Firewire to SPDIF


Does anyone have any view on the superiority to Firewire to USB in terms of conversion to SPDIF.

one negative of USB is that if you are using a SPDIF conversion device then using another device like external HDDs is not recommended. it is also limited to 48/24 ..both unlike Firewire.

the only good device seems to be the Weiss Minerva..but that in the Uber price range for something like this.

Does anyne have any experience with Echo Audio ?
http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/FireWire/AudioFire2/specs.php
arj
I'll echo Al's comments about the Win 7. A week or so ago I decided to reinstall Vista on my main PC. I dual booted it and Windows 7. It only took me a day to rid myself of Vista for the second time! lol

Windows 7 is plain and simply better with ease of use and not by a small margin either! I've seen several hardcore Mac users install Windows 7 over the past month on their Macs in place of OSX..that should tell you something about just how good it is! ;-)

Microsoft has hit a home run with this one!
Cerrot,
I have finally set up my firewire Solo. is there a breakin period ?
Compared to my Classe CDT-1 transport the sound is detailed but seems to have a little less of musicality and sounds a little hard. this was after 30mins of listening to them. it is definitely better than the trends UD10 in details though.
i will do a more detailed check sometime this week again.

Compared to what you have experienced the other culprit could be the Firewire card...

setup

laptop: Dedicated Dell D600 with minimum XP and 1GB ram
Firewire Card: Compaq with dual 6 pin out
Fire wire cable: 9 inch long 6 pin to 6 pin cable (from an old External HDD)

Solo Digital out via 1m Nordost Moonglo to a Monarchy Dip Classic
Monarchy dip is connected to a Reimyo DAP777 via DHL 110ohm XLR. rest of the setup is a Leben CS600 and merlin TSM MMe.
My solo sounded good out of the box. I don't recall a difference after break in. I run my firewire streight into the gateway motherboard (Intel w/southbridge chipset). I don't use a firewire card. Are you using the power supply for the solo or taking power through the firewire interface? I am not using the power supply and feel w/o power supply, it sounds better (on my rig). I use the same digital cable inthe the DIP. I'm not familiar with the Compaq card. Is that a PCMI to firewire card? I may try a different firewire cable as well. I may also try a new firewire cable instead of the old one (not sure why, I just would).
Arj,

Pls also check your buffer size in the MAudio control panel. I use 512. Sync source is internal and spdif output source is set to mixer. I don't have the "disable direct monitoring" box checked. I am using WASAPI and JRiver 13.
Arj,

One more-from Maudio Manual
IMPORTANT: The FireWire Solo comes with a high-quality six-pin to six-pin FireWire cable. We strongly
suggest you use this cable, or one of equal quality, for optimum audio performance. If your computer is
equipped with a four-pin interface, you will need to use the included four-pin to six-pin FireWire cable.
Note that the FireWire Solo requires a six-pin FireWire connection in order to supply bus power; if you have
a four-pin connection you will need to use the supplied power adapter.