Budget Computer Audio set up? Dac recomendations?

[sastusbulbas]

Hi all, sorry for such a bumbling post.

I have been out of the loop for a while, CD's, LP's and most of the hifi are in storage, little room for racks of kit these days, but recently missing my music.

I am thinking of purchasing a new Dac, and connecting that to a power amp under the TV, turning the old HTPC into a temporary audio only computer and transferring all my music files to it.
Maybe later, building a better low power draw dedicated audio PC, and probably adding a 2 bay Synology Nas (recommended over a server?).

The Dac I am thinking of purchasing is the Cambridge Audio Dacmagic Plus, at £250.

Is this pretty good bang for buck? Any other Dac recommendations? I would assume it's an improvement over my Technics and E800 on board dacs. A suitable replacement for the likes of the D-T1? And not too shabby in comparison to my old Theta?

Any recommendations on software and using a tablet or phone to control this sort of set up?

Currently in use I have an amp with on board dac (Technics SU-MA10), BluRay player, Virgin Tivo and old unused HTPC under a TV for now. Kef Reference 107's. Some music stored in an upstairs PC.

Limited space and weight bearing on my Alphason TV stand, it can't take two US sized items side by side.


My old systems which are in storage. I am guessing newer Dacs are an improvement

Gyro SE with QC Power supply, SME IV, XLO Reference cable.
Sonic Frontiers SF-1 valve Phono stage.
Theta Data III CD transport.
Genesis Digital Lense.
Theta Pro Basic IIIa Dac.
Krell KRC-3 Pre amp.
Krell Kav-250 power amp.
Mana Racks.

Teac T-1 VRDS.
Teac D-T1 Dac.
Teac V-6030 cassette deck.
Classe CP-35 pre amp.
Classe CA-101 power amp.
Rogers Studio 1 speakers.
Target Racks.

EAD Theatervision P (as a CD player).
Yamaha E800 (as a pre amp).
EAR 834P phono stage MM/MC with volume control.
Classe CA-100 power amp.
Linn Kan Mk2
Mana Racks.

Denon DVD1740 DVD player
Pioneer DV747 DVD player
Pioneer CLD-3390 LD player
Pioneer CLD-2950 LD player
Pioneer VSX-D912 AV amp (on board Dac too and can be used as a pre)
Kef KHT 2005 Satellites X6
Kef PSW 2000 Sub
Apollo Rack.

[Marco]

Yo, Steve, good to see you're still alive! Howz yer pish catchers? :D

Marco.

[John]

A lot of us really like the Bushmaster mk 2 Use it with a 12v battery and it becomes something very special for the money

[Ammonite Audio]

The little DacMagic 100, which I use in my office system, has been reviewed favourably in HiFi Critic against the Plus model. I can confirm that it's a rather good, musical sounding little thing (it is little!) and a relative bargain at £150 new.

[Yomanze]

I wouldn't write off that Theta DAC. If you need a smaller unit though... Love the KRC-3 I have one too, shame it runs so hot!

[sastusbulbas]

Hi Marco :)

Things are good here, sadly I lost interest in audio, played with mountain bikes and PC's in my spare time, new year there it hit me just how much I had let the audio go, we had guests, they were asking what I had done, where was all my music and HiFi.

Well the real killer for me was space and convenience, three kids meant space at home ran out, money got tight, recession = no bonuses, stuff got put away, nowhere for my CD's or records to be kept at the moment.
I can keep a system in the bedroom, but downstairs I need some sort of set up that can fit in a double width AV stand, a new AV stand that could house wide components like the Krell would be useful, especially if it had doors.

So I again thought computer Audio, saw the Cambridge Dac on sale, and as usual start thinking rubbish. Others are now telling me the Cambridge Dac ain't that great. To be honest, I just need to start playing music again, so could use any of my old kit with an HTPC, and modify or upgrade the Dac and HTPC later.

What I need to do 1st is find out how to use my mobile to control my PC for media playback and such. I cannot stomach browsing music while staring at a keyboard and 50" screen, nor do I want a regular PC, keyboard, monitor. I want to be able to do it with no TV or monitor, from the couch. In particular Windows Media Player.

If having a mobile as a control equates to me listening to music again, I may get a Tablet or iPad for controlling things, and pay for J-River.

I never completed my CD to PC transfers, but am thinking a Synology Nas would be better than a PC or server.

In fact, I have heard I could run a tablet, with a Nas, and buy a cheap adapter to connect the USB to an SPDIF for this, or later if I get a USB Dac run a Synology directly to that. Either way, more convenient control of audio playback on the PC via android, and Nas storage later seem to be the important things to address.

[stupinder]

The Tascam DACs are getting a good name for themselves. Gromit that reviews for Hifi Pig uses the smaller sibling of the UD-501 and really rates it.

[sastusbulbas]

Well I will do this in stages.

Control what I have with a mobile is the 1st step. I can add a tablet later.

Once I have that ease of access to computer audio I can start looking at the computer, storage and dac options.

Thing is, I know nothing of what apps music lovers have found best for controlling Windows media player/center, so any recommendations? All the ones I seem to look at are more suited to remote access of a PC.

[StanleyB]

The Tascam DACs are getting a good name for themselves. Gromit that reviews for Hifi Pig uses the smaller sibling of the UD-501 and really rates it.
I have one the TEAC UD-501 as well. It can't handle audio levels above 1.8Vrms too well. Compressed and distorted comes to mind. It appears to be an issue with the PCM5102 DAC chip. I got an ARCAM DAC that uses the same DAC chip and exhibits the same problem.

[Gazjam]

Software wise you cant do better than Jriver, for sound quality, the interface and all you can do with it.
Not free but sometimes you pay for the best.

Less than £35 not too spendy. :)

[Ali Tait]

+1.

[mr sneff]

Software wise you cant do better than Jriver, for sound quality, the interface and all you can do with it.
Not free but sometimes you pay for the best.

Less than £35 not too spendy. :)

+1 Definately better SQ than iTunes and an interface that is as least as user friendly, worth the outlay.

[tubehunter]

I have one the TEAC UD-501 as well. It can't handle audio levels above 1.8Vrms too well. Compressed and distorted comes to mind. It appears to be an issue with the PCM5102 DAC chip. I got an ARCAM DAC that uses the same DAC chip and exhibits the same problem.

The Teac UD-501 uses a pair of BurrBrown PCM1795 dac chips not the PCM5102.

[StanleyB]

The Teac UD-501 uses a pair of BurrBrown PCM1795 dac chips not the PCM5102.
I stand corrected. I just checked again. I have the AI-501.