2. digital
  3. 181426-149317

USB yet again

For a few years I have had an Intona Isolator with Oyaide Continental 5S upstream and Intona Reference downstream connecting Streamer and DAC. Given the Strong benefit of filters on the upstream Ethernet connection I added a LHY Audio USB 3.0 purifier with a Grey Knights power cable. The tightening of the transfer and resultant SQ was remarkable despite having used superior cables before.

While USB remains a compromised transfer format, asynchronous USB is the only protocol synchronising the server’s and dac’s clocks unless both have master clock connections. AES/EBU may have better noise rejection but has imbedded clock signal,SPDif is outdated as well as speed constrained and I2S not standardised. Hopefully the industry comes up with a better solution. It is interesting that there seems to emerge a trend to combine server and dac: one wonders why?

antigrunge2
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,629 posts
 

True words @carlsbad

On some DACs the inputs sound different with whatever cables you have so "experimenting" is warranted. Or change DACs.

I have a cheap one the sounds identical on Coax and USB while inferior on Toslink.

 

 

carlsbad's avatar
carlsbad
1,551 posts
 

agreed.  I've never had a toslink that I thought sounded good.  many high end DACs seem to be built around a preferred input and often it is USB.  I haven't used Coax for a while.  

goofyfoot's avatar
goofyfoot
1,380 posts
 

When I opted for a re-clocking and galvanizing component between the USB and DAC, my sonic quality sky rocketed. 

danager's avatar
danager
954 posts
 

Ted Smith, PS Audio DirectStream DAC inventor uses / used USB on the original DirectStream DAC (there’s a new version now with galvanic isolation). Ted believed that the biggest issue with USB is the noise from the 5V power generated by the source. Unfortunately the DAC requires the 5V to be recognized but an inexpensive work around is available. A powered USB 2.0 hub and a power blocker adapter removes the computer’ 5V allowing the hub provides its own.

My experience is that it improved the sound quite a bit. I2S into the latest version of the DirectStream is probably better but defiantly not what I would call an inexpensive upgrade.

itsjustme
682 posts
 

asynchronous USB is the only protocol synchronising the server’s and dac’s clocks

Confused.

Can you explain how does an asynch protocol synch two clocks?  Hint: it doesn't.

AES/EBU may have better noise rejection but has imbedded clock signal,SPDif is outdated as well as speed constrained

confused again.  AES/EBU is fundamentally SPDIF that is 1) balance and 2) contains optional metadata.  Speed constrained?  Not for the vast majority of formats and oversampling in even remotely common use....

 

 

More to discover