Which DAC ?

[Gibo69]

Thanks !

[Lawrence001]

Yes, but I was referring to the suggestion of "rewiring the internal cables"..

I just meant that if you're using fancy cables it's a shame to stick this in between. But I've not seen any with fancy cabling inside so there's few or no options if that's the case except DIY.

[Lawrence001]

Budget one

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Way-Ste...-/373759397620

Fancy looking one. No idea what's inside though.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ST42-4-Wa...-/144194830371

[Gibo69]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I will take a look at those.

[Edward]

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask a suggestion...
Bearing in mind that all input of my pre croft Micro 25R are used, what solution you suggest to implement a media server ?
Slowly but steadily, I have amassed quite a big digital library and I would like to being able to listen to it through my system...

What solution you think will work best ?
Any recommendation ?
I am not an expert...
Thanks !

Lots of suggestions on an input switch already given. In terms recommendations for a DAC it probably is useful to know what your budget is and also how your 'big digital library' is currently configured. This will dictate what path you can take.

I find it conceptually useful to break the functions down into different elements.

1. Where/how your music files are stored.
2. A method of picking up those files and transporting them to the next stage
3. Conversion of those digital files into an analogue format (a DAC) which is then output to a line level input on your preamp (or in your case an input switch).

There are countless ways of doing this. The easiest (but not necessarily the cheapest) is to buy a device that does all 3 elements. Examples include Auralic, Naim, Melco, Cambridge etc. But there are hundreds of examples. In addition to simply playing local files all-in-one music streamers will play music streamed from the internet (Spotify, Tidal, Quboz etc).

But if you want to keep your existing file storage than you can get a streamer without storage. Again similar names come to mind. The streamer would grab the files either via USB (for example if your files are simply stored on a USB drive) or via your local network (either wirelessly or via Ethernet). In this case your files are stored on say a computer or a NAS (network attached storage). There are other permutations.

Alternatively you could have a separate device handling each element mentioned above - file storage, a transport mechanism and a DAC. Once again the options are numerous - from the high end to a cheap DIY solution involving say a USB drive, a Raspberry Pi and a DAC.

And of course you may already have most elements in say a computer which can perform all 3 elements. However most people find the DAC within a computer very poor in terms of sound quality so having an external DAC (usually fed by USB from a computer) will radically improve the sound. The choice of DAC is very much dependant on your budget. Anywhere from less than 100 (choose your currency) to several thousand plus. At the cheaper (but still good sound quality) are the likes of Topping, Cambridge, AudioQuest, IFI and at the other end Chord, PS Audio, Audio Note etc. And of course tons of examples between these extremes.

Oops, this post became rather long. Sorry. Give more details on what you have, your budget and what you are aiming for and I'm sure more specific ideas will come about.

[Gibo69]

Lots of suggestions on an input switch already given. In terms recommendations for a DAC it probably is useful to know what your budget is and also how your 'big digital library' is currently configured. This will dictate what path you can take.

I find it conceptually useful to break the functions down into different elements.

1. Where/how your music files are stored.
2. A method of picking up those files and transporting them to the next stage
3. Conversion of those digital files into an analogue format (a DAC) which is then output to a line level input on your preamp (or in your case an input switch).

There are countless ways of doing this. The easiest (but not necessarily the cheapest) is to buy a device that does all 3 elements. Examples include Auralic, Naim, Melco, Cambridge etc. But there are hundreds of examples. In addition to simply playing local files all-in-one music streamers will play music streamed from the internet (Spotify, Tidal, Quboz etc).

But if you want to keep your existing file storage than you can get a streamer without storage. Again similar names come to mind. The streamer would grab the files either via USB (for example if your files are simply stored on a USB drive) or via your local network (either wirelessly or via Ethernet). In this case your files are stored on say a computer or a NAS (network attached storage). There are other permutations.

Alternatively you could have a separate device handling each element mentioned above - file storage, a transport mechanism and a DAC. Once again the options are numerous - from the high end to a cheap DIY solution involving say a USB drive, a Raspberry Pi and a DAC.

And of course you may already have most elements in say a computer which can perform all 3 elements. However most people find the DAC within a computer very poor in terms of sound quality so having an external DAC (usually fed by USB from a computer) will radically improve the sound. The choice of DAC is very much dependant on your budget. Anywhere from less than 100 (choose your currency) to several thousand plus. At the cheaper (but still good sound quality) are the likes of Topping, Cambridge, AudioQuest, IFI and at the other end Chord, PS Audio, Audio Note etc. And of course tons of examples between these extremes.

