Is USB overrated as decent digital source?

I sold my fully modded SB2 after 6 months a bought a CEC TL-1 transport for my EAD 7000 III DAC, couldnt be happier, the sound from the CEC is miles away better than the Modded Squeezebox2 into the DAC, the SB2 directly to amps did nothing...

I still have to try out the Wavelenght, but since I am using a passsive preamp the Brick wont do (so I hear) so I will need to splash ot some good cash....

I am afraid of cheaper options now, but I am listening, I have most of my CDs now on WAV files and I really love the availability of music through the computer.

USB is simply a method to get data from point A to point B. It has little to do with audio quality if the conversion circuitry is designed correctly. There are probably lots of poor designs out there, but this is true of almost every type of design, not just USB converters. USB has the advantage that the bandwidth is not limited as much as 802.11G (WIFI), so you can do 24/96 over USB and not WIFI. Also WIFI is limited in compatibility with player software. If you do AirPort Express, then you MUST use iTunes. If you do Squeezebox, then you MUST use Slimserver. There may be plug-ins that allow you to get around this though....

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer/Modder

USB is underrated. I am using a Bel Canto DAC-3 with a USB port. It sounds just as good as a CD as long as you rip with a loseless format, like wma. The DAC-3 set on the USB input sounds better than any CD player I have used or heard, which has more to do with the master clock and TI dacs.

MikeChai - the difference in cost of USB converters is mostly due to four factors:

1) the inclusion of a low-jitter clock, such as Superclock4.
2) external power supply
3) custom software driver (not using the stock Windows driver)
4) optimum design and parts selection, regardless of cost

These four factors drive the cost up orders of magnitude, but also result in sound quality that matches or beats the best transports. It's like the difference between a Samsung $60 DVD player as a transport or an Esoteric.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer

I see alot of comments about the speed of USB but not enough about all of the pieces. You can certainly choke a PC or MAC with streaming music, as the Hard drive speed, Processor speed, amount of memory, and the USB version all combine. You must consider all of the parts that work in unison. USB has buffers at each end and performs error correction, no jitter that way. You must take into consideration all of the parts including the USB DAC when designing a music system based around a USB DAC and PC.