You have really helped me improve my music listening experience to an unprecedented level. Mainly through understanding time smearing, jitter, analog recontruction filters, and noisy power. Added external DAC (replacing my PCI soundcard), USB ISOREGEN, and external (non-switching) power supply and I lost ALL my noise from my computer. The depth and clarity using my same speakers and amp were startling. I also added a different gigaswitch (Netgear metal box) and replaced that power supply as well. I also chose the Drobo NAS to be the center of all my digital music. All and all a great cost/results curve. Thank you much!
Thank you for straightening out the misinformation that's been bouncing around in my head ever since I transitioned from CDs to MP3s about 20 yrs ago. I'd never really given much thought to what extent factors like power and speed, to name only a couple, could negatively impact an audio signal.
I found your channel yesterday while googling for info on a specific device make and model (the Advance Paris PlayStream A7 network receiver). Not only I found an excellent review on that specific device but I also realised that I have much more to learn about digital audio than I thought (my main purpose is just modernising my audio infrastructure yet keeping one foot on good o'analog music). Luckily this channel provides a lot of good information that can be used as "training material" among other purposes. This particular video is an excellent starting point. Though watching some of the videos raise me some questions, I will do my best to search and watch through your extensive collection before asking :) Alvast bedankt! ;)
Based on my own hands on experience, thus which has been limited by nature..... One of the best quotes ever. Your videos are very informative. Keep up the good work.
The ELAC DDP-2 works great and sounds great with the USB connection to the computer. It is also a pre-amp with a headphone jack and balanced outs. ELAC has downloadable software.
Excellent video, Hans! Don't know if I'm the only one who caught your comment at 15:40--thought I was the only guy who still used that phrase! Ha! Keep up the good work
Thanks for all your videos! I have a question. My active speakers (AirPulse A100) are able to process a digital 24/192 signal. They are connected to the computer via USB 2. I mostly listen to 16/44.1 files or even TH-cam. Does it make sense to add an upsampling DAC in between, so the speakers will get 24/192? Theoretically it's a bad idea since the signal will have two extra conversions - from digit to analog in the DAC, and back within the speakers. However, I know that the life could be less straightforward that the simple logic... What do you think? Also, does it make sense to add Uptone USB REGEN between the computer and the speakers if UAB 2 is used anyway? Thanks!!!
Hello Hans. Great content as always. Could you review the Mutec MC-3+ USB and/or the Lake People DAT RS 05 (with USB and femto module) re-clockers? Looking forward to the next video.
For playback you want something with not more than just enough computational power. The M1 Macs have loads of computational power, which makes then great for music production but not for reproduction.
The end of the video is an interesting cliffhanger. If you can take digital file playback quality all the way up to high-end, then what's the need for a high-end CD player or vinyl record player?
Hello Hans, I have some questions, hope you have some time to answer them: (P.S. I am a headphone user with a beginner level set, using ifi Zen DAC, Sennheiser HD599 openback - pentacon balanced cable) 1. I understand HDD speed is not a problem, but can the vibration produced by or the power required to spin the internal HDD disc affect sound quality? (Assuming SSDs take less power than HDD, hence limiting the factor of electrical noise). I have noticed noise getting added when my laptop's fan start spinning fast, that is how I assume the above relation. 2. I have disabled unnecessary windows services, devices and drivers from device manager, disabled hyper-threading and disabled one cpu core from OS's detection. This actually helped improve sound quality significantly. Does that mean OS is causing sound degradation too and is it because of its inability to continuously push audio packets to USB DAC at the right timing when lot of other processes steal cpu cycles? I wonder why wouldn't buffer (hardware, software) help here. In fact, when I actually increase ASIO buffer, it seems to reduce details but increasing reverb and sound stage, why does buffer have such effect? Is it associated with jitter? 3. I am actually using a laptop as my audio source, applied as much free measures as possible to reduce electrical noise such as disabling wifi, bluetooth from bios, disabling inbuilt monitor from OS, turning off keyboard lights etc. The USB Dac is directly connected to this laptop. I use Tidal mainly for audio and have added "--exclusive-mode-audio" tag to chrome, which makes youtube's sound quality even surprisingly a lot better, hence also often listen to youtube and watch movies in netflix as well. I want to therefore, still use this laptop as audio processor, then stream the processed audio packets to Intel NUC which will stream and send it to the USB dac, which is directly connected to NUC. The laptop and the NUC will be connected using Ethernet cable directly to their ethernet ports, without any intermediate switches or routers. (This is used to reduce latency as much as possible but is it a good choice for audio quality?) I am planning to use VB Voicemeeter app, to transmit and receive PCM audio as UDP packets in their so called "VBAN" protocol. This app supposedly resamples the audio to whatever sample rate provided in config. Assuming I will resample it to same sample rate (16bit, 44.1khz) and use such a streaming setup, will the audio be "net" better? I'm trying to quantify noise vs resampling trade-off.
