Are all asynchronous USB inputs similar?

In my own experience with the Cambridge Audio DACMagic Plus and the Audioengine D1, USB 2.0 works fine in the office but my home PC is a gaming rig that is *heavily* overclocked (it requires water cooling to remain stable).

In that application, USB 2.0 is unlistenable and I rely on toslink SPDIF from the mobo to get clean audio.

What about I2S directly from the computer to the DAC. I know a company that offers a I2S PCI card with a HDMI style I2S output.

This company also makes DACS with I2S input of course.

Mordante - I2S is not particularly helpful if the clock is still powered by the computer. The main objective is to reduce the jitter of the master clock. The best way to do this is get the Master Clock out of the computer and on its own power system/supply.

Also, S/PDIF can be superior to I2S if it is galvanically isolated from ground returns. I2S and HDMI I2S is very difficult to galvanically isolate. I have both HDMI and RJ-45 I2S outputs on my products. I was the first to put HDMI I2S on my Off-Ramp 5 USB converter.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio