Best hardware source for 24/192 files

[serendipitydawg]

I already have several REM DVD-A's with 24/192 files on. Some tempting hi rez downloads are available on HD TRACKS.

What is the best hardware component to play these files / downloads?

I am looking to buy the forthcoming Schiit Audio Bitfrost DAC which promises 24/192 over USB and coax and optical SP/DIF.

Not all universal players appear to do 24/192 over SP/DIF.

Any advice recommendations or speculation welcome.

Cheers

Matthew

[sq225917]

Pick any dac that you like the look of, most all of the decent ones will do 192khz over spdif or usb.

[dionisio]

I've been really happy with the Young DAC, and have those same R.E.M. rips which sound fantastic through it.

The Schiit DAC should be interesting, their headphone amps are great and the price is definitely right - although there's the shipping and VAT to take into account, of course.

[Stratmangler]

Pick any dac that you like the look of, most all of the decent ones will do 192khz over spdif or usb.

So there are only 2 or 3 decent DACs out there, eh ? :lolsign:

[sq225917]

Do i really need to list all the dacs that will do either of those options? ;-)

[Stratmangler]

Do i really need to list all the dacs that will do either of those options? ;-)

Go on then :)

[Vincent Kars]

If you want to play 24/192 on a PC your options are:
-a sound card supporting this format
-a sound card with SPDIF out to an external DAC (coax, Toslink probably won’t do)
-a USB DAC capable of 24/192
-a 24/192 USB to SPDIF converter into a DAC

There aren’t many 24/192 USB DACs as the USB audio class 2 standard is ‘new’.
From mid-2010 on it is supported on OSX and Linux. For Win you need a driver.
A list can be found here: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/HW/USB_DAC_Async.htm

[serendipitydawg]

Sorry I didn't make my enquiry clearer.

I know there are lots of 24/192 DACS around.

What i wanted to know was HARDWARE sources to feed into it.

For example does the Sony BDP S370 output 24/192 over SP/DIF??

Thanks Vincent for the PC options. My Acer Revo with Windows 7 explicitly mentions 24/96 but no mention of 24/192. Presumably thats where a Windows driver comes in.

Schiit Audio specifically mention providing this. Hence my interest

http://schiit.com/schiit-faq/about-bifrost/

Cheers

Matthew

[Stratmangler]

Oppo BDP, and that's about it.
Most disc spinners are limited to 24/96.
Squeezebox Touch and Squeezebox Transporter also limited to 24/96.
Linn DS stuff will play 24/192 natively through its internal DAC, but only outputs 24/96 via its SPDIF.

[serendipitydawg]

Thanks Chris.

Oppo looks like nice kit, but £500 is a bit rich for me.

How do you get 24/192 out of Window XP or 7?

If 24/192 is part of the Blu Ray standard are we being shortchanged?

Or does 24/192 only come out of HDMI?

Cheers


Matthew

[Reid Malenfant]

24/192 via S/PDIF? Never heard of such a thing :scratch: 24/96 yes, but as far as i know (though i could be wrong :eyebrows:) it's only available via dual AES/EBU connections as there is so much data the connection needs to be split (left & right) to avoid bandwidth problems..

I'd be quite happy to be proved wrong though :)

As for the outputs of blu ray players, the digital data of those kind of data rates will only be available via HDMI to prevent naughty people from ripping it.

Take it from me though that native 24 bit audio decoded internally in my Panasonic DMP-BD80 outshines my Krell transport & dCS kit :eyebrows: It's unfortunate but i can't deny it..

[bobbasrah]

Am I totally misinterpreting this as your objective is to get a standalone drive to play 192 material?
All my digital music inc 24/192 is on hard drives which goes Asio out to USB to DAC no problem.

[Stratmangler]

24/192 via S/PDIF? Never heard of such a thing :scratch: 24/96 yes, but as far as i know (though i could be wrong :eyebrows:) it's only available via dual AES/EBU connections as there is so much data the connection needs to be split (left & right) to avoid bandwidth problems..

I'd be quite happy to be proved wrong though :)



There are computer soundcards that output 24/192 over SPDIF, or so I'm led to believe. http://forums.m-audio.com/showthread.php?6252-Can-M-Audio-Audiophile-192-s-pdif-output-24bit-192khz
And the Oppo BDP also does it, however it is dependent on the disc being played - not all discs allow it.

[Reid Malenfant]

Cheers for clearing things up a bit Chris ;)

[twelvebears]

Oppo BDP, and that's about it.
Most disc spinners are limited to 24/96.
Squeezebox Touch and Squeezebox Transporter also limited to 24/96.
Linn DS stuff will play 24/192 natively through its internal DAC, but only outputs 24/96 via its SPDIF.

Hey Chris.

That's interesting....

I bought (again - had one years ago) a Sony SCD-777ES about a year back and have collected a fair few SACD discs.

The only thing is that I rarely bother using it for playing regular CDs because streaming via my Nad M2 sounds so good, it's not worth the inconvenience. Also the SACD stream has to be output as analogue from the 777ES and then converted BACK to digital as the M2 is a 'true' digital amp.

Basically it feels like I'm losing the advantage I intended to gain with the Sony in the first place....

I'm now rather tempted to sell the Sony and pick-up an Oppo so that I can feed high-res SACD sourced PCM straight to the M2.