HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

Dr Bunsen Honeydew wrote: ↑Mon Dec 24, 2018 2:59 pm £5 Chinese DAC with decent power supply is all you need as You should know.

I have two dacs in use in the workroom as it is and each has extra boxes strung onto them for power (one for the cheapo dac and two for the old QED which can now only work on one input). T'would be great to cut the rats nest down a little here, that's all and the Topping seems a good deal and could even be better with a larger linear supply.

I have noticed that sample rates have a big bearing on digital SQ. The best sound I have ever experienced is from 192 khz streams. There is a marked improvement over 96 khz, which itself is usually very good.

The same as all sources, we have no control, we use what we are given and make the best of it. I enjoy youtube because the equipment I use plays music not hi-fi bollocks, people tell me it is not good digital feed, some sound good some don't. I make ALL of them enjoyable, and as far as I am concerned that is what it is about - or should be.

Is that because of wamplexrate or thatctheyctook more trouble with the mastering

Its none of my business, my job is to make the best of what I am using, which I do. If I like it I listen, if I don't I don't.

Yes, I'm obviously massively missing out simply by the fact that I'm enjoying building all my own hifi for my own pleasure and to fulfil my own varied, technical and emotional needs. I'd be more than happy to do a blind level matched bake off with any other dac once I've completed building the next one, that's the only valid way to compare bits of audio without introducing bias and the only way one can really discern if items do indeed sound different.

None of this was aimed at you, building your own can never be criticised. I used the excuse for a dig at the slurpers per usual.

noted.

On the subject, has anyone else noticed how we've come full circle on USB. When first introduced it was crap, then async came and it was the digital panacea, nothing could touch it, cd was dead all other transfer protocols were dog shit, so the audio press positioned it. Now we've come back round again and CD is once again in favour and USB is now less than perfect once again. Funny how this goes round in selling cycles, isn't it?

If you're wanting to use DSD or other high-volume formats then SPDIF coax just isn't capable of managing the necessary bandwidth. USB links are.

Looking now at Allo's USBridge device which is a USB-output Audiophile streaming add-on for their Sparky (sort of Pi board).

1. Up to 768KHz full range I2S support;

2. DSD64,128,256,512,1024;

3. built-in 768KHz DoP decoder to enable RaspberryPi native DSD play back up to DSD256;

4. Isolator board will be included;

5. Clock board (isolated) will also be integrated, works with interchangeable XOs through standard sockets or adapters;

6. Supports full range of XO frequencies from 11.2894 to 98.3040MHz;

7. Has two DC inputs for both isolated clean power and RaspberryPi power;

8. Has an additional non-isolated GPIO connector to make DAC controller working in isolated mode;

9. Works with good 5V linear power through on-board low noise LDO or pure direct 3.3V power from ultra-capacitor or LifePO4 battery power supply;

10 Works with all RPi DAC HAT and external high-end DAC at synchronized master clock mode to remove jitter;

11. Optional external display panel with adjustable delay time;

12. DIY friendly with options and flexibility.