‘Arcam irDac:
Plus, this DAC includes a second USB input designed just for your Apple iPod, iPhone, or iPad. When connected, the Arcam extracts the pure, unprocessed digital data from your player and feeds it to its own built-in high-performance DAC, which provides greater punch and musical accuracy’
It would be nice to go directly from the iPad Lightning output and straight into one of the DS USB inputs to play the native music format residing on your iDevice.
I fear that this require something more than a pure SW upgrade. It may also include an Apple license?
It would certainly make files from the iDevice sound better but since my iDevices all have lossy compressed AAC files and my hard drives have the full resolution files I don’t see much reason to need this feature. I suppose it might be nice for those rare occasions when a friend wants to play something off of their iDevice on my system. I seem to recall going to an audio show years ago and hearing Krell demonstrate a DAC that could take the digital output from an iPod. I think Wadia makes DACs with built-in docks that do the same. I suspect Apple would require a fee as it is a proprietary connection.
stevem2 said
It would certainly make files from the iDevice sound better but since my iDevices all have lossy compressed AAC files and my hard drives have the full resolution files I don't see much reason to need this feature. I suppose it might be nice for those rare occasions when a friend wants to play something off of their iDevice on my system. I seem to recall going to an audio show years ago and hearing Krell demonstrate a DAC that could take the digital output from an iPod. I think Wadia makes DACs with built-in docks that do the same. I suspect Apple would require a fee as it is a proprietary connection.
Perhaps lossy AAC files won’t fare as bad as you might expect. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the quality of, say, 320 kbps MP3s thru the DS.
I wasn’t knocking AAC/MP3 as such. For listening on the go in noisy environments, which is normal for my iDevice listening, they are fine. (Mine are mostly 256kbps files created from rebook CDs but I have some 320kbps, mostly from free downloads that sometimes come with vinyl purchases. The 320k’s do sound pretty good.) My point is just that I have almost all the same files already available in full resolution so I don’t see much need for the ability to play from my iDevices to my PWD/DS. Others might find that ability very useful. If it was simple and cheap to implement I would say “why not?”.
i I have some “Golden Oldie” disks that I have not listened to for a while due to poor SQ on playback.
Paul’s notation of the Buddy Holly track got me wondering so I ripped them and have been playing them through the Bridge.
I would not describe them as great but they are now much more enjoyable than ever.
These oldies bring visions of Sock Hops, Drive ins, beach parties and an age of greater innocence.
So far Not one track has inferred that F’n my Ho and carrying a Glok is trendy. I attended some meetings in the city recently and hopped on and off the subway. Kids were playing their music so loud i got past their headphones. Blk, white, green, blue, English, French, Others and guys n gals, same story.
What ever happened to puppy love,moonbeams, sunsets etc?
gordon said
i I have some "Golden Oldie" disks that I have not listened to for a while due to poor SQ on playback.
Paul’s notation of the Buddy Holly track got me wondering so I ripped them and have been playing them through the Bridge.
I would not describe them as great but they are now much more enjoyable than ever.
These oldies bring visions of Sock Hops, Drive ins, beach parties and an age of greater innocence.
So far Not one track has inferred that F’n my Ho and carrying a Glok is trendy. I attended some meetings in the city recently and hopped on and off the subway. Kids were playing their music so loud i got past their headphones. Blk, white, green, blue, English, French, Others and guys n gals, same story.
What ever happened to puppy love,moonbeams, sunsets etc?
Tell me Gordon… how does a noob, with only 7 posts, become a Forum Leader? Also, when will you be arriving Downunder with my DS upgrade? Please hurry! The weather is wonderful at this time of year…!
I understood, I was just encouraging people to perhaps retry things that they might have written off in the past.
Good point. I actually have a bunch of (legally) downloaded 320kbps mp3 concerts that I mostly have never listened to, but should.
Linn has three “radio” stations that send out 320 kbps MP3 which make for great background music. They are about 2/3 of the way down this page http://www.linn.co.uk/music
Up to this point it seems most DS comparisons posted have been versus the PWDII. While it is reassuring that the DS bests the PWDII, since I don’t own a PWDII, it would be more interesting to hear about comparisons versus some other well known DAC’s such as the Vega, Berkeley Alpha DACII, etc.
I seem to recall some posters on this forum stating they were in motion to make such comparisons…any updates to share?