Greetings,
The on board digital outputs on the PC can playback all the sample rates from 16 44.1 to 24 192 except 24 176. Neither WASAPI or ASIO can fix that. The USB capability of USB 2.0 is limited only by the Driver your USB input DAC uses.
The Zodiac series of DACs from Antelope Audio sound fabulous from the Silver on up through the Gold with USB inputs and will play any sample rate from 16 bit 44.1k through 24 bit 192 K.
The Clocking technology in the Zodiac series gives them a very analog sound with out any of the digital nasties that cause many audiophiles to prefer Analog.
The Silver also has a pair of SPDIF coax inputs and a pair of spdif optical inputs. Single Ended and Balanced analog outputs with a analog volume control and a separate headphone volume control.
Of course I am a dealer for the Zodiacs, I sell other brands too but find the Zodiacs to offer the most pleasing sound for the money and they don't need extra devices to convert or enhance the usb output as they developed their own superior USB technology. They even include a very good quality USB cable.
The other part of this equation is the playback software must use WASAPI to play back the native sample rate of the music stored on your PC, I recommend Media Monkey or J River Media Center. They sound slightly differently and which one you prefer will be system dependent.
I build the Music Vault Music Servers and most of my customers prefer Media Monkey but some prefer JRiver, the differences are subtle.
I do encourage you to get a DAC that does support multiple inputs, USB only dacs preclude inputting your CD transport/DVD player etc and these are viable sources that will be improved from the use of a musical DAC like the Zodiacs.
Neal Van Berg
Sound Science
720 308 4000
neal@soundsciencecat.com
The on board digital outputs on the PC can playback all the sample rates from 16 44.1 to 24 192 except 24 176. Neither WASAPI or ASIO can fix that. The USB capability of USB 2.0 is limited only by the Driver your USB input DAC uses.
The Zodiac series of DACs from Antelope Audio sound fabulous from the Silver on up through the Gold with USB inputs and will play any sample rate from 16 bit 44.1k through 24 bit 192 K.
The Clocking technology in the Zodiac series gives them a very analog sound with out any of the digital nasties that cause many audiophiles to prefer Analog.
The Silver also has a pair of SPDIF coax inputs and a pair of spdif optical inputs. Single Ended and Balanced analog outputs with a analog volume control and a separate headphone volume control.
Of course I am a dealer for the Zodiacs, I sell other brands too but find the Zodiacs to offer the most pleasing sound for the money and they don't need extra devices to convert or enhance the usb output as they developed their own superior USB technology. They even include a very good quality USB cable.
The other part of this equation is the playback software must use WASAPI to play back the native sample rate of the music stored on your PC, I recommend Media Monkey or J River Media Center. They sound slightly differently and which one you prefer will be system dependent.
I build the Music Vault Music Servers and most of my customers prefer Media Monkey but some prefer JRiver, the differences are subtle.
I do encourage you to get a DAC that does support multiple inputs, USB only dacs preclude inputting your CD transport/DVD player etc and these are viable sources that will be improved from the use of a musical DAC like the Zodiacs.
Neal Van Berg
Sound Science
720 308 4000
neal@soundsciencecat.com