Help! Digital Numpty

[terrybooth]

I don't think I can help much here.

I presume your laptop has a USB type A socket on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB

USB has 4 connections. The outer two are +5v dc and ground - I've made some usb power cables which work. The middle two connectors carry the digital signal but I don't know enough about it to know if you connect the middle two to the RCA plug whether it will work or not. Although I'm guessing it isn't that simple, since the cable is only one part of the USB system i.e. is the protocol for communicating from the computer the same as the one used for communication from the CD player.
CD players may use different protocols to connect to the DAC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%C2%B2S

And the other things is that even if you do get it playing (e.g. by chopping the end of a usb cable and soldering the green and white wires to an RCA plug), it may not be that much better than the headphone out route. I haven't played much with this but I did plug a laptop into one of my DACs just to see what the sound was like and it wasn't up to much. Same applies with the bare Raspberry Pi playing through USB.

[brit-pop]

I've connected my laptop to my A40s using a minijack to rca lead before, being careful to turn the volume down first of course
Didn't sound bad at all

[Fretless]

Terry, I believe that USB output is just a raw data stream which needs to be converted to SPDIF with a clocking code before it can be used for audio.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

http://hifimediy.com/DACs/usb-dac2

This is the one I took to the bake off the other night, it's a dac with a headphone amp but will also do usb to SPDIF converter. Think of it as an added bonus and don't be too surprised if it gives your Sony a run for its money

Nothing give that Sony a run for its money. It is recognised as the best DAC ever made which is why you will have to fork out £1500 to £2000 to get one, if you can find one, and even though they are nearly 30 years old.

It was Sony sticking two fingers up to everyone and saying this is what we can do if we can be bothered to try. The same with the transport CDP R1 which is even harder to find, but the X777es that I have has the same mechanism and is nearly as good.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Well it looks like a 2nd hand HiFace when one comes up as I will not pay £150 for one, with dealer and distributor margins and all that trough slurping.

[brit-pop]

http://hifimediy.com/DACs/usb-dac2

This is the one I took to the bake off the other night, it's a dac with a headphone amp but will also do usb to SPDIF converter. Think of it as an added bonus and don't be too surprised if it gives your Sony a run for its money

Nothing give that Sony a run for its money. It is recognised as the best DAC ever made which is why you will have to fork out £1500 to £2000 to get one, if you can find one, and even though they are nearly 30 years old.

It was Sony sticking two fingers up to everyone and saying this is what we can do if we can be bothered to try. The same with the transport CDP R1 which is even harder to find, but the X777es that I have has the same mechanism and is nearly as good.

Well feel free to borrow mine then tell me I'm wrong. I'll be damned if it's not the most natural thing you've heard.

And for less than 50quid delivered too... A no nonsense bargain. In fact I'll send you it for giggles and you can write it up here.

I use mine with the recommended 8v PSU but I expect you could probably knock up something better. Now that would be interesting...

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I seriously recommend you get down hear and listen to the Sony before you waste your time. I had heard so many DACs they come out of my ears, I have tried many different circuits when I was building them in the early 90's and ended up modifying QED Digits which even today with a couple of simple mods are better than the cheap chips we have now. No one today would be able to build that Sony, it was done as a statement, discreet is *always* better than encapsulation when done properly. They must have sold these at a loss even at the price they were. Have you seen the pic of the inside. I linked to a page earlier. http://www.thevintageknob.org/sony-DAS-R1.html they weigh over 20 kg.

Todays DACs are encapsulated crap as far as I am concerned, they work, they are quiet, they are clean and they are sterile. The Sony is liquid, it is analogue if you prefer, it plays music beyond the level of any dac anyone is capable of building today.

The DAC is the reason my present CD system pisses on my old TFS which was better than any of the current server solutions, not the transport. The transport with its excellent internal DAC is very good, with the DAS R1 it become astonishing in its ability to portray music at a level of reality only achieved by the best analogue systems.

For once and hopefully the only time, as it is embarrassing, Marco and I are in complete agreement.

[orbscure]

Well it looks like a 2nd hand HiFace when one comes up as I will not pay £150 for one, with dealer and distributor margins and all that trough slurping.

As per my post earlier in this thread Doc, I know somebody selling one for £60 including delivery, so if your interested, do you want me to get them to call you?

[vrazjigwb]

I can second the recommendation for m2tech hiface two.

60GBP is a very good price for one - if we are talking about mk II version... Not so sure about mk I, but for what it's worth, it's the mk I that usually get's modified/used in OEM state by other manufacturers...

[_D_S_J_R_]

Baaaaa

What does the HiFace do that the others I mentioned at a fraction of the cost don't do?

That Sony DAC may be one of the greatest DACs ever made, but I bet the gap between it and 'everything else' has closed somewhat in nearly forty years.. Marco's isn't the same as yours Doc, he's 'improved' his..........