USB vs USB/SPDIF Converter

[rollo]

   Your thoughts and experience on the subject. My personal experience says converter over USB.


charles

[mfsoa]

I think it's dac, source, usb cable, spdif cable, software, network, storage medium, upsampling, format-conversion, usb reclocker and usb converter-specific!!

Seriously, too many variables to be able to generalize. I only have experience with one dac so whatever I say will cover only the smallest of possibilities.

I can say my toslink doesn't sound quite as good as my coax, but it's pretty easy to switch between the two.

Coax vs. USB requires me to reboot the Pi which takes about 30 seconds. For now I don't hear usb sounding any worse, and probably better.

The new breed of USB reclockers (Intona, Remedy, Regen etc.) are sposed to take USB to another level although I haven't heard any of them yet.

-Mike

[rpf]

In my case an AR-T Legato was/is a significant improvement over the USB input in both my EE Minimax and DAC Plus dacs.

[HAL]

I tried the USB Regen Amber in my setup and it was not an improvement in my system.

I have tried many S/PDIF input DAC's over the years.  Everything from the first Theta 16 bit DAC to the Adcom 20 bit DAC to the Audio Alchemy DDE v3.  The best of the group was the DDE v3 with the I2S Bus input.  In all cases the S/PDIF input were good, but the new USB input DAC's sound better to me.  The Thesycon USB drivers for the XMOS series chips using asynchronous clocking are an improvement in my listening.

Try listening to the new minimum phase filter DAC's using async USB inputs.  Very musical sounding DAC's.     

[Werd]

I don't know about the converters but with the BDP i can run usb out the dac or BNC or XLR. I have a 21 ft Wireworld USB cable. I will give it a whirl into the BDA2. I have done it before and i recall the usb to be rather softer sounding. The BNC and XLR are both transformer coupled but the usb is not.

[rpf]

I don't know about the converters but with the BDP i can run usb out the dac or BNC or XLR. I have a 21 ft Wireworld USB cable. I will give it a whirl into the BDA2. I have done it before and i recall the usb to be rather softer sounding. The BNC and XLR are both transformer coupled but the usb is not.

21 feet is too long for a USB cable.