Usb To Spdif Converter For Dac Input

[salween]

The dac I'm looking at won't support 24bit/96khz over usb, but will over spdif or optical. So looking for a converter such as these--maybe not the top end ones? I tried Piyanas at Paradise Mall but they did not have anything or know where to get it. Any ideas?

[astral]

Rather an expensive add-on?????

Perhaps you should reconsider your choice of DAC?

[salween]

Digging around a bit this evening came across this Musiland Monitor 01 USD from a place called Hi-Fi Lover in Pantip.

Anyone ever deal with these guys. Quite a bit of the Audio-gd kit from China I think. Be interesting to check it out regardless as I'm unfamiliar with Audio-gd.

Yup astral, the stuff gets pricy. Trouble is, to get a hi speed usb input on a DAC is even more expensive than running the converter. But I did look up the guy at Hi End Audio at MBK who has a nice DAC card for the Accuphase amps if I can score one of them. Have you or anyone else ever used his shop? Pricy stuff that Accuphase is as well.

[OriginalPoster]

Another option would be to use a Logitech Squeezebox Touch and forget about USB. I ordered one of them from Amazon in the States, I think that price was around $300; import duty into Thailand when the package came in was another 2000 baht or so. The way that I'm using it is that the Squeezebox receives a digital data stream from a PC over wifi and the digital outs of the Squeezebox are connected to a Benchmark HDR DAC/preamp with a coaxial cable. it seems to sound OK and is definitely convenient, though I can't say that I've tried doing a head-to-head comparison between the sound quality of that setup and the sound that would result if I just ran a USB cable from the PC to the Benchmark (the Benchmark has both a USB input and digital coax inputs).

As for USB to S/PDIF devices, I think that I've seen some of the brands on your list at some of the shops at the Amarin Plaza.

Edited June 15, 2011 by astral
No need to quote the entire post. Just pick out the relevant points, please - Astral

[stgrhe]

Another option would be to use a Logitech Squeezebox Touch and forget about USB.

I also use a Squeezebox but the Duet and it sounds really great and it is a very convenient way of listening to the music stored on my computer. My Duet was bought in Sweden though.

The first Squeezebox was originally developed by Slim Devices and Logitec bought the company some years ago.

[salween]

Squeezebox is indeed an option that might be explored, but as I already got an iPod as a remote figured it was just another piece I did not need, though the wireless is nice. We'll see.

[OriginalPoster]

Squeezebox is indeed an option that might be explored, but as I already got an iPod as a remote figured it was just another piece I did not need, though the wireless is nice. We'll see.

The wireless functionality of the Squeezebox is nice and that’s the way that I use it, though I notice that the folklore among audiophiles on the internet is that the wifi circuitry in the Squeezebox degrades sound quality and that for best results one ought to used a wired Ethernet connection instead. One of the popular firmware mods to the Squeezebox has an option to completely disable the wifi functionality of the unit, some rave about the improvements they get doing that. I’ve toyed with the idea of trying that out but never have quite gotten around to it. Generally I find that the sound that I get from the Squeezebox’s digital output into the Benchmark DAC is about the same as what I get when I run the digital outs of my CD player through the Benchmark DAC, so I guess that I’d be a bit surprised if tweaks to the Squeezebox were to make a day/night difference to the sound quality in my system.

[inthepink]

Apologies if this is a silly question but most PCs have an S/PDIF socket - are you sure that yours doesn't?

[inthepink]

Apologies if this is a silly question but most PCs have an S/PDIF socket - are you sure that yours doesn't?

Sorry, I really should have said: A fair number of laptops have a combined headphone / S/PDIF socket, so if you have a laptop, you might be able to use a mini toslink adapter with S/PDIF digital optical cable to connect to your DAC.

Edited June 27, 2011 by inthepink

[OriginalPoster]

Apologies if this is a silly question but most PCs have an S/PDIF socket - are you sure that yours doesn't?

Sorry, I really should have said: A fair number of laptops have a combined headphone / S/PDIF socket, so if you have a laptop, you might be able to use a mini toslink adapter with S/PDIF digital optical cable to connect to your DAC.

