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Ultimate Audio Playback / Your questions about the PC -> DAC route / Re: Goodby USB, Hello SPDIF
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on: November 18, 2009, 03:20:09 pm
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Because the quality of that spdif out is awful. It is polluted by all components that resides on the mainboard (including the cpu) and the drivers are usually poor as well.
Is this necessarily so? I vastly prefer toslink out from a modern mainboard than the average USB-connection for hooking up to a DAC. The newer Realtek codecs doesn't meddle with the signal and support all necessary sample rates. And the toslink out of my Onkyo card is very very good, and the card is rather cheap. There is no reason whatsoever to use USB. No, the first USB receivers in DACs were also awfully bad And if the mainboard has a good power filtration... You know, there is never an absolute in computer audio. On paper, we know which are the best solution. But then something may sound different, exceptionally good or bad respect what the theory says. Toslink vs coax is a matter of isolation vs jitter. Toslink has higher jitter but it is intrinsecally isolated, while coax will require some isolation in the device (dac), which is normally MISSING. etc etc. I think you get the point.
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Ultimate Audio Playback / Your questions about the PC -> DAC route / Re: PCI soundcards
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on: November 15, 2009, 09:42:45 pm
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Peter, I have listened to six or seven different DACs (and a few sound cards) between £150 and £1000 here whilst owning my Onkyo card, so I do have something to compare with. I believe this. I also compared my Quartet to mid level dacs and cd players before making the switch. I know Audiodidakt did something similar. Or course they are no match for high-end dacs that are in the 3k+ range. So, for me, they are a temporary solution, and i have the additional hard requirement of 8 channels to operate the software crossover of my (future) speakers.
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Ultimate Audio Playback / Your questions about the PC -> DAC route / Re: Goodby USB, Hello SPDIF
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on: November 14, 2009, 07:51:45 pm
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I really can't understand why everyone has gone completely gaga after USB DACs when all modern mainboards have S/PDIF out; even an onboard S/PDIF will arsewoop most USB connections SQ-wise when hooked up to a DAC.
Because the quality of that spdif out is awful. It is polluted by all components that resides on the mainboard (including the cpu) and the drivers are usually poor as well.
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Ultimate Audio Playback / Your questions about the PC -> DAC route / Re: PCI soundcards
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on: November 14, 2009, 07:50:23 pm
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Well, the Onkyo is japanese and not really sold officially in Europe and the US. So that doesn't make it very interesting to review, since it can't be bought locally. The Audiotrak is Korean I think, so I guess the same goes there.
The new owner of audiotrak is korean, but they have worldwide distribution. Onkyo does NOT distribute its soundcards outside of Japan (unfortunately).
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Ultimate Audio Playback / Chatter and forum related stuff / Re: Change the name of XXHighEnd
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on: November 13, 2009, 02:03:57 pm
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Telstar - Phasure should be the more active approach to proper phase hence time alignment, a most important phenomenon. FWIW (regarding the naming).
Peter
This is an interesting phenomenon that i havent completely understood. I consider myself a person not very subjective to notice phase changes, BUT changes in the time domain are of the uttermost importance and need more investigation. If you have some literature, please send it to my mail.
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Ultimate Audio Playback / Your questions about the PC -> DAC route / Re: PCI soundcards
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on: November 12, 2009, 11:29:06 am
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Hi Telstar, that's a nice thingy, PCI-e to PCI, that's what I need too. I dont need it, i have 2 pci-e slots, but it could allow to be powered separately and therefore provide more isolation for the soundcard power. Just a though, not sure. BTW, I'm looking for a PCI-e soundcard with good SPDIF too, but I only want it if it supports 88 and 172kHz. Check also the Claro Halo (pci), one guy got bnc out from it and bnc carries spdif with much lower jitter. And when Peter's Dac comes out, we can throw away our new soundcards?? I have 2 other computers, they sure will have a new home
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Ultimate Audio Playback / Your questions about the PC -> DAC route / Re: PCI soundcards
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on: November 11, 2009, 12:46:15 pm
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Yep, this means that the power can be filtered before going to the card (i'm thinking of a small but effective shunt regulator). A better shielding all around both cards should allow us to put them in the same case of the PC, which if is already fanless and not very polluting should be sufficiently quiet to not pollute the card HF.
This does not work. Some guys over at Head-Fi tried this, but the power connection is a bit more complex than that. The card draws power from both the molex and the PCI slot. I think they concluded that it was near impossible. It's been awhile since i didnt check headfi, my bad. That leaves probably only one other option to pursue, which is the pci-e to pci adapter that I once pointed to Peter. I dont know if it uses the pci-e power as well. I mean this one: http://www.virtuavia.eu/shop/pci-express-to-pci-adapter-p29855.htmlFor small cases (such as mine), a pci riser card is also needed. To have 3 slot adapters do not sound too nice in my book. But well, it's so cheap that we can try. Of course the black external box that was considered would allow for a better PS to the card(s), but at almost 400 euros I do not find it cost-effective to implement for a card such as the Essence.
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433
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Ultimate Audio Playback / Your questions