Oops, this post became rather long. Sorry. Give more details on what you have, your budget and what you are aiming for and I'm sure more specific ideas will come about.

Hello Edward,
Thanks for your thoughts.

Right now I have almost 1TB of digital library on a HDD on my PC, but my intention is moving the library to a NAS, which I already have (Synology DS412+)

The first option i thought was to buy a DAC with at least two RCA input + Ethernet and eventually an USB port, and an RCA output thus allowing it to connect to one of the Micro 25R inputs. (which I am not sure if is doable or "safe to do")
I would exclude to use the PC.

I am not interested in streaming music from Internet...the Hama on my setup do that already, but apart from some internet radios, I don't use Spotify etc...

As a budget, the less the best :-), but I was thinking at max 500GBP...

Thanks !

[hifinutt]

this jolida is one of the best dacs in your budget
i doubt its still available though , they sell like hot cakes

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/thre...ve-dac.260299/

[Edward]

Hello Edward,
Thanks for your thoughts.

Right now I have almost 1TB of digital library on a HDD on my PC, but my intention is moving the library to a NAS, which I already have (Synology DS412+)

The first option i thought was to buy a DAC with at least two RCA input + Ethernet and eventually an USB port, and an RCA output thus allowing it to connect to one of the Micro 25R inputs. (which I am not sure if is doable or "safe to do")
I would exclude to use the PC.

I am not interested in streaming music from Internet...the Hama on my setup do that already, but apart from some internet radios, I don't use Spotify etc...

As a budget, the less the best :-), but I was thinking at max 500GBP...

Thanks !

A budget of £500 is a great budget to have. I'm sure you can achieve excellent results, particularly as you already have the Synology NAS. ( I assume your music files are in a lossless format and not a lossy format such as MP3s?)

Not sure why you need a DAC with RCA inputs. That may imply you want to convert an analogue signal to digital (i.e an ADC), unless I'm mistaken that is not what you are looking for. DACs, these days, will generally have only digital inputs and they will generally be USB, coax (RCA format) and Toslink. Some DACS will have AES digital inputs and some will have balanced outputs. But these tend to be higher up the food chain (beyond £500).

In your setup you still need a transport to take the digital signal from your Synology to your dac (my element 2 as described) unless you are going direct via USB from your synology to your dac (sorry I've never used a Synology). A cheap and suitable transport could be a Raspberry Pi with suitable software in the chain somewhere. Check out if JRiver can be installed on your Synology NAS. That could be part of your solution.

But perhaps this is far to complicated. For around your budget you could get something like the Bluesound Node. This will pick up the files on your NAS, convert to analogue and output to your preamp. The Bluesound Node also has digital outputs so later on if you wanted to try out a higher end DAC you could do that as well. There will be other devices that have similar functionality as the Bluesound Node.

[edit] when I say pick up files from your NAS I of course mean stream the files from your NAS.

[Lawrence001]

Some really useful information there Edward. I suspect the OP means by RCA that he wants 2 coax SPDIF inputs. The need for an Ethernet input means he actually need a streamer rather than a DAC (or both). For the Oppo and the other device he mentioned I forget what.

I always think of a streamer as the device to play music from a streaming service but of course in the early days of the tech, players for files stored locally on NAS were already called streamers, so I mean it in that sense.

[Edward]

Some really useful information there Edward. I suspect the OP means by RCA that he wants 2 coax SPDIF inputs. The need for an Ethernet input means he actually need a streamer rather than a DAC (or both). For the Oppo and the other device he mentioned I forget what.

I always think of a streamer as the device to play music from a streaming service but of course in the early days of the tech, players for files stored locally on NAS were already called streamers, so I mean it in that sense.

Yep I did consider Aris was meaning two SPDIF inputs hence the use of 'may', but discounted that as Aris said he was new to this lark. Unless, perhaps, Aris was wanting to 'stream' from a CD player.

Anyway, on reflection, probably Aris needs something like a Bluesound Node which is a 'set and forget' solution rather than pissing around with DIY solutions (which you and I tend to favour. ).

Anyway I'm currently 'streaming' vinyl at the moment which is a joy. Hope you and the family are well?