Who needs 24/96KHz USB

[roob]

Are Arcam having these Dacs built in China, seems awfully cheap.

[StanleyB]

Are Arcam having these Dacs built in China, seems awfully cheap.

You mean 'looks' instead of 'seems'.. Price wise it seems overpriced.

[roob]

Sorry Headmaster.

[dtakias]

Hi Stanley,

Here's a thought. For me (and probably many others) all I need as a DAC and a turntable. Offering a Beresford with an analogue input to the pre-amp, in place of the USB real-estate could make a future DAC even more attractive.

Andrew

Good idea!

[Labarum]

Offering a Beresford with an analogue input to the pre-amp, in place of the USB real-estate could make a future DAC even more attractive.

And, of course, the DAC could then double as a Headphone amp for an analogue source.

[BlueMax]

There are only few music files available as 24/96KHz. I doubt there will be that much more in the near future.

People asking for 24/96 or higher is kind of playing the numbers game.
So I guess, sales appeal will be better if a DAC can boast USB 24-bit/192kHz

Laptots/notebooks/netbooks and most PCs do not have optical or digital outputs. So USB input is a must have with a DAC.

[StanleyB]

There are only few music files available as 24/96KHz. I doubt there will be that much more in the near future.
People asking for 24/96 or higher is kind of playing the numbers game.

That's the impression I get as well. Online music resellers are only interested in small files of less than HIFI quality reproduction. The high bit rate stuff costs a fortune and I heard that they are in many cases mere 16bit/44.1KHz files that have been resampled to a higher bitrate.

It's nice to think that a DAC with all mods and cons would sell well. I very much doubt that. Such a unit would cost a lot to develop and build, which means a retail price of £300 to £500. From my own experience, £100 to $150 is the type of budget the casual buyer is prepared to fork out without thinking too hard about the cost. £300 to £500 is way too much for most, and would quickly make the whole idea a loss maker. It's extremely risky these days to spend upwards of £50K on R&D on such a project. Especially when it costs a fraction of that for competitors to copy.

[firedog55]

Guys-

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss USB or hi-res. Listen to the new USB out devices from M2Tech, Empirical Audio, or some of the higher end DACs with USB input. These are based on USB 2 and have proprietary drivers. M2Tech is already licensing its drivers to other companies, so the development costs for implementing hi-res USB are being reduced.

Simply put, these devices sound great. Sometimes better than SPDIF and Toslink audio from the same computer. The M2Tech setup allows for use of kernel streaming drivers. From my PC it is the best sounding output by a large margin - noticeably better than the SPDIF or Toslink outs using ASIO or WASAPI.

I'm not claiming hi-res USB will become a mass market item, but I think it will become standard on "better" equipment. Note that even the new Squeezebox Touch ($300) is designed to give native, quality playback of 24/96 files, and is being picked up by audiophiles as a cheap way to start with reasonable quality hi-res listening. Logitech didn't add that feature without evidence that there was demand for it, as native 24/96 reproduction demands both hardware and software changes to their devices.

As far as hi-res files, I think it is a niche market like other "audiophile" stuff. But IMO it is here to stay. The catalogue is small, but growing, especially in Classical Music. There are also some firms like HD Tape Transfers that are taking high quality analogue tapes of classical music and converting them to hi-res files. I downloaded a couple of albums and they were tremendous - especially good dynamics.

The Beatles have already put out a 24/44.1 version (on USB stick) of the Remasters that even vinyl advocates admit comes closer to the vinyl sound than the standard remasters. The Beatles remasters were done in 24/192 and downsampled for CD production. How much do you want to bet that a full hi-res version (96 or 192k) will be released in the not distant future?

That will sell, and it alone may create a new demand for hi-res files.

I think Jazz afficianados will also be willing to pay for hi-res versions of Jazz, especially the "classic" Jazz catalogue.

I've just recently started to obtain hi-res files, and some of them sound fantastic, much better than the 16/44.1 counterparts. Like any other medium, the quality of the final product depends on the care in recording and production of the files - some aren't worth the money they cost.

I don't think the hi-res market will ever be mainstream, but I think it will be big enough that we will begin to see lots of releases in hi-res as well as normal resolution. (Downloads or DVDs with standard and hi-res files both included on a "premium" disc that has a premium price). In a lot of cases the cost to the recording company is nil, as the master is hi-res anyway, and then downsampled to make the final CD master. Hi-res will become another way for the recording companies to entice consumers to buy physical media, and to segment the market and generate some extra income.

[BlueMax]

I've just recently started to obtain hi-res files, and some of them sound fantastic, much better than the 16/44.1 counterparts.

I don't expect many original recordings in hi-res either. In these days of MP3s and portable music, market is too small and expenses high to make them commercially viable.
My setup can handle 26/96 and I love classical music. Apart from electro music by MusicTrade i have't found anything.
May be you could post some links.

[firedog55]

I've used these:

http://www.highdeftapetransfers.com/storefront.php
also http://www.hdtracks.com and linn audio

Recent purchases:

I bought Stravinsky - L' historie de soldat from HDTT, not a new recording, but it sounds great.

I also got Leopold Stokowski | Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra | Audiophile 96khz/24bit recording. Recorded on Everest Records in 1961 from HDTracks. The original recording was 3 track (with middle channel) on 35mm (yes, 35mm) tape. Also sounds great, and is good performance.

The HDTracks site says you have to have a US address to download, but it isn't true. Paypal works there. I also put a US address (family members) in the form, charged the files to my CC, and then downloaded to my non US location.

Apparently they don't have any system in place for checking the location of the downloading IP. I have no problem circumventing their rule, as I'm paying full price for the files, royalties are being paid, and it certainly isn't illegal where I live.

There's also this site (in French) that I think has hi-res: http://www.qobuz.com/

Here's a link to a fairly comprehensive list of sites with HQ downloads:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/st...usic-downloads

and this thread which is partly on topic and interesting:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/co...ening-Pleasure