Computer output to DAC, which route?

USB is pretty pathetic. Firewire does blow it away. For $200 - heck - $150 - just get an ESI Juli@ soundcard. it blows away the usb at a much lower cost.

USB sucks - plain and simple. Use it to connect your mouse and printer, not a dac...

Don't believe everything you read. USB is great if you select the RIGHT USB interface. Beats 99% of transports at any price. Just get an Off-Ramp 5 and Dynamo power supply. It blows away everything, including the very best PCI cards and Firewire interfaces.

PCI cards suck, plain and simple. I have had most of them, including the $2K Lynx and RME cards. Most of them have PLLs for the Master Clock allowing them to sync to an external word-clock. Really bad idea. Only a free-running Master Clock oscillator is capable of low jitter. My customers send these PCI cards to me to test with my reclockers because they have such high jitter.

Here are some customer reviews of good USB interfaces:

http://www.empiricalaudio.com/news-and-reviews/off-ramp-converter

http://www.empiricalaudio.com/news-and-reviews/overdrive-dac

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

I didn't know that about USB
Thanks

After selling my Wadia 861 CDP in 2006, I've utilized PC audio since then.

I consider it a canard to make conclusions mainly, or solely on audio output types.

Thus, my experiences suggest that the correlation between output types and sonic results is NOT one that is particularly informative, or useful. Thus, it wouldn't be one that I would recommend using for decision making.

I would suggest that a DAC be chosen based on its sonic capabilities, NOT on the type of its output.

Limiting oneself to a computer based output type is akin to limiting oneself to other audio types -- e.g. tubes vs solid state; box speakers vs horns vs electrostats vs ribbon and planar magnetic vs open baffle speakers; digital vs analogue; etc.... Each of these output types have their pluses and minuses. More importantly, each can be executed well and others, not so much! The same can be said for DAC output types.

If there were one type of any audio output source or method that was better than all of the others, this hobby would be much easier to master and we wouldn't need so many posts in a forum such as this.

"If there were one type of any audio output source or method that was better than all of the others, this hobby would be much easier to master"

If all designers were equally skilled and all systems were up to snuff, the decision making process would much easier and there would not be so much bickering about which source is better. Everyones experience is based upon different designs and different systems. There is literally no way that a typical audiophile can say that one thing is definitively better than another, except in the context of his system.

It's like doctors or lawyers. There a really good ones, but they are the exception, not the norm.

On the other hand, manufacturers, reviewers and modders get to experiment with lots of different speakers, amps and sources, particularly at trade shows. They have much more experience evaluating one component or speaker in many different systems and comparing different components in the same system. At least they have a CHANCE at making a good recommendation that is somewhat system-independent.

Yet another reason why it is risky to purchase something entirely based on an individuals feedback based on performance in his/her system, particularly when you have never heard this persons system yourself. Even risky with reviewers. Know your reviewer. Many of their systems are not great either.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio