better soundcards will support ASIO drivers. I believe the Transit does. The default driver would be a WDM driver (Windows Driver Model).

Simply go to the M-Audio site for your card and look under support and get the ASIO driver (Audio Stream Input Output) and load it.

brucek

[danman]

Thanks again..........you have been a great help!

[WGH]

The M-Audio Transit uses custom drivers which are different than the standard WDM or ASIO drivers. The latest Transit USB driver is Version: 5.10.00.5125v3 with a release date of March 13, 2009 and can be downloaded from the M-Audio site:
http://www.m-audio.com/

The custom drivers enable the Transit to output:
2 in, 2 out, 16-bit, 8000 Hz to 48000 Hz
2 in, 2 out, 24-bit, 8000 Hz to 48000 Hz
2 in, 0 out, 24-bit, 88200 Hz to 96000 Hz
0 in, 2 out, 24-bit, 88200 Hz to 96000 Hz
DD/DTS Pass-Thru (16-bit, 48000 Hz)

I never tried the Transit with WDM or ASIO drivers and seriously doubt it would work, though I have been surprised before.

I have found that Vista using WASAPI does sound better than XP. I would go to the Dell site and see if there is an updated BIOS and drivers for your netbook that will solve your stability problems, your ears will thank you. Windows 7 might even be better choice if your netbook is new enough.

Wayne

[brucek]

The M-Audio Transit uses custom drivers which are different than the standard WDM or ASIO drivers.

Took a few minutes and looked into it and see that M-Audio packages the WDM and ASIO drivers in the same driver software (new version pointed out). If you look at the driver download on the M-Audio site you'll see the previous driver was a WDM only. The new one has both drivers in it.

I would guess that foobar would then have selectablilty of both drivers under preferences/playback/output/output devices pulldown.

The custom drivers enable the Transit to output:

Actually danman's situation is that he only requires the Transit soundcard to facilitate an SPDIF port for his DAC. His laptop only has an HDMI port and no SPDIF. He wants to pass the signal through the Transit with as little massaging as possible to the DAC.

This is why I suggested going the ASIO or Kernel streaming route along with a foobar software sampling to avoid Transit upsampling.

brucek

[WGH]

I think danman should order the BDA-1 and eliminate the Transit because he will definitely get better sound. I replaced my Transit with the affordable HagUSB and got better sound.

His laptop only has an HDMI port and no SPDIF. He wants to pass the signal through the Transit with as little massaging as possible to the DAC.

My Transit is USB.

I installed the new v. 5.10.00.5125v3 driver too see what is new and actually got less functionality. The control panel changed and no longer has the AC3 Dolby Digital/DTS pass through mode which is a non-starter for me since the only reason I use the Transit is send the true 5.1 digital stream to a surround processor.

I also looked in Foobar and the only output device option is DS:Transit USB Out (direct sound) which means the Windows audio kernel mixer is still in the loop. I use the usb-audio ASIO driver so that may limit the options I see. I agree, danman should install the new drivers and see if he gets an ASIO:Transit USB option.

Wayne

[vegasdave]

The button directly under the bold button when you're typing will insert a picture.

The BDA-1 will definitely take the system to the next level.  That would be the next logical upgrade IMO.  Cambridge gear is very good for the money, but its no Bryston.  No offense nor insults intended.

I concur.

[brucek]

I also looked in Foobar and the only output device option is DS:Transit USB Out (direct sound) which means the Windows audio kernel mixer is still in the loop. I use the usb-audio ASIO driver so that may limit the options I see. I agree, danman should install the new drivers and see if he gets an ASIO:Transit USB option.

Yep, or he can load the Kernel Stream (foo_out_ks.dll) file into the foobar components directory that I suggested to him in an earlier post above and it will accomplish exactly the same thing as using an ASIO driver. The entry in the foobar output device list will be KS:Transit along with the standard WDM DS:Transit entry.

brucek

[danman]

Wow! I was not expecting so much interest! Thanks everybody.

I just bought the Transit so would it not have come with the most recent sofware?

To load the kernel into foobar components menu, you would do that how? Sorry for the dumb questions but I am a novice at this.

The Bryston Dac is certainly on my wishlist but I still need to send a signal somehow to it hence the Transit.

I have a lot to learn here so bare with me please!

[brucek]

To load the kernel into foobar components menu, you would do that how?

Download the foo_out_ks.zip file. Then extract the dll file from the zip into the foobar components directory.

You can check that foobar sees the component by examining foobar preferences/components and look for the file in the list.

Then under foobar preferences, select Playback/Output and you'll see the output device pulldown. You'll see your audio device listed with a DS: and a KS: label. The KS label is the kernel stream. Select it as the output device and that's it.

See if it works.

brucek

[danman]

After loading, it goes into the album list and not the components menu! What am I not doing right?