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Topic: How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC (Read 18783 times) previous topic - next topic
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How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Could somebody explain to me How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC without loss in fidelity?

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #1 –
Quote from: uchihaitachi on
Could somebody explain to me How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC without loss in fidelity?


Does your laptop have a S/PDIF coax output?  If so, connect the 75ohm coax from your laptop's S/PDIF out to the S/PDIF coax input of your DAC. If your laptop doesn't have S/PDIF out, does it have USB (I'm sure yes).  Does your DAC have USB input. If so, that would likely work well too.

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #2 –
Most of the time laptops don’t have SPDIF over coax out.
Some do have SPDIF over optical (Toslink).

If you laptop don’t have a SPDIF out, have a look at USB to SPDIF converters.
http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/HW/USB_SPDIF.htm
TheWellTemperedComputer.com

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #3 –
Might help if we knew a few details about your laptop.

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #4 –
Quote from: probedb on
Might help if we knew a few details about your laptop.



Sorry, my laptop is a slightly dated thinkpad without coaxial out. I have been looking at USB to coaxial converters that supports 192khz and asynchronous USB  (for testing, I know there is no audible difference). However, I am not sure there seem to be so many overpriced products and such, and I don't know whether I am spending money on snake oil, and which one offer the best performance etc.

I have recently found a bargain Benchmark DAC1 (without the USB) and I want to feed that with coaxial from my laptop.

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #5 –
So your laptop only has analogue out and USB ports? No S/P-DIF at all, not even optical?

What DAC are you using?

It might worth just getting a USB DAC for the laptop? Or replacing your existing DAC with one that also has USB support?

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #6 –
Quote from: probedb on
So your laptop only has analogue out and USB ports? No S/P-DIF at all, not even optical?

What DAC are you using?

It might worth just getting a USB DAC for the laptop? Or replacing your existing DAC with one that also has USB support?



My laptop has USB and analogue only. Pretty sure it doesn't have optical.

I have the Benchmark DAC1.

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #7 –
The price of those USB to S/P-DIF converters is insane!! You can get USB-DACs for far less.

So I guess you can either replace the Benchmark with something that covers your needs and has USB-in or buy a separate USB-DAC for the laptop

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #8 –
Quote from: probedb on
The price of those USB to S/P-DIF converters is insane!! You can get USB-DACs for far less.

So I guess you can either replace the Benchmark with something that covers your needs and has USB-in or buy a separate USB-DAC for the laptop


That's my query, whether the USB to S/P-DIF converters are pricey for no reason.

There are some that are reasonably priced and some that's exorbitant. Not sure the science behind them, so whether a cheap one would be equally good as an expensive one. I would prefer to keep the DAC1 as it's a solid piece of kit.

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #9 –
Quote from: Roseval on
Most of the time laptops don’t have SPDIF over coax out.
Some do have SPDIF over optical (Toslink).

If you laptop don’t have a SPDIF out, have a look at USB to SPDIF converters.
http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/HW/USB_SPDIF.htm

I just noticed one of them is "John Kenny JKSPDIF MK3 €320"
Is it from the same guy in the listening tests board?

[EDIT]After a bit of googling I even found this in the jplay forum 
http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/387...-kenny-devices/

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #10 –
Quote from: uchihaitachi on
That's my query, whether the USB to S/P-DIF converters are pricey for no reason.

There are some that are reasonably priced and some that's exorbitant. Not sure the science behind them, so whether a cheap one would be equally good as an expensive one. I would prefer to keep the DAC1 as it's a solid piece of kit.


I'd consider your DAC-1 as insanely expensive so it's down to you what you think is too much

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #11 –
@bennetng: Yes, it's the same guy who also said "I'm not an expert in digital audio".
"I hear it when I see it."

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #12 –
Seeing as it is now out of production, you may be able to get a Musical Fidelity V-Link (Mk 1 or Mk 2) on the cheap.

But a USB DAC would be a simpler solution.

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #13 –
Thanks xnor. Then the OP should really be careful.

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #14 –
Quote from: probedb on
The price of those USB to S/P-DIF converters is insane!! You can get USB-DACs for far less.

