Will computer to DAC replace transports and cdp's?


From my limited reading it seems that a cd burned to a hard drive will be a bit for bit copy because of the software programs used to rip music files. A transport has to get it right the first time and feed the info to a dac. Wavelength audio has some interesting articles about computer based systems and have made a strong statement that a transport will never be able to compete with a hard drive>dac combo.

Anybody care to share their thoughts?
kublakhan
Steve, does your device also provide the master clock for the I2S bus?

Thanks!
Alex
Steve, I see, this explains it. However, please be aware that as good as it looks, there are problems transmitting separated Data and Clocks via single cable, especially in the case master clock is included.

The only "problem" with S/PDIF is the master clock recovery which is done from the Bitclock by multiplying it and PLL-ing it. This of course results in high jitter in the master clock. But since 44.1 (or multiples) sampling is of primary use with your application, you can easily use one of the latest Crystal or AKM S/PDIF receivers and configure it in Master Mode with own master clock generator. In this case the master clock is on-board with the DIR and DAC and if precision external XO or TCXO is used you can have as low as 5-10pS (RMS) jitter. This will be free of the problems with the I2S cable.

I've found the above solution superior to direct I2S transmission. I think you should try it too, especially if you’re planning to introduce your own designed DAC box.

Regards,
Alex
The Burr Brown 1704-K chip uses left-Justified data which can be supported by the Off-Ramp I2S with some mods, however, the timing is unclear on how the data is multiplexed between the left and right channel chips. This could be a problem.

Steve N.