Whether the vibration of a HDD is a problem depends on the build quality of the computer. I left the video of playing music from within a computer years ago. Any money spent on it will never bring you the same as the same money spent on a network bridge or streamer while using the computer only as a share (or use a NAS).
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Thank you for the suggestion. Sadly, there isn't any network bridges available in India. Anyways, if it is worth, could you consider making a video explaining why changing ASIO buffer size on computer changes audio quality? I understand in theory, buffering (excess) should not affect the audio quality, but under-buffering could cause jitters. But, some people including me, can hear the difference, generally perceiving excess buffer to be reducing details in music. Or is it not the buffer in general, but the software implementation itself is the culprit?
Hans, thank you for another really informative video - great channel. Is there a way to configure a decent Hifi setup to better cope with CD’s / files that are victims of the so called ‘Loudness War’? I wondered if some software players or network streamers are better able to counter the digital clipping than others. I understand the dynamic range will never be recovered, but is it possible to counter the fatiguing effect?
In al, seriousness do you think the well priced Innuos Zen Mini 3 is worth a review?I am looking for an alternative to Bluesound Vault 2i that has usable DAC to be upgraded latter.Bluesound Vault looks nice but Innuous looked interesting.I plan to rip to FLAC an imagine I would buy Roon or use (Audio Nirvana or Channel D etc not sure Bluesound is important.Any help appreciated I am a big fan and mention you every chance I get on other YT channels
Hans do you think the train track pickup is the Blusound Node and they could buy the new three engine Tesla Cybertruck be the Auender W20?I mean if you have to play/go down the track....
To clarify: is there a ready-to-use audio component that I can connect to my audio system & use my WiFi network to connect to that component from my (Android) phone to play the 600 CD's I ripped to flac files as well as the streaming music I have in playlists in Google Play Music? Thank you. I bought your book, but I'm still trying to be certain whether the solution I dream of is really available.
Thanks for an informative video Hans. A very general question if I may. In your experience, what “typically” sounds better; a computer like a Mac mini connected to a DAC via USB or the same Mac mini serving audio to a network bridge via ethernet cable?
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel I'm in the middle of that process, and I found with current harddisks on the market, storage size is not such a big concern any more. Harddisks go up to 18TB. 14TB and above is still quite expensive though. 8TB harddisks have best price per TB at this time. A couple of these can do the job. Eventually I want a set of 4 in a NAS, then get rid of CDs, LPs and their playback equipment. I always thought going all-digital source meant losing quality and putting high-end beyond reach - until I found your channel. Now it's a puzzle of choosing the right equipment for my requirements and budget. Technology is always a compromise, but that's fine. It's part of the game 😊
What noise will leak from the computer throught the usb if the power is isolated and the data packets reclocked by something like the Schitt Audio Weird?
You have really helped me improve my music listening experience to an unprecedented level. Mainly through understanding time smearing, jitter, analog recontruction filters, and noisy power. Added external DAC (replacing my PCI soundcard), USB ISOREGEN, and external (non-switching) power supply and I lost ALL my noise from my computer. The depth and clarity using my same speakers and amp were startling. I also added a different gigaswitch (Netgear metal box) and replaced that power supply as well. I also chose the Drobo NAS to be the center of all my digital music. All and all a great cost/results curve. Thank you much!
@@allydea yes.
@@allydea this channel has detailed reviews and explanations on the 2 models.
Great video.
We need more entry-level instruction, since advanced topics like these move very quickly, leaving us newbies behind.
Right. 4 minutes in I think I was getting lost. 7 minutes in I was sure I was lost and stopped the video.
This is an excellent video and super informative. The timing couldn't have been better for where I am on my audiophile journey. Thank you so much!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for straightening out the misinformation that's been bouncing around in my head ever since I transitioned from CDs to MP3s about 20 yrs ago. I'd never really given much thought to what extent factors like power and speed, to name only a couple, could negatively impact an audio signal.
There always is a second start😄
I found your channel yesterday while googling for info on a specific device make and model (the Advance Paris PlayStream A7 network receiver). Not only I found an excellent review on that specific device but I also realised that I have much more to learn about digital audio than I thought (my main purpose is just modernising my audio infrastructure yet keeping one foot on good o'analog music). Luckily this channel provides a lot of good information that can be used as "training material" among other purposes. This particular video is an excellent starting point.
