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DAC for K-horns and Laptop???


dlapointeus

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Hey all - I have a system that I've been using for a lot of years solely for vinyl playback and it's given me a lot of enjoyment.  HH Scott tube amp, K-horns, and nice Technics turntable.  Recently I added a Denon CD player, and was really surprised at how nice it sounded.  I'd like to use a laptop to try to stream Spotify or Tidal... but am completely clueless as to what the optimal set up would be.  Not looking to spend a lot of money, and basically just trying to get something that sounds as good (or better?) than the cds.  Any direction/suggestions would be much appreciated.  Just too much info and not enough time to research this myself.  This community has given me incredible advice in regards to setting up my current system, room treatments, etc... Hoping it can come through again!

 

Thanks in advance!

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----NO IDEA  what your budget is ,   but  all is relative to how much you spend  -------to start off with --a DAC  -would be a great option here , there are a lot of various prices starting  at 100$  -

 

-------as for a Laptop , I would opt for a  good quality Gaming Laptop  -

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Budget is key here as there are a lot of options available to you. I don’t believe you’ll need a gaming laptop necessarily. I stream just fine using my 8 year old Windows laptop streaming to a chromecast audio, which is connected to my stereo. You can pick one of those up on eBay for under $100 (I believe). I haven’t checked prices of those lately. Only problem is that it doesn’t unfold MQA from Tidal.

If your budget is much higher than that, you have many options. Let us know what your budget is so we can narrow down for you.

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Thanks for the replies.   Budget is probably anything less than $500.  The laptop I currently have is a Lenovo Legion.  Something that could play the MQA from Tidal would be ideal.  I looked at this:  https://www.audiophile-heaven.com/2020/01/natural-mqa-dac-performer-pro-ject-prebox-s2-digital.html

 

But I'm still not totally clear about what the best thing to plug into a vintage hifi system is.  

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On 1/13/2021 at 6:19 PM, dlapointeus said:

Hey all - I have a system that I've been using for a lot of years solely for vinyl playback and it's given me a lot of enjoyment.  HH Scott tube amp, K-horns, and nice Technics turntable.  Recently I added a Denon CD player, and was really surprised at how nice it sounded.  I'd like to use a laptop to try to stream Spotify or Tidal... but am completely clueless as to what the optimal set up would be.  Not looking to spend a lot of money, and basically just trying to get something that sounds as good (or better?) than the cds.  Any direction/suggestions would be much appreciated.  Just too much info and not enough time to research this myself.  This community has given me incredible advice in regards to setting up my current system, room treatments, etc... Hoping it can come through again!

 

Thanks in advance!

 

This will do it and won't break the bank. https://ifi-audio.com/products/zen-blue/

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On 1/13/2021 at 6:19 PM, dlapointeus said:

Hey all - I have a system that I've been using for a lot of years solely for vinyl playback and it's given me a lot of enjoyment.  HH Scott tube amp, K-horns, and nice Technics turntable.  Recently I added a Denon CD player, and was really surprised at how nice it sounded.  I'd like to use a laptop to try to stream Spotify or Tidal... but am completely clueless as to what the optimal set up would be.  Not looking to spend a lot of money, and basically just trying to get something that sounds as good (or better?) than the cds.  Any direction/suggestions would be much appreciated.  Just too much info and not enough time to research this myself.  This community has given me incredible advice in regards to setting up my current system, room treatments, etc... Hoping it can come through again!

 

Thanks in advance!

Highly recommend you look at these products.  All of their DACS are excellent value for the money.

 

https://www.schiit.com/products

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