So I guess you can either replace the Benchmark with something that covers your needs and has USB-in or buy a separate USB-DAC for the laptop


Expensive ??

http://www.dx.com/nl/p/s-pdif-i2s-192khz-u...6A#.VVIBBpPQNKg

or

http://www.allekabels.nl/jack-kabel/4/1193...CFYHHtAodjw4Ang

For even less: €14,95

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #16 –
Quote from: uchihaitachi on
Quote from: probedb on
The price of those USB to S/P-DIF converters is insane!! You can get USB-DACs for far less.

So I guess you can either replace the Benchmark with something that covers your needs and has USB-in or buy a separate USB-DAC for the laptop


That's my query, whether the USB to S/P-DIF converters are pricey for no reason.

There are some that are reasonably priced and some that's exorbitant. Not sure the science behind them, so whether a cheap one would be equally good as an expensive one. I would prefer to keep the DAC1 as it's a solid piece of kit.



The Xonar U7 strikes me as being not exorbitantly priced (<  $100) but with a USB output and 24/192 support.

There are a number of extant fairly detailed hardware reviews that suggest that its breed of overkill is not that far removed from the DAC1.

Xonar U7 review

Xonar U7 review

Xonar U7 review

It does have that fairly common shortcoming - a headphone jack with a ca. 10 ohm source impedance.

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #17 –
This one does "only" 24/96, but it should work on Windows without any additional software because it's based on the Tenor TE7022L chip, which does 24/96 as a UAC1.0 device.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271868166218

Hardware-wise, that's all you need. Windows gurus can chime in with their preferred system settings. I was under the impression that getting bit-perfectness out of Windows XP was a bit tricky, but pretty straightforward with Vista, 7 and 8.

Your DAC does it's own reclocking of the signal, so even if you somehow got a crappy jittery USB audio adapter, it all gets de-jittered by the DAC anyhow.

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #18 –
Quote from: bennetng on
[EDIT]After a bit of googling I even found this

yay jscam!

@uchihaitachi
If you like "transparent gear" I'd steer clear of any DAC designer who touts that his wares sound better than the ODAC.  Better implies a difference and the ODAC is regarded as being transparent; therefore, different sounding from transparent is by definition not transparent.

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #19 –
Quote from: greynol on
Quote from: bennetng on
[EDIT]After a bit of googling I even found this

yay jscam!

@uchihaitachi
If you like "transparent gear" I'd steer clear of any DAC designer who touts that his wares sound better than the ODAC.  Better implies a difference and the ODAC is regarded as being transparent; therefore, different sounding from transparent is by definition not transparent.


At this point, the same caution applies to anybody who claims to provide an upgrade over a good modern on-board audio interface.  In 16 bit mode which is their most likely use for listening to commercial recordings, the ODAC  offers little or nothing, technically speaking.  Audible differences at higher sample rate are unlikely.





comparison of Realtek on board sound and other "upgrade" options:



How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #21 –
Quote from: Arnold B. Krueger on
At this point, the same caution applies to anybody who claims to provide an upgrade over a good modern on-board audio interface.  In 16 bit mode which is their most likely use for listening to commercial recordings, the ODAC  offers little or nothing, technically speaking.  Audible differences at higher sample rate are unlikely.


The operative phrase here being "a good modern on-board audio interface".

There are plenty of motherboards with rather noisy onboard audio, and not necessarily just low-level fuzz. For instance, on my motherboard (Asrock M3A770DE), I get terrible CPU-dependent noise through the onboard outputs unless I disable power management in the BIOS. It even affected the Edirol UA-1X USB DAC I bought in an attempt to remedy the issue. Going to a TOSLINK DAC solved the issue. I've since bought an ODAC, and it's completely noise-free on USB.

With a competently implemented onboard audio interface, none of that would have been necessary, but that wasn't the situation in my case.

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #22 –
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
The operative phrase here being "a good moden on-board audio interface".


Indeed. I have a very modern HP ZBook...top of the line. With my IEMs the headphone out is very noisy. Problem solved with a cheap FiiO E7

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #23 –
Quote from: greynol on
NB: my post was not an endorsement for the ODAC.



Mea Culpa - my post did not add the necessary caveat about PC onboard audio interfaces lacking a sterling attribute of the O2 and its many modern designed-for-headphones output jacks: low source impedance.

How to get coaxial out from laptop to feed an external DAC

Reply #24 –
Quote from: uchihaitachi on
I have been looking at USB to coaxial converters that supports 192khz and asynchronous USB  (for testing, I know there is no audible difference).

As the OP wanted to do some testings, our recommendations should based on technical performance rather than transparency.