USB DACs with 24/192 via USB

I'll take 24/48 over 20/192 any day. 24-bit has 16 times the amplitude resolution as 20-bit

I would respectfully disagree, Johnny, and I certainly wouldn't apply that as a general rule. At best I think it would depend on the dynamic range of the music, and perhaps the high frequency content of the music as well. Yes 24-bit has 16 times the amplitude resolution of 20-bit, but 20-bit has a resolution of approximately 2^20 = 1 part in 1,048,576 = less than 0.0001%, assuming the bits are used effectively (i.e., assuming that some of them are not thrown away to provide overly conservative headroom in the recording process).

While on the other hand a 48kHz sample rate barely exceeds the theoretical minimum Nyquist rate (40kHz for a 20kHz signal bandwidth), and invites pretty much the same side effects of anti-aliasing and reconstruction filters which are generally recognized to have limited cd sound quality right from the start.

Regards,
-- Al

Bigamp

So....What are you planning to do with such a piece? Play DVD audio via your PC/MAC or ?

Are there any audio discs being recorded and available for download in that format now? Some threads here point to websites which are approaching sampling rates of 188… but 192?

On a likewise note previously mentioned about the restrictions of USB… from my laptop I go out via USB into a cheap Creative Labs 24/96 USB card, and then out via coax into my Sony HT receiver…. I use J River MC 12 AS THE MEDIA PLAYER…

I have MC 12 set to output audio at 24/96.

When I play ripped music from either WAV, ALAC or FLAC files the OSD on the Sony says 24/96 PCM is the current input stream. If I set MC 12 to go 16/44.1… it reports just that as well.

If USB is restricted to 44.1 > 48Hz… what is going on?

"Are there any audio discs being recorded and available for download in that format now? Some threads here point to websites which are approaching sampling rates of 188… but 192?"

Yes, you can buy Reference Recordings HRX formats, as well as CLassic Records HDAD formats...downloading the format could still be daunting as files sizes are pretty large

The Apogee Mini-dac can do that and sounds terrific.

Hi Blindjim, you're right, there are only a few sources of 24/192 recordings now, such as www.2L.no. But there will be more.

Also, I'm in the camp that you get lower jitter from a PC server by using USB/Firewire/Ethernet out of the PC compared to a digital signal that comes out of an internal sound card.

So, I'm trying to avoid spending big $ on a high-end DAC that only supports 48 or 96KHz via USB, because I see it as a white elephant in a year or two.

I suppose if someone like Empirical Audio had a Turbo-3 that did 24/192, then my problem would be solved; and I could let it convert the 24/192 USB to AES for any DAC that takes a 24/192 AES input. But it would be cleaner and cheaper to just plug the USB 24/192 cable directly into the DAC.