Burmester to macbook pro
 

I thought it would be a good topic for those with Burmester DAC's (or not :D), that are looking to find and learn as much as possible to connect our DAC's to a computer. Now, I am utterly and completely new to this audio computer audio thing, but I do get excellent results by just using a tosklink mini from my headphone output to the digital input of my Burmester and upsample to 192/24. I am not the sharpest tack in the shed, and I am learning their exits better ways to get better sound. I am just saying for those just begining, it is a very simple and effective way to utilize our awesome DAC. Thanks to Joe, who turned me on to Pure Music (64(Snow Leopard) to 96), I can listen to my 2,000 songs 0n iTunes upsampled. The oucome is very pleasing. Next, I am looking into a usb to spdif converter like M2Tech. This would allow us to take advantage of the superior sound of high rez material. I only have had my MacBook Pro for a week now, so please someone chime in and help me (us) out. I also wonder if the DAC's in the 089 and 077 are upgradable for the future?

Talk2me...check out this guide from dCS on getting the best audio quality output from your computer to your DAC. There are detailed explanations for both PC and MAC set-ups and using iTunes, JRiver, and a whole host of other media players. This should help you get on your way: http://www.dcsltd.co.uk/page/assets/...uter_Audio.pdf

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

Cyril,

Excellent guide, thank you for the link. Looks like a lot of reading though :yes:

+1. Yes, thank-you very much! I feel like a kid in a candy store again. I love learning new formats that allow different forms of musical enjoyment. However, computer audio is a little more involved than just pushing a "play" button.

Joe...to be honest with you I have not gone through it in detail as I do not have a DAC as of yet but I have paged through it and it looks quite comprehensive. I know I and a few others have posted on AA in the past in response to other similar requests.

Cyril,

When I have more time I really want to go through it. I really like this computer audio thing. It is super convenient and if I suppress some of my audiophile tendencies, sounds pretty good. I have noticed, computer and streaming audio sounds so much better since I've been using my Manley Stingray tube amp. I guess the tubes smooth out and enhance the audio. Awesome!!! Another benefit for tubes.

Ah Joe. My goal is to banish the phrase, " and if I suppress some of my audiophile tendencies". I want to find the way for computer audio to be as good OR better than the current SOTA CD system I have.

The debate whether a good transport and DAC sounds better than a hard disc based system and DAC will go on for some time but in the end it is system dependent. Some of us believe that a good transport/DAC may provide the best playback but even so we do 95% of our listening with server based systems. Those units are either based of units like the MS-300/750, Olive, SooLoos or those based off of laptops, MacMini's or NAS drives.

In the end it comes down to how well the bits are transferred from the original media and properly saved to the disc of your choice. Reading , error correction, file format, and much more come into play.

Every option has some drawbacks in either format flexibility, the User Interface, ability to easily crate and burn playlists, ability to edit meta data, and much more. Once you get past that you will find you are playing more of the music you like and easily skipping over the filler material.

Happy listening.

Jim

The mountain that you need to climb with computer audio is rather high to equal that of a good cd player, but you might consider bryston bdp, olive or sooloos for the transport. You can still use a computer to rip CDs, download hirez files, backup, etc, but without going through the 20 step program to make sure everything is set up correctly which needs to be checked after every OS patch or driver update. Once you have everything set up, the computer should do nothing more than what a digital player will do, and then you can't use your computer :) ...

My computer audio setup has been replaced recently with a dedicated digital player (BDP) and my only regret is why didn't i do this sooner. I really don't regret using a computer, it became very convenient, just didn't enjoy all of the "what-ifs" it caused.

Jim

Honestly, I'm surprised you are getting 24/192 out of your macbook via toslink.

You can definitely get better sound via USB and because the Burmester DAC's all upsample internally, just passing the straight 16/44 out will probably sound quite a bit better than what you are already enjoying.

Give it a try and let us know what you think.....