Digital Audio Output Differences? Is USB Audio Really The Top-notch?
Hello guys,
So after some struggles between spending time in optimizing my PC audio functionalities and adopting a dedicated music streamer, I opted for the second one.
I purchased the Munich M1T by Silent Angel, given it’s good reviews in UK and Germany and Switzerland, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot, but frankly speaking, the mainly reason was because the price fits my wallet more hahahah...
Anyways, so there are several digital outputs on its back panel, AES/EBU; I2S(HDMI), Coaxial, USB Audio, hell hahah, I have literally no idea which one is better or which can provide a special feature or something, I mean it does show that the USB Audio supports up to up to PCM 768KHz and DSD 11.2M (DSD256), but does that the higher the sampling rate, the better the sound quality? I just can’t make sure...
And if the USB Audio can provide the " best " digital sound quality, then why added other ports? Ain’t that just costing more on the manufacturing end?
Hope you guys can give some insights on this, or share some of your experiences, because this is the first time I saw an AES/EBU port on a audio streamer...
Best,
"Legacy" outputs on a server / player are common. For example, Grimm Audio's MU1 is optimized around AES/EBU (and Coax). The Antipodes K50 is around it's AES/EBU as well (including others). The receiving component's "optimized" input is critical as well. In other words, you'll get the best results if both components are optimized around the same I/O.
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As @david_ten mentioned, having multiple port output options gives you versatility in choosing a DAC. USB is used in some better DAC designs that run in asynchronous mode. Among other advantages, these DACs apply their own internal clock, thus eliminating jitter. However, other port types besides USB have more recently been configured to run in asynchronous mode, including S/PDIF and AES/EBU. Also other excellent DACs exist that use completely different approaches and are not reliant upon USB ports. PS Audio, for example, with I2S, etc.
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