How To Set Up A Power Amp

Confused most setting upwards a digital source on your organisation? It'southward not your error.

At that place'south no standardized way to refer to digital products, so a digital front end finish could be called a streamer, DAC, streaming DAC, streaming preamp, streaming amplifier, preamp, music thespian, music server, ripping server, digital music player, digital transport, and more. Each product could have a number of overlapping functions--there are DACs with phono stages, amps with DACs, music servers with streamers, CD rippers with DACs…However, the basics are the same for all these products. Here are some oftentimes asked questions from customers about setting up digital systems.

What'southward a DAC? I know information technology's a digital-to-analog converter, just I'm not sure what it is.

A digital-to-analog converter. Nosotros're not being smart-asses, only that's actually all it is--a circuit or component that takes a digital stream (from Tidal or Spotify or Qobuz, a hard disk drive, a thumb drive, YouTube, a CD transport, Netflix) and turns it into an analog signal. Your phone has a DAC, so does your iPad, your Tv, your laptop. And of class, your old CD histrion had a DAC. Hi-fi DACs are simply standalone versions of these circuits.

Can I connect a DAC to a preamp or integrated amp?

Yes, you can. "But my preamp is 40 years sometime!" you exclaim. It doesn't matter. A DAC takes a digital stream and turns it into a line-level stereo analog point, just similar the output from your CD thespian, tuner, phono phase, (or cassette deck!). So if you can connect a CD histrion or tuner to your preamp or integrated amp, you can connect a DAC to information technology. As far as your system is concerned, a DAC is just some other analog device.

Just will I get the full issue of MQA or high-res by connecting a new DAC to an quondam preamp?

This is a little similar asking, "I've never played a 180g One-Step MoFi LP on my turntable system--will my amp recognize it?" The output of a DAC is analog. By the time information technology gets to your preamp, the MQA or high-res betoken has been processed into a regular old sine-wave electrical indicate and in that location'southward no digital component that needs processing. So, yes--you'll go the full consequence of whatever your DAC can handle, even with an erstwhile preamp.

Tin I connect a DAC to my ability amp?

Aye, but you lot should do this just if the DAC has a volume control. Just looking at a DAC won't tell you if information technology has an active attenuator, you lot demand to wait into the specs or menus. Lumin DACs, for example, accept no concrete controls, just offer volume command on the iPad app. The Mytek Brooklyn has a knob, but as the knob used for dissimilar functions, information technology may or may not control book at whatever given point. The PS Audio DirectStream DAC offers a volume control on the unit of measurement's touchscreen. Remember, even if there is a volume control, DACs can be set upwards to featherbed it! Always double check you accept an attenuator in the point path earlier connecting a DAC to a power amp, otherwise, you lot're going to blast a 100 on a volume calibration of 0 to 100 into your speakers and ears.

If a DAC does have a volume control, then a DAC plus power amp is an elegant, easily upgradeable musical solution, as long as you lot don't take whatever other sources to connect. (Except if you become a Mytek Brooklyn DAC, which also functions every bit a preamp and offers two line-level inputs, one of which can be turned into a phono input on the carte du jour.)

What'southward a streamer or a streaming DAC?

Let's look at a CD-histrion. It is really two devices in one box (in fact, some high-cease CD players were two boxes). A CD send is the digital "streaming" side, which connects to a DAC on the analog side.

Now permit'due south await at a streaming DAC or a streamer plus DAC. It'southward the same thing!

A streamer can be a laptop, sending its audio output to the USB port. Or it can be a smartphone streaming over Bluetooth. Or it could be a standalone streamer such as an Auralic Aries G2 or Lumin U1. Or a streaming bill of fare such as the PS Sound Bridge II or Mytek Roon Ready Card. Or the streaming circuit of a "streaming DAC" such as the Auralic Vega, Lumin D2, Mytek Brooklyn Bridge, or Naim ND5 XS 2. It is substantially an optimized computer that knows how to connect to a network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi, can exist controlled past a tablet or smartphone app, and can ship a digital stream to a DAC, whether that DAC is in the same box, or on a different shelf and continued via a digital cablevision.

How do I connect a streamer or streaming DAC to recognize Tidal or Qobuz or my NAS drive?