Ever tried it? I know that according to the "bits are bits" theory that running something like that straight into a DAC ought to sound as good as using an outboard device, but do you think that it really does?

Edited June 29, 2011 by OriginalPoster

[astral]

The latest edition (August) of the UK magazine HiFi News has reviewed USB DAC's

Editors Choice: North Star USB DAC32 UKP1500

Outstanding Product: Benchmark DAC1 USB UKP1260

Highly Recommended: Electrocompaniet PD1 UKP1250

UKP = Pounds sterling

[salween]

Apologies if this is a silly question but most PCs have an S/PDIF socket - are you sure that yours doesn't?

Sorry, I really should have said: A fair number of laptops have a combined headphone / S/PDIF socket, so if you have a laptop, you might be able to use a mini toslink adapter with S/PDIF digital optical cable to connect to your DAC.

After further review...many of the usb-s/pdif converters I found lack MAC OSX usb drivers. And yes, all new MACs have s/pdif through the headphone jacks. So not a silly question at all. However, so far I'm now having trouble finding mini tosslink adapters or cables here. Anyone purchased one here?

Edited August 10, 2011 by salween

[snarky66]

The latest edition (August) of the UK magazine HiFi News has reviewed USB DAC's

Editors Choice: North Star USB DAC32 UKP1500

Outstanding Product: Benchmark DAC1 USB UKP1260

Highly Recommended: Electrocompaniet PD1 UKP1250

UKP = Pounds sterling

Wonder if they ever heard of AYRE QB9? The Benchmark is great but you are paying for a headphone amp you may or may not need.

[snarky66]

And then there are the products from Headroom.

btw. To my knowledge i-pods have only analog outputs. So that is not a viable source for a DAC.

[OriginalPoster]

The latest edition (August) of the UK magazine HiFi News has reviewed USB DAC's

Editors Choice: North Star USB DAC32 UKP1500

Outstanding Product: Benchmark DAC1 USB UKP1260

Highly Recommended: Electrocompaniet PD1 UKP1250

UKP = Pounds sterling

Wonder if they ever heard of AYRE QB9? The Benchmark is great but you are paying for a headphone amp you may or may not need.

Depends on the application. Since the benchmark allows you to have multiple coaxial & optical digital inputs plus one analog input and one US input, I can use in in lieu of a DAC and preamp. That saves me an amount of money that exceeds whatever cost the headphone section adds. It's a brilliant analog preamp too, perhaps worth the money just for that function despite it having only one analog input.

Edited August 13, 2011 by OriginalPoster

[snarky66]

I am in no way disputing that. The DAC 1 Pre has balanced outputs too. $1800.

But the OP wants to connect his computer to a hi-fi using USB. He is jumping through hoops to make USB work on non USB DAC. He was asked "what DAC is it?" No answer.

Here is another USB DAC I like with balanced outputs.

AQVOX

[Darrel]

After further review...many of the usb-s/pdif converters I found lack MAC OSX usb drivers. And yes, all new MACs have s/pdif through the headphone jacks. So not a silly question at all. However, so far I'm now having trouble finding mini tosslink adapters or cables here. Anyone purchased one here?

All such cables/adaptors are readily available direct from China by post on Ebay.

Think I paid about 2USD (including postage) for a Mac/TOSLINK adaptor for a customer. Regular Apple price was about 15USD. Pretty standard markup for Apple.

[Darrel]

Should have said: A fair number of laptops have a combined headphone / S/PDIF socket, so if you have a laptop, you might be able to use a mini toslink adapter with S/PDIF digital optical cable to connect to your DAC.

Ever tried it? I know that according to the "bits are bits" theory that running something like that straight into a DAC ought to sound as good as using an outboard device, but do you think that it really does?

I do this all the time. Works perfectly, depending on what the source is.

Digital is digital. It's either 100% or it isnt. You cant get 101% out of it, and if you are only getting 99% you can measure it. So for up to 24 bit sound from CD/DVD or AC3/DTS a cheap sound card and SPDIF connection is all you need.

All you need to be sure of is that the sound card you use (and above all the drivers for the sound card) allow for bit-perfect output.

