Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

"Berkeley saw it fit to not include any usb input altogether. "

I'm thinking their attitude is the typical "separates" thought process.

Many believe that USB to spdif conversion should be looked at similar to a phono stage; separate units to achieve ideal performance. I hit this opinion early on with my Rowland Aeris and even more with the Big 6 eval.

Since Berkely has a well reputed and reviewed USB to spdif converter in their product list, it makes sense to me that their reference DAC would not include internal USB to spdif conversion.

As music servers become more robust and user friendly I believe computers may become less prominent for an audio source and USB may go away.

I think that more reference DAC manufacturers may avoid a USB input over time if music servers become the reference level, fluid user interface source that they should be.

Interesting times.

In the TAS review there is an interview with the designer (s) of the Dac. They feel that building a USB input with the associated hardware degrades the SQ of the unit. Could that be BS since they sell the pricey outboard unit? Who knows but I'll give them the benefit of knowing what they're doing.

Mattnshilp, I used to greatly favor Firewire as the best connection and even had a FW to SP Dif converter. Then Apple who owns Firewire totally pulled the rug out from under it and third parties that made converters. I also used to greatly dislike USB even with asynchronous clocking within the dac, but now I have heard many USB connected dacs that sound quite good. I must say that USB cables are greatly improved. The BMC USB cables is the best I've heard.

In my case, the greatest concern is high definition. SP Dif is too limited to PCM and USB is not. That is the end of my interest in SP Dif.

"09-09-14: Grannyring
Yes, my wonderful wife. Remember the events are greatly exaggerated :)
Grannyring"

Yes of course, but her literary style is very developed. We have some friends who just moved back to the States and the wife sort of reminds me of my mental imade of the Audiophile's Wife, though the husband has a modest system and is not a crazy audiophile.

My own wife is far and away satisfied with a boombox listening to MP3 and rolls her eyes at audio-tomfoolery. LoL

09-10-14: Erikminer
In the TAS review there is an interview with the designer (s) of the Dac. They feel that building a USB input with the associated hardware degrades the SQ of the unit. Could that be BS since they sell the pricey outboard unit? Who knows but I'll give them the benefit of knowing what they're doing.

It's not BS, as introducing signals having significant high frequency content (e.g., fast risetimes and falltimes), and that likely have significant amounts of noise riding on them, can potentially cause issues at supposedly unrelated circuit points elsewhere in the design. On the other hand, given enough attention to those kinds of possibilities in the design and development process, I see no reason why they couldn't be overcome. And S/PDIF has tradeoffs of its own.

As usual, IMO, quality of implementation is likely to trump the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of any particular design approach.

A brief off-topic comment: Matt, congrats on the new Porsche. I (and my wife) have been thrilled with our 2014 Cayman S, which as you no doubt realize is the hard-topped counterpart of your Boxter. Be aware, though, that its stock high performance tires cannot handle snow or ice (assuming they are the same tires as on the Cayman S), and MUST be changed to winter tires if you want to drive on those surfaces.

Regards,
-- Al