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 AES/EBU may have better noise rejection but has imbedded clock signal,SPDif is outdated as well as speed constrained and I2S not standardised.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
soix
9,582 posts
 

One can perceive the complexities of streaming as a burden or a delight.

@sns Totally agree, but I think I’d substitute “delight” with “unbridled opportunity.”  I mean, this stuff can just get better and better almost seemingly without bounds if you’re willing to put in the thought, effort, and $$$.

@vthokie83 My experience running an Iris into my Musician Pegasus absolutely mirrors your experience.  Immediately noticeable and this with a cheap little 6” Monoprice HDMI cable.  Amazing, although maybe our DACs are set up to be optimized with the i2S input so I have to submit that as a variable.  Maybe other DACs prefer other inputs, but I’m all in on i2S.

vthokie83
886 posts
 

Fair, You have some logic to the reasoning, but is above my understanding of electronics. I do know that the reports I have seen (or witnessed in my system) with a DDC or re-clocker working well were all from R2R ladder DACs, but from several different manufacturers (Denafrips, Musician, Holo Audio, and a couple more). Whether it is due to a FIFO limit, or the benefits of I2S, or some other reason I cannot say.

Soix agreed, I tested a friend's Pegasus and Aquarius in my system, and the results were the same.....but as before they also would have benefitted from I2S. If you're thinking of upgrading your HDMI, my reference is an Audioquest Vodka 48 8K, but the Supra Cables 2.1 8K and DHLabs HDMI 2.1 10K sound great as well.....both under $100

antigrunge2 OP
1,418 posts
 

@vthokie83 

A DDC reclocks the USB connection. Therein may lie the principle benefit to SQ, probably not in using another port on the DAC.

vthokie83
886 posts
 

Anitgrunge,

Yes I know the Iris reclocks and isolates (galvanically and optically) the signal, and I am sure this is the majority of the sound improvement. I have compared the digital coax versus the I2S, and found the I2S to be superior.....as have others. Is it a false sense of improvement? I don't know, but I'm sticking with the I2S

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,552 posts
 

@vthokie83

I am not disputing what you’re hearing from the inclusion of DDC in your setup. But I believe the effectiveness or need for a device like DDC is largely depends on quality of your source and downstream components. If you use high quality components then a device like DDC is redundant. For example, It would be interesting to compare Node + Iris with Aurender N100 or N150 feeding your Pontus DAC.

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