using netbook as AirPlay server - USB DAC to improve audio?

revenant

revenant

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I am using my old netbook (ASUS Eee PC 1015PEM) as an AirPlay server (using AirServer) which works great - I can push audio and video from our i-devices to it very easily... I have this connected to a high end audio system with a 3.5mm to stereo RCA adapter cable.. I was wondering if getting one of those Sabre USB DAC dongles would improve the audio quality? It's ok as-is, which is why I am on the fence about it.. I was looking at the HiFimeDIY Sabre U2 Async DAC ES9023+SA9023 on ebay for 60 bux. Seems pretty easy to use... Would it improve the audio quality or would it not have much impact?
 
well, curiosity got the best of me and I ordered the DAC... reviews seem pretty positive for a good cheap solution to improve the onboard audio.. not great for headphones unless they are very efficient but this will be feeding a 2.1 channel music only stereo system with a prepro and Energy RC-70's bi-wired with Marantz monoblocks... I threw this little AirPlay setup together mostly to appease the wife... but hopefully it will sound fairly good with this DAC feeding it.
 
You should notice an immediate difference going from the dac line out to pre / pro. Keep us updated
 
Why not just connect via optical using an airport express? Less noise, heat, similar if not better performance.
 
revenant said:
I was wondering if getting one of those Sabre USB DAC dongles would improve the audio quality? It's ok as-is, which is why I am on the fence about it.. I was looking at the HiFimeDIY Sabre U2 Async DAC ES9023+SA9023 on ebay for 60 bux. Seems pretty easy to use... Would it improve the audio quality or would it not have much impact?
Click to expand...

What I have read about this DAC is very good.
I have 2 Sabre32 9018 based DACs and they are amazing.
The 9023 DAC appears to give you a good taste of this, and for $60 that is a bargain!
(mine are over £1000 each)
 
wow.. I forgot to check this thread. Ha! Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.

So.. I debated the airport express thing quite a bit and almost bought one but after reading more up on them they're not like an apple TV - more like a wifi hotspot repeater with an airplay receiver built in... and I didn't really want to mess with all that. I also looked at the airenabler but you have to join it's wifi broadcast to get airplay working with it... I just wanted something that would just be an airplay device on my local wifi, like the apple tv, but with an audio out that was not HDMI. So I though, I have this old netbook, maybe I can just use that...? So a I did a little more googling and landed at the AirServer site and downloaded it's trial which worked like a charm! So bought a single user license for $15. So $15 for that and $67 total for the DAC (which is on the way).. I guess the nice thing about the DAC is I can take it to work and use it for my head phones also - or while traveling, etc...

So I will be sure to let you all know how it goes when I get it!

PS: yeah, having optical would be cool also.. I think the limiting factor will be the mp3 quality though... my prepro is an old outlaw 950... old, but sounds amazing still.. perfect for a music only system.
 
revenant said:
wow.. I forgot to check this thread. Ha! Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.

So.. I debated the airport express thing quite a bit and almost bought one but after reading more up on them they're not like an apple TV - more like a wifi hotspot repeater with an airplay receiver built in... and I didn't really want to mess with all that. I also looked at the airenabler but you have to join it's wifi broadcast to get airplay working with it... I just wanted something that would just be an airplay device on my local wifi, like the apple tv, but with an audio out that was not HDMI. So I though, I have this old netbook, maybe I can just use that...? So a I did a little more googling and landed at the AirServer site and downloaded it's trial which worked like a charm! So bought a single user license for $15. So $15 for that and $67 total for the DAC (which is on the way).. I guess the nice thing about the DAC is I can take it to work and use it for my head phones also - or while traveling, etc...

So I will be sure to let you all know how it goes when I get it!

PS: yeah, having optical would be cool also.. I think the limiting factor will be the mp3 quality though... my prepro is an old outlaw 950... old, but sounds amazing still.. perfect for a music only system.
Click to expand...

I have an airport express, you can either have it repeat your network (only works with apple routers) or you can just have it join your network - just like an ATV. Getting an AppleTV was also an option because it has an optical output.
 
The DAC may benefit from a headphone pre-amp if you dont already have one.
See how you get on.
 
450 said:
I have an airport express, you can either have it repeat your network (only works with apple routers) or you can just have it join your network - just like an ATV. Getting an AppleTV was also an option because it has an optical output.
Click to expand...

Ah I forgot the AppleTV does have an optical out. Oh well. and ok on the airport express, I was reading on the 3 different modes you could use it in... the one where you don't have an Apple router seemed like it was what I would have used and yeah, no wifi repeating, but at that point I had my netbook going so I figured I would stick with that, I think my little rigged setup should work pretty well.

Nenu said:
The DAC may benefit from a headphone pre-amp if you dont already have one.
See how you get on.
Click to expand...

yeah, only really efficient headphones work on this DAC without an amp I read in the reviews... I have AudioTechnica ATH-M50s and some Sony X10's... both are fairly efficient but I will have to test and see how they fair on the other end of this DAC ampless.. I have an Fiio e6 somewhere so I guess I can use that if needed. Not the most powerful amp but might be enough to get along. :)
 
Holy crap... this DAC really improved the sound coming out of this netbook... it's a damn nice source now, provided the mp3's are well ripped.

just a few pics of the setup..

IMG_1084_zpsc3840f2c.jpg

IMG_1083_zps4144e08a.jpg

IMG_1082_zpsd007060f.jpg


dual marantz monoblocks bi-amped on energy rc-70s and an SVS PB-1000 sub..
 
Nice :)

I similarly found a large improvement to low bit rate quality with my 9018 DACs, but...
CD or higher will shine even more.
Unfortunate if most of your collection is mp3.
 
I primarily use my CD player actually.. yeah, old school. my wife loves her mp3's though.. I haven't experimented with better compression methods though... CDs are so cheap these days and I had a HUGE collection from yonder years so it's been fun rediscovering those with this system. :)

Anyways... the DAC is great. If I wanted to experiment with higher quality formats than mp3, what do you recommend?
 
Rip your CDs to FLAC with EAC (Exact Audio Copy).
There are guides online, look for this in Google:
flac eac guide

FLAC is lossless compression that doesnt lose any information.
Play FLAC files instead of MP3, then you make much better use of your DAC, most players handle them.
You can rip CDs uncompressed to WAV files, this is even easier but they are quite a bit bigger.

Your new DAC will probably sound better than your CD player.
 
Thanks.... I should really try and experiment with this.. I could put all the music on my drobo which gets very little use these days... It would be a ton of work ripping them all but oh so handy once done.

BTW - The DACs in my prepro sound pretty good... It's got a Cirrus CS4396 for each channel in stereo mode. It would be interesting to compare a FLAC via the usb DAC vs the CD player via optical being decoded by the prepro.
 
Ah didnt realise you had an offboard DAC for the CD.
You're right, it might be a close call.

Yeah, its pretty neat not having to play with disks any more.
Although a good transport with a quality DAC is a treat.
I got fortunate with mine because it also accepts USB hard drives so I play directly from that.
If your preamp accepts USB drives, see what thats like.
 
Yeah, I use a pioneer elite dv47ai for SACD playback also and that sounds pretty amazing. It's a better transport than the sony. The sony is nice just for the 300 disk capacity. Eventually I'll get a modern prepro and will get all the bells and whistles (USB inputs and network goodies etc). But the marantz unit I want is well over a grand... So for now I will milk this old outlaw a bit longer. :). I can still play with FLAC on the laptop though.
 
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