Y'all plug information technology into your home network router either via Wi-Fi or an Ethernet cable. Remember, Wi-Fi is a wireless version of your Ethernet cable--it'southward not the same as your jail cell-phone information network! This seems to crusade a lot of confusion. If your phone is on Wi-Fi information technology's continued to your router. And it "sees" the internet only because your router sees the internet. Similarly, a streamer or streaming DAC must connect to your router to see the internet (specifically the Spotify, Tidal, or Qobuz servers). Your NAS, if you take 1, should also exist connected to the router so that the streamer tin can run across the NAS besides. Hither's a typical sound-streaming network setup.

See how the wireless (and wired) router is the heart of the system? Since everything on the network is connected to the router, either via Ethernet cablevision or Wi-Fi, all the devices see each other. Think of the router as the local USPS office of your home network--information technology knows every device'south street address, and all data on the network has the recipient's address, and then the router can, well, route, all the data packets to the right places.

Does the iPad need to play music directly to the streaming DAC?

Not at all. Does your CD remote command need to stream the CD betoken through itself? Similarly, since your streamer-DAC is straight connected to Tidal or Qobuz via the router, the iPad is merely a remote control. The music does not pass through your iPad. Just, merely, but, you desire to stream music directly from a smartphone and so that guests or other family members can hands play their music? Certain! Get a streamer-DAC that offers AirPlay or Bluetooth. Then, a smartphone tin can send music directly to information technology, wirelessly . Or use the Apple tree Lightning to USB Photographic camera Adaptor to connect an iPhone or iPad to the USB input of your DAC using a cable. Sympathise, however, that this is a convenience, not a high-allegiance solution.

I don't desire streaming audio. Tin I connect my NAS direct to the streaming DAC using Ethernet cable?

Yous could, but nosotros doubtfulness it would piece of work. Network devices need a switch or a router between them; they are not meant to connect direct to each other over Ethernet (you would demand to manually set an IP address for each). Besides, if you could connect your streaming DAC directly to your NAS, they would see only each other and not your abode network (because they are not continued to the router). The iPad wouldn't come across either the NAS or the DAC, and and so its app couldn't piece of work every bit a remote control any more.

Support. What the hell is a NAS?

Network Attached Storage. You know how your laptop is a computer with a hard disk? Call back of a NAS equally a difficult disk with a computer. Shown in a higher place is a QNAP NAS with two hard-disk trophy. You tin can buy unlike sized drives for this device, and decide how many terabytes of storage you want. It connects to your router via Ethernet cable. The little estimator on board tin run programs that allow the NAS to be used in different ways such as information back-upwards, security camera footage storage, or equally a video or music server. When running as a music server, the NAS sends music to your streamer at the streamer's asking. Because the NAS is on the network, it is accessed via a browser such as Firefox or Chrome.

why do I need to run MinimServer or another DLNA / UPnP server plan on the NAS?

Your streaming DAC is continued to the router. Your NAS is also continued to the router. They "come across" each other. Then why on earth practice you demand i more program such every bit MinimServer to play music?

Well, a streaming DAC tin can receive and send information on the network, but it doesn't know how to dig into a Synology or QNAP or Buffalo NAS and navigate the file structure, looking through various folders for music. Some streamers can find shared folders on the network, merely as with everything hi-fi, the high-end stuff goes for the leanest, fastest, simplest solutions. The streamer should exercise as picayune processing as possible, and focus on sending the DAC a make clean music stream. Building in complex file functions is non the high-fidelity way. Also, would you want a streamer that slows or crashes or hangs as often as your computer does?

MinimServer or some other UPnP / DLNA server program knows and understands the inner workings of your NAS, and also knows how to tell the network that there'south music bachelor. You install MinimServer on the NAS, and then point it to the music folder. MinimServer will scan the folder, read the file tags such as artist, album proper noun, track name, genre, and then broadcast availability on your network. All UPnP devices await for this "music available here!" message. One time your streamer-DAC and iPad command app know in that location'south music available, they can transport out requests for certain tracks, andsit back and await while MinimServer does all the work on the NAS, finding the file and sending the data to the streamer. Thus the streaming bespeak path is virtually like a railroad train with locomotives at each end.

