Ramblings on an somewhat-unexpected Sunday off...
I'm kind of new to the whole computer-->DAC way of listening of music. I got a Tidal subscription last summer, though I have used it very little. And just prior to that I got Roon and it found the 100 or so CDs I ripped in to iTunes like 10 years ago, and interfaces with Tidal, and there's a phone app. So that's pretty cool. And I've got to work through a bunch of orphaned album tracks in Tidal that need to be manually re-combined, but I think I figured out how to do that. (And now that iTunes is apparently being phased out, I find myself more a visionary than luddite, haha.)
Anyway, the analog out from the Mac Mini to my preamp was "okay" - definitely not bad, but not comparable with my other sources, and enough to take notice, which is why I think I didn't really listen to it much - the sound was just "meh" and I found I'd rather just spin a CD or LP (or Hell, the radio, if I was feeling lazy). I just didn't go to the computer for music.
So I put out a request on the local audio club group and a few offers to loan a DAC for some listening quickly came forth. I ended up with a MicroMega MyDac (who thinks of these names?) courtesy of @Olson_jr for some weeks. (It's still here.) It was a clear improvement over the analog computer output - no surprise. It has USB as well as optical input, and I tried both, though I can't say whether I noticed that one interface was better than the other. (I thought I remembered some vehemence in the past that coaxial is usually preferred over optical if you've got the choice, and no clue how USB compares.)
Then on an impulse after seeing @MikeT.'s ad (elsewhere) for his iFi micro iDAC2 with some accessories, I bought it, confident that as a current "better" product and with MQA capability, it would be a nice step up. And I think it was. While the MyDac was an improvement over the analog out, the iFi is another improvement over that. Not shocking.
Another local friend said I could borrow his Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 21 DAC, an upper-tier unit, but from about 15 years ago. It's got output tubes, no MQA, no USB, and a chipset a few generations older than these others (even the computer). But what the heck, why not? It's up here too, warmed up and humming along.
TL : DR - Here is my question: The Tri-Vista 21 DAC is connected to the Mac Mini via optical, the only way to interface the two. The iFi Micro iDAC2 is hooked up via USB, also the only way to interface those two. Both units are connected to the preamp via the same length/make/model RCA cables. Roon is configured to "group" the two "devices" and play to both "zones" at once, and they're level-matched to within ~0.2dB, so I can easily switch between the two. So the question is: Is there anything else I can do to level the playing field more? (And is optical vs. USB a limiting problem, or a non-issue?) Is this a reasonable way to compare them fairly?
Of course, the bigger question is whether or not this is even a fair comparison, which leads to the surprise part: I had fully anticipated that the new little iFi DAC would sound preferable to the big old Musical Fidelity DAC due to the 15+ years of advanced technology - I expected it would simply be "better" without question. But so far, the Tri-Vista seems to have the edge - a wider soundstage, a bit more crisp, and a little more excitement without being edgy or "tipped up" - it seems more musical. The iFi seems a bit more recessed and narrower, not as open and airy - it seems more clinical. Again, not a fair comparison, but I'm genuinely surprised at how marked the difference is. The obvious unfairness part is that the Musical Fidelity was ~$2500 and is over-engineered and over-built; the iFi is a better-than-entry-level device at ~$400 and intended to be versatile and portable.
One is here to stay, the other is on borrowed (literally) time, so it's just academic.
Eh?
I'm kind of new to the whole computer-->DAC way of listening of music. I got a Tidal subscription last summer, though I have used it very little. And just prior to that I got Roon and it found the 100 or so CDs I ripped in to iTunes like 10 years ago, and interfaces with Tidal, and there's a phone app. So that's pretty cool. And I've got to work through a bunch of orphaned album tracks in Tidal that need to be manually re-combined, but I think I figured out how to do that. (And now that iTunes is apparently being phased out, I find myself more a visionary than luddite, haha.)
Anyway, the analog out from the Mac Mini to my preamp was "okay" - definitely not bad, but not comparable with my other sources, and enough to take notice, which is why I think I didn't really listen to it much - the sound was just "meh" and I found I'd rather just spin a CD or LP (or Hell, the radio, if I was feeling lazy). I just didn't go to the computer for music.
So I put out a request on the local audio club group and a few offers to loan a DAC for some listening quickly came forth. I ended up with a MicroMega MyDac (who thinks of these names?) courtesy of @Olson_jr for some weeks. (It's still here.) It was a clear improvement over the analog computer output - no surprise. It has USB as well as optical input, and I tried both, though I can't say whether I noticed that one interface was better than the other. (I thought I remembered some vehemence in the past that coaxial is usually preferred over optical if you've got the choice, and no clue how USB compares.)
Then on an impulse after seeing @MikeT.'s ad (elsewhere) for his iFi micro iDAC2 with some accessories, I bought it, confident that as a current "better" product and with MQA capability, it would be a nice step up. And I think it was. While the MyDac was an improvement over the analog out, the iFi is another improvement over that. Not shocking.
Another local friend said I could borrow his Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 21 DAC, an upper-tier unit, but from about 15 years ago. It's got output tubes, no MQA, no USB, and a chipset a few generations older than these others (even the computer). But what the heck, why not? It's up here too, warmed up and humming along.
TL : DR - Here is my question: The Tri-Vista 21 DAC is connected to the Mac Mini via optical, the only way to interface the two. The iFi Micro iDAC2 is hooked up via USB, also the only way to interface those two. Both units are connected to the preamp via the same length/make/model RCA cables. Roon is configured to "group" the two "devices" and play to both "zones" at once, and they're level-matched to within ~0.2dB, so I can easily switch between the two. So the question is: Is there anything else I can do to level the playing field more? (And is optical vs. USB a limiting problem, or a non-issue?) Is this a reasonable way to compare them fairly?
Of course, the bigger question is whether or not this is even a fair comparison, which leads to the surprise part: I had fully anticipated that the new little iFi DAC would sound preferable to the big old Musical Fidelity DAC due to the 15+ years of advanced technology - I expected it would simply be "better" without question. But so far, the Tri-Vista seems to have the edge - a wider soundstage, a bit more crisp, and a little more excitement without being edgy or "tipped up" - it seems more musical. The iFi seems a bit more recessed and narrower, not as open and airy - it seems more clinical. Again, not a fair comparison, but I'm genuinely surprised at how marked the difference is. The obvious unfairness part is that the Musical Fidelity was ~$2500 and is over-engineered and over-built; the iFi is a better-than-entry-level device at ~$400 and intended to be versatile and portable.
One is here to stay, the other is on borrowed (literally) time, so it's just academic.
Eh?