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 AES/EBU may have better noise rejection but has imbedded clock signal,SPDif is outdated as well as speed constrained and I2S not standardised.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

vthokie83
886 posts
 

Laltik, certianly not thinking you are, I've found your posts helpful and objective in the past.

That comparison would be interesting, and my hope is to one day own a Aurender N200 or whatever replaces it when I have the funds available. I would also like to upgrade my DAC someday, something like a Holo Audio May DAC KTE or Denafrips Terminator Plus; or whatever is best at that time of affordability. I do have access to an Aurender N10, but I won't test it lest I start lusting after something I cannot yet afford to add

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