Though DLNA and UPnP are dissimilar, for our purposes they are interchangeable. If you lot must know, DLNA is a networking protocol for media sharing that uses UPnP, which is a device standard that allows devices on the same network to discover each other.

WHAT IS ROON AND WHY Do I Need It?

Most streamers take their ain control apps, so y'all don't need Roon until you use information technology for a couple of days and get hooked! Roon offers a powerful, intuitive interface with a range of functions and thoughtful petty buttons and panels of information you lot never knew you lot needed until they were offered to you. After a few days of Roon, youwill find yourself refusing to return to your streamer manufacturer's app. We'll soon have a detailed guide on setting up Roon, then we'll take but ane more Roon question hither.

How exercise I run Roon?

Here's a diagram of the same home audio network from earlier, but now with Roon enabled.

The but hardware difference is the addition of a Roon Nucleus or some other reckoner that's running Roon Cadre on the network. The Roon core does all the heavy lifting--it discovers and indexes all the available music on the network, it interfaces with streaming services, and sends music to the audio endpoints and zones on network. Information technology can as well perform digital signal processing and upsampling. This ways that the Roon Remote on your iPad can be so much lighter and faster--otherwise a tablet app with such a detailed interface and so many powerful features would run similar a sedated buffalo.

How do I move my CD collection to a hd?

Before nosotros talk near this, how many CDs practice you take, and practice you think you won't find those albums on Tidal or Qobuz? Sometimes, customers want to buy a CD ripper, and we detect they accept just 100 CDs. (In one case, a customer had "twenty or 30 CDs"). Unless you accept a precious, advisedly curated collection, simply get the streaming service first, so run across if you lot want to carp converting your CDs.

If you do desire to go ahead, you can't only copy a CD onto a hard disk drive. It needs to be "ripped" because a CD stores music data in a different format, known as Red Book, from the WAV or FLAC files that your computer or music server recognize. Y'all need a program called a CD ripper to convert your audio CDs into 16-fleck, 44.one kHz WAV or FLAC or AIFF files. To rip CDs using the optical drive on your laptop or desktop, you tin use programs such equally Exact Audio Copy or dBpoweramp. These days, storage is cheap, and so we advise ripping to uncompressed WAV files.

The easiest mode to rip a large collection is to use a dedicated CD ripper such as the Naim Uniti Cadre, higher up. Just insert a CD, and the Uniti Core will automatically rip it, discover the track names and encompass art on the cyberspace, and shop the ripped files on an internal hard disk (not included, to give you a option of size and type).

I already have a drove of music files, including high-res on my laptop. What'due south the best way to store and play them?

Suggesting that in that location's a "all-time" manner could beginning a state of war. Let'southward give you some options. You can put the files onto a USB pollex drive or a USB external hd, and connect that to the dorsum of a streamer or streaming DAC (nigh products allow this).

It's all-time to store a large collection (i TB or more than) on a NAS drive. QNAP and Synology are ii brands that come up frequently in manufacturer recommendations, with more than shout-outs for QNAP. Roon, for instance, recommends QNAP. For a truly high-end solution, the Lumin L1 music server, below, is a good option.

Another option is to use a solid-land bulldoze on a Roon Nucleus and then that the Roon Cadre estimator also works as a server. We have a customer who has tried different methods, including USB drives and (non-audio) NASs, and this was the best-sounding for his organisation.

DAC chips. What do I need to know?

The short reply is the one that comes up once more and again on the forums: implementation, implementation, implementation. What this means is that while chips might have a "sound" because of the way they convert the digital signal to analog (and there are many ways to exercise this, and many choices and compromises to be made), the power supply, output stage, and many other circuit and design choices have a more pronounced influence on the sound.

A supposedly clean and neutral SABRE chip tin be paired with a warm tube output phase, and the DAC as a whole won't audio anything like the same fleck paired with a cool, clinical solid-land output phase. While a DAC's blueprint tin give yous clues almost how it might sound, don't purchase a SABRE DAC assuming that will sound a certain mode compared with a Wolfson DAC. You demand to hear both, or have a trusted reviewer who has similar taste.

What about ladder or R2R DACs?

As with the previous question, at that place are too many variables to make a definitive statement about the sound of ladder DACs versus sigma-delta DACs. Don't buy technology, buy sound.