High-end external DAC with mediocre speakers

[Uofmtiger]

Spotify is still 'in the process' of converting their music to 320k. Most is still in 160k, although it does sound pretty good.

The last time I checked, Spotify did not use 320kbps on iOS devices at all. I stayed with MOG for that reason.

Mac DAC's are good and even outperform some (one) standalone DAC's! Irrefutable:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/569015/2011...tter-than-udac

It should be mentioned that the DAC they are discussing in your link is the uDAC and uDAC-2. I have the uDAC and got it specifically for using with the iPAD on trips. The other reason I got one is that it takes the USB output (via camera connector) and will send the signal out in coax. This gives it the ability to use the iPad with a DAC that lacks USB inputs (like the old Bereford DAC I was using at the time).

However, the uDAC and uDAC2 are not in the same league as any desktop/nonportable DAC I have used. In fact, its measurements are not good at all:

http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/nuforce-udac-2-drama.html

I am not surprised that the iMac sounds better.

 

[Mj13young]

Hi Garybuk,

The Naim/dac magic/spendor combo should work very well.

I use a sonos digitally connected to a Naim AV2(with internal dac). Spotify works very well, but most of the music I listen to is lossless stored on my time capsule. The lossless music streamed over the sonos is equal to cd's played on my cd5.

A friend of mine uses a sonos digitally connected to a Supernait to listen to spotify. He is also very pleased.

I have been considering using a dac magic for my bedroom system, but now I am leaning towards the new Arcam dac.

 

[hallaisen]

Fwiw, Spotify introduced 320kbps streaming for premium subscribers in 2009. Here is what they said about it:

" In the latest release of Spotify, premium users have the option to enable streaming at up to 320 kbit/s using the Ogg Vorbis q9 codec – the highest streaming rate for any online service."

 

[Uofmtiger]

Spotify said they had to work on converting their library, from what I have seen (right on Spotify's Premium info page), they are still working on it. Also, they are limited to lower bitrates on the iPhone app while MOG has the option for 320 Kbps. For those of us using AirPlay, that difference is significant.

Here is an article comparing the two services.