I used a dirt-cheap (under 10USD) Trust soundcard with twin optical/coaxial SPDIF inputs/outputs (ie 4 sockets in all) on my PC, connected by a 10m coaxial lead to my amp. The manufacturer's drivers were not bit-perfect and would not support DTS. The free third-party drivers mentioned above solved that problem completely.

If you are trying to deliver anything better than CD/DVD quality (DTS-HD from BluRay, for example) then SPDIF wont cut it and you need HDMI. As these sockets are standard on amps and video cards these days, there is no problem (as long as they support the full HDMI audio spec). I used a 10m HDMI lead also from my PC to my TV.

[stgrhe]

Just pay attention to the HDMI standard as there are several versions dependent on the need, and for e.g. audio-return one needs version 1.4a. The cable must match the chosen version too.

[salween]

Thanks to all for the ongoing input.

I am in no way disputing that. The DAC 1 Pre has balanced outputs too. $1800.

But the OP wants to connect his computer to a hi-fi using USB. He is jumping through hoops to make USB work on non USB DAC. He was asked "what DAC is it?" No answer.

Here is another USB DAC I like with balanced outputs.

AQVOX

I've yet to settle on a DAC, but am trying some things out. While USB DACs are becoming more prevalent, many users and designers still advise either the optical or coax spdif connections to a cpu or nsd. And some usb DAC connections do not go beyond 16/44 sampling. There's also often software and other related things that need attention when using the usb inputs on those beyond 16/44. So looking at/for the connection options as there are no sound card options on a mac mini. Of course WEISS DACS offer firewire as another option--a bit pricy those boxes though.

But the Wyred 4 Sound DAC 2 I'm sort of leaning toward now does indeed have USB. I'm nonetheless still interested in trying the alternatives ports, hence the query. This unit seems to get quite a bit of praise in on-line discussions (above that of the Benchmark 1) though it's marked-up a bit more here than some other DAC offerings in BKK.

[snarky66]

Nice looking unit. Has balanced outputs too.

[stgrhe]

The Thai distributor for Wyred 4 Sound is Komfortsound Co. Ltd., 367, Onnut Road, Prawet, 102 50 Bangkok, Phone: 083-758 7771, Web: www.komfortsound.com/

[salween]

The Thai distributor for Wyred 4 Sound is Komfortsound Co. Ltd., 367, Onnut Road, Prawet, 102 50 Bangkok, Phone: 083-758 7771, Web: www.komfortsound.com/

Yup, and one of the great things about the W4S Thai prices are darn near the US$ prices, which is already very good for what it delivers. I met them at the Fortune BV 2011 fair and pretty nice folks. They've also got Rogue Audio, which is what they had featured at Fortune. But I'm actually also interested in hearing the W4S amps and preamp. Some folks really like them, and others won't touch class D with a barge pole. Heard the local Bel Canto stuff and found it adequate, but lacking--might have been the "new" Castle speakers they're selling--produced by the new Chinese owners who acquired the longtime British brand a couple of years ago

[stgrhe]

A bit of topic but I think class D amplifiers are quite o.k. for compressed music and TV-surround. Class D is however more and more replaced by class H amplifiers although I think none of these can compete with class T. More and more professional amplifiers are actually "digital" if the expression is excused.

[astral]

If you start with a digital source, which many are now, music or TV

then there is a lot of sense in staying in the digital domain until the

last minute when the sound comes out of the speakers.

Less chance of distortion, as long as jitter is properly controlled.

[stgrhe]

A bit of topic but I think class D amplifiers are quite o.k. for compressed music and TV-surround. Class D is however more and more replaced by class H amplifiers although I think none of these can compete with class T. More and more professional amplifiers are actually "digital" if the expression is excused.

I forgot to ask a question I have with regards to class T and that is if anyone knows whether class T is "dead" now since Tripath Amplifier Technologies filed for bankruptcy back in 2007?

It seems like Audio Researches class T five-channel power amplifier 150M.5 is no longer in production. I had that one on a loan audition in my home in Stockholm and it played the sh-t out of my Rotel. I didn't buy the AR since shortly thereafter I decided to move to Thailand.