USB DACs with 24/192 via USB

Paul, I'm sure your setup sounds amazing, and you are right that some of us, including me, are too hung up on the technology... With 24/192, you might have vinyl... ;)

I think differences between 24/96 & 192 would have to be very slight.

1st of all, it's only a difference of 2x the information.

2nd, 24/96 is really a staggering amount of information.

Then again, "hunches" and feel don't count for anything in this game.

My digital setup is far from the stratosphere of price but is really is pretty darn good. The AN DAC is the most important part, and I wouldn't trade it for any DAC with a 24 bit chip I've heard! Though eventually AN will go there.

I think differences between 24/96 & 192 would have to be very slight.

That would be my instinct as well, and I would expect that differences in implementation and quality would generally overshadow the difference in sample rate.

Compared to redbook, though, although most of us are aware that 24 bits represents a 256-fold increase in information compared to 16 bits (at least potentially), I would view the benefit of the higher sample rate (even at 96kHz) to be at least as significant, if not more so. It is probably tempting to think of it as a little more than a doubling, but I think it is best viewed in relation to the Nyquist frequency (the 40kHz minimum sampling frequency which is theoretically required to capture a 20kHz bandwidth). Redbook's 44.1kHz exceeds the Nyquist rate by about 10% (which to me has always made it seem wondrous that it works as well as it does); 96kHz exceeds it by 140%, which should make possible vastly reduced side effects from anti-aliasing and reconstruction filters.

Regards,
-- Al

Al, I think that is quite a good point.

I would say that the benefit of the ultrasonic information is the real boon, though, at least for users of DACs with no filters like me.

Can you use FireWire instead of USB? The Focusrite Saffire has AD/DA, mixing, and a lot of different format conversions (e.g., SP/DIF I/O) for a street price of $349. As for audiophile quality, Alan Taffel, who did the series on USB digital audio in the Aug. issue of TAS, much preferred the results of the Focusrite Saffire's format conversion of FireWire-to-SP/DIF over what the Bel Canto was able to do with USB-to-SP/DIF.

And he wasn't blaming the Bel Canto; he just feels that FireWire's additional bandwidth creates a better digital stream. That may also explain why this fairly inexpensive and easily accessible gizmo does 24/192 while you strain to find a 24/192 USB DAC.