Audiophile USB to PCM

This thread has been very useful. My thanks to Eric, Dmitrydr, Rsbeck, and Ultraviolet, and onhwy61!! I actually understand quite a bit (no pun intended!!) more now than I did before. The signal coming through the USB port is 1's and 0's just like PCM. As I understand it, however, the signal needs to be modified, NOT converted to the same format as the signal coming out of a source like a CD player. The USB protocol is different and the conversion devices we are discussing remove some sort of header on the signal. Most are felt to be bit accurate.

My problem with the Xitel is that its cheap chipset converts 44.1 to 48k and based in what I've heard and read I have some concern that this adding artifact above the noise floor.

While the Waveterminal can do sample rate conversion between 32k, 44.1k, and 48k, this feature is unnessary and will not be utilized. Sample rate conversion is not what I want here.

My Waveterminal U24 is arriving today. I'll be able to report on the sonics of it later. Hopefully, I will have found the holy grail of connecting my Powerbook G4 to my audiophile system!!!

harry

Looking forward to your report.

Wow....the Waveterminal U24 is spectacular. Just plugged it in and my Genesis Lens immediately read 44.1 khz. The sonics are outstanding. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to do some a/b comparisons with the Xitel. initial impression is that there is more detail, but there may a placebo effect since I just set it up!!!
harry

The U24 is really great. It is a professional piece of equipment and I have not used it for music reporduction--only for state of the art measurements. I was looking forward to your report as well and I'm glad it turned out to be favorable. Now I might have to set up a music server system based on one of these for our house!!

Rives:

You rock the house!!! What a great recommendation that really worked for me. Please excuse me for not buying it from you!!! i just might pick myself up a Parc and Parc Plus and unload my 3 TacT RCS 2.0s units that I use for total room correction of all channels in my home theater. I think your company and product is VERY impressive and heard great sound with the Parc at CES and HE 2004.

I've been doing a/b comparisons this evening between my Wadia 270se and my computer through the Waveterminal U24. The Wadia is definitely better but not by much. I never expected computer sound would be this outstanding!!!

harry