Dacs

[Ordinaryman]

? Allways thought clocks are for walls, dacs for walking. Just goes to show you learn something new every day

[savvypaul]

A question I have on DAC's is that I'm sure I've read somewhere, someone reporting that USB is not the best connection for sound quality.

If that's the case what is the best connection? Or a better connection?

Looks like there is no definite answer to this one as it is all dependent upon what you use and what you expect.

My Metrum Musette doesn't sound too great on USB either.

But plenty of room to play about and try things until you're happy.

It depends on the the implementation. In my experience, Coaxial, Toslink and USB can all sound excellent...and can all sound bad.

As an example, when I listened to a Cambridge DAC via USB, I thought it sounded poor. When I listened to the same DAC, in the same system, via Coaxial, a few minutes later, I thought it sounded decent. But, it was the opposite way round with the Chord DAC that I owned.

Thanks for that.

It seems bonkers that sometimes USB is better, sometimes toslink etc.

It's like the DAC manufacturers don't entirely know what they are doing. And they just chuck together these DAC's withour really understanding what it takes to get the best sound out of each type of input.

You'd have thought that by now they'd copy the best USB input section and the best Toslink input section from other manufacturers...

Up until about, what, 7 or 8 years ago, USB was a dirty word to a lot of audiophiles. But, manufacturers started putting more effort in due to the accessibility of audio from a PC (and mobiles) and the growth of streaming services.

I like the simplicity, small footprint and affordability of a good USB DAC. The £80 Grace SDAC has been in my system for a few weeks and sounds the equal of the £800 RME DAC. The Grace just has a lot less features; the RME has Coaxial, Toslink, USB, volume control, headphone section, balanced outputs, DSP - it is useful for doing shows when we may want multiple inputs, remote volume adjustment and the ability to EQ out any significant room nodes.

Don't get too hung up on very high bit / sample rates. Most of the differences I've found have been differences in the mastering rather than differences in resolution. Take, for example, a 24/96 file and downsample it. When you know you are listening to the same master, volume matched, then decide if there is a difference.

[CN211276]

I have never used an input other than USB (except for the tv) and have found that the AQ Jitterbug and, to a greater extent, the iFi iPurifier improve the sound. The former is connected to the streamer and the later to the Mscaler. I have found that 16/44 can sound better than 24/96 in many cases. It all depends upon the mastering and the recording quality. To these ears there is a significant jump from 96kHz to above, most pronounced from 96 to 192kHz.