Though watching some of the videos raise me some questions, I will do my best to search and watch through your extensive collection before asking :)
Alvast bedankt! ;)
🙏🏻
Dear Hans, thanks for your time and effort and wonderfully informative videos.
You are very welcome
Awesome video Hans! Thank you
Based on my own hands on experience, thus which has been limited by nature.....
One of the best quotes ever. Your videos are very informative. Keep up the good work.
🙏🏻
A very long but relevant & helpful video.
Another excellent and informative educational video. Thanks Hans. Advice I will most certainly take on board😎👍
🙏🏽
The ELAC DDP-2 works great and sounds great with the USB connection to the computer. It is also a pre-amp with a headphone jack and balanced outs. ELAC has downloadable software.
Excellent video, Hans! Don't know if I'm the only one who caught your comment at 15:40--thought I was the only guy who still used that phrase! Ha! Keep up the good work
Learning a language is mainly copying and I like the expression when I first heard it.
Thanks for all your videos!
I have a question. My active speakers (AirPulse A100) are able to process a digital 24/192 signal. They are connected to the computer via USB 2. I mostly listen to 16/44.1 files or even TH-cam. Does it make sense to add an upsampling DAC in between, so the speakers will get 24/192? Theoretically it's a bad idea since the signal will have two extra conversions - from digit to analog in the DAC, and back within the speakers. However, I know that the life could be less straightforward that the simple logic... What do you think?
Also, does it make sense to add Uptone USB REGEN between the computer and the speakers if UAB 2 is used anyway?
Thanks!!!
Using a DAC to upsample isn't a good choice for the reason you mention. You should wait for good upsamplers becoming more affordable.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Ideally, it should be an upsampling digital-to-digital converter. But I didn't find anything similar in the Internet.
I reviewed two recently. But they are costly
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Can you give the links please? I see a lot of reviews of different devices on your channel, and I am afraid to be wrong.
Excellent video, as usual very informative and well explained. Thanks Mr. Hans
Thanks
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Always Excelent !!!!
THANKS
Hello Hans. Great content as always. Could you review the Mutec MC-3+ USB and/or the Lake People DAT RS 05 (with USB and femto module) re-clockers? Looking forward to the next video.
Thank you Hans , very helpful .
What you think about the new M1 chip from Apple that is inside Macbook Air for example? The M1 Air is a revolution in play music from a computer.
For playback you want something with not more than just enough computational power. The M1 Macs have loads of computational power, which makes then great for music production but not for reproduction.
The end of the video is an interesting cliffhanger. If you can take digital file playback quality all the way up to high-end, then what's the need for a high-end CD player or vinyl record player?
My point exactly.
Tablets are ideal as they can tun on lithium battery. Also Apple devices can be put in offline mode/no Bluetooth which reduces interference.
Batteries are quite noisy, noisier than good audiophile grade power supplies.
Hello Hans, I have some questions, hope you have some time to answer them: (P.S. I am a headphone user with a beginner level set, using ifi Zen DAC, Sennheiser HD599 openback - pentacon balanced cable)
1. I understand HDD speed is not a problem, but can the vibration produced by or the power required to spin the internal HDD disc affect sound quality? (Assuming SSDs take less power than HDD, hence limiting the factor of electrical noise). I have noticed noise getting added when my laptop's fan start spinning fast, that is how I assume the above relation.
2. I have disabled unnecessary windows services, devices and drivers from device manager, disabled hyper-threading and disabled one cpu core from OS's detection. This actually helped improve sound quality significantly. Does that mean OS is causing sound degradation too and is it because of its inability to continuously push audio packets to USB DAC at the right timing when lot of other processes steal cpu cycles? I wonder why wouldn't buffer (hardware, software) help here. In fact, when I actually increase ASIO buffer, it seems to reduce details but increasing reverb and sound stage, why does buffer have such effect? Is it associated with jitter?
3. I am actually using a laptop as my audio source, applied as much free measures as possible to reduce electrical noise such as disabling wifi, bluetooth from bios, disabling inbuilt monitor from OS, turning off keyboard lights etc. The USB Dac is directly connected to this laptop. I use Tidal mainly for audio and have added "--exclusive-mode-audio" tag to chrome, which makes youtube's sound quality even surprisingly a lot better, hence also often listen to youtube and watch movies in netflix as well.
I want to therefore, still use this laptop as audio processor, then stream the processed audio packets to Intel NUC which will stream and send it to the USB dac, which is directly connected to NUC. The laptop and the NUC will be connected using Ethernet cable directly to their ethernet ports, without any intermediate switches or routers. (This is used to reduce latency as much as possible but is it a good choice for audio quality?)
