Pandora??? Who knew??

[cougit25]

I was at a friend's this afternoon helping her hook up her new blu-ray player. She was interested in Pandora so I set her up. Wow!! I had heard about it but never checked it out. I was quite impressed so I went home and signed up on my computer.

It's an amazing thing and works great but here is the problem. My computer is connected to my system via the headphone out jack. It sounds okay but the same songs through my Apple TV have slam-you-in-the-chest bass, whereas via Pandora the bass is quite weak.

Is there a usb to digital cable of some sort I could use to send the digital signal directly to the DAC in my MX119? Will it help improve the bass and overall slam that seems to be missing?

Turning up the bass on the M119 does not help. It is as if the music from Pandora does not have enough information for full range playback.

Thanks in advance for any help you all can give.

[cougit25]

Another note...My computer is hard wired to my router for faster speeds than my wireless.

[Rilands]

Harold,
I'm sorry but i'm not much help with this subject. I use Roku($79.00)which is wifi and conects straight to my MX150 with an HDMI cable. The sound is pretty darn good. I use pandora for about 30% of my listening. I love it.

[joeinid]

I absolutely LOVE Pandora. I pay the $3/month and have the 192K bit-rate and it actually sounds pretty good. I've discovered many new artists. I am not familiar enough with the MX119 to help but I hope someone will help you.

Joe

[cougit25]

After searching around AA I came across the Music Fidelity V-Link. Is this the way to go? The DAC in my MX119 will accept optical or spdif digital inputs.

[cougit25]

Originally Posted by Rilands

Harold,
I'm sorry but i'm not much help with this subject. I use Roku($79.00)which is wifi and conects straight to my MX150 with an HDMI cable. The sound is pretty darn good. I use pandora for about 30% of my listening. I love it.

Thanks Mike, but my MX119 is old school with no HDMI inputs.

[cougit25]

Originally Posted by joeinid

I absolutely LOVE Pandora. I pay the $3/month and have the 192K bit-rate and it actually sounds pretty good. I've discovered many new artists. I am not familiar enough with the MX119 to help but I hope someone will help you.

Joe

Thanks Joe. 192k sounds great. I'm pretty sure my MX119 can process that bit rate if I can figure out how to get it from my computer's usb output to my processor.

[joeinid]

Hi Harold,

Do you have a computer near the MX119? If you do the V-Dac will be fine. Plug the USB into it and the analog out to one of your inputs. Seems like it will be a great addition.

Joe

If you can accept spdif into the mx119, this will work also. I have a couple and they work well.
http://www.hagtech.com/hagusb.html

[cougit25]

Originally Posted by joeinid

Hi Harold,

Do you have a computer near the MX119? If you do the V-Dac will be fine. Plug the USB into it and the analog out to one of your inputs. Seems like it will be a great addition.

Joe

If you can accept spdif into the mx119, this will work also. I have a couple and they work well.
Hagerman Technology LLC: HagUsb USB to SPDIF Audiophile Converter

Thanks Joe. My MX119 is close to my computer so I'll check into both of your suggestions.

[joeinid]

Hi Harold,

One more suggestion that would offer better performance is the M2Tech HiFace (~$200) (simple USB dongle design - uses USB power). I don't know how it compares to the V-Dac

Joe