I learned by accident that USB doesn't suck in the audiophile arena IF you have friends that have done your homework for you. I was using JRiver on a Lenovo laptop to pull from my NAS and then ran Ethernet to the bridge on my PS Audio DAC . Not a fan of the bridge I ran a generic USB to the DAC input which was so-so, but then I moved up to a
Oyaide NEO d+ USB Class S Purple
USB suggested by a DJ friend and the improvement was substantial .
THEN another friend lent me his Berkeley alpha which converts the USB to digital XLR into the DAC and SQ was off the charts. I tracked down and found a new Berkeley alpha for myself.
When I moved past the laptop to an Aurender X100L which only had a USB out, I upgraded the USB to an Analysis Plus Purple to the alpha and used a Kimber Kable AGDL XLR to the DAC and it's a close to perfect as I have ever heard whether pulling from the NAS, the Aurender drives, or Quobuz streaming.
Happy listening !
Shad
THEN another friend lent me his Berkeley alpha which converts the USB to digital XLR into the DAC and SQ was off the charts. I tracked down and found a new Berkeley alpha for myself.
When I moved past the laptop to an Aurender X100L which only had a USB out, I upgraded the USB to an Analysis Plus Purple to the alpha and used a Kimber Kable AGDL XLR to the DAC and it's a close to perfect as I have ever heard whether pulling from the NAS, the Aurender drives, or Quobuz streaming.
Happy listening !
Shad