I am planning to use VB Voicemeeter app, to transmit and receive PCM audio as UDP packets in their so called "VBAN" protocol. This app supposedly resamples the audio to whatever sample rate provided in config.
Assuming I will resample it to same sample rate (16bit, 44.1khz) and use such a streaming setup, will the audio be "net" better? I'm trying to quantify noise vs resampling trade-off.
Whether the vibration of a HDD is a problem depends on the build quality of the computer. I left the video of playing music from within a computer years ago. Any money spent on it will never bring you the same as the same money spent on a network bridge or streamer while using the computer only as a share (or use a NAS).
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Thank you for the suggestion. Sadly, there isn't any network bridges available in India.
Anyways, if it is worth, could you consider making a video explaining why changing ASIO buffer size on computer changes audio quality? I understand in theory, buffering (excess) should not affect the audio quality, but under-buffering could cause jitters. But, some people including me, can hear the difference, generally perceiving excess buffer to be reducing details in music. Or is it not the buffer in general, but the software implementation itself is the culprit?
Hans, thank you for another really informative video - great channel. Is there a way to configure a decent Hifi setup to better cope with CD’s / files that are victims of the so called ‘Loudness War’? I wondered if some software players or network streamers are better able to counter the digital clipping than others. I understand the dynamic range will never be recovered, but is it possible to counter the fatiguing effect?
I know of no technique that can.
Thank you for the video, please could you review Denon Home350 and how to get the most from it...
That’s outside the scope of this channel. Sorry.
In al, seriousness do you think the well priced Innuos Zen Mini 3 is worth a review?I am looking for an alternative to Bluesound Vault 2i that has usable DAC to be upgraded latter.Bluesound Vault looks nice but Innuous looked interesting.I plan to rip to FLAC an imagine I would buy Roon or use (Audio Nirvana or Channel D etc not sure Bluesound is important.Any help appreciated I am a big fan and mention you every chance I get on other YT channels
I have not reviewed the Zin Mini so I can't say. sorry
Hans do you think the train track pickup is the Blusound Node and they could buy the new three engine Tesla Cybertruck be the Auender W20?I mean if you have to play/go down the track....
I have not yet reviewed the Tesla Cybertruck nor the Aurender, so I can't say...
To clarify: is there a ready-to-use audio component that I can connect to my audio system & use my WiFi network to connect to that component from my (Android) phone to play the 600 CD's I ripped to flac files as well as the streaming music I have in playlists in Google Play Music? Thank you. I bought your book, but I'm still trying to be certain whether the solution I dream of is really available.
I'm not familiar with Android Phones but I think you can use DLNA to send audio to a DLNA renderer like the SOtM sMS-200 and many others.
Thank you for informative video
My pleasure
Thanks for an informative video Hans. A very general question if I may. In your experience, what “typically” sounds better; a computer like a Mac mini connected to a DAC via USB or the same Mac mini serving audio to a network bridge via ethernet cable?
The latter, provided you use a decent network bridge
Windows computers process the sound before sending out to USB, doesn't it? Is there a way to bypass this processing?
Yes, you can read a solution here: www.head-fi.org/threads/question-regarding-bitperfect-playback-in-windows-10.791214/
"The average number of tracks in my collection of 12,000 albums is 14.8" - I've never thought of calculating this for my own collection 😁
Well, it's handy to know when you start ripping your collection and need to calculate the size of your storage...
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel I'm in the middle of that process, and I found with current harddisks on the market, storage size is not such a big concern any more. Harddisks go up to 18TB. 14TB and above is still quite expensive though. 8TB harddisks have best price per TB at this time. A couple of these can do the job. Eventually I want a set of 4 in a NAS, then get rid of CDs, LPs and their playback equipment. I always thought going all-digital source meant losing quality and putting high-end beyond reach - until I found your channel. Now it's a puzzle of choosing the right equipment for my requirements and budget. Technology is always a compromise, but that's fine. It's part of the game 😊
What noise will leak from the computer throught the usb if the power is isolated and the data packets reclocked by something like the Schitt Audio Weird?
I don't know the Schiitt but it appears to be almost impossible to simply filter out all electronic noise and get timing in tact.
The 5v
Thank you
👍🏼
You forgot HDMI cable
Yes, that was a Freudian mistake.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel That was a wonderfully humorous reply.
12.000 albums ! In how much time did you manage to collect his amount ?
About 40 years. And it is excluding vinyl😃. Comes with being audio journalist, you buy a lot and you get free samples.
I got a little lost
You'll be save eventually😄
Thank you very much Hans. this information is great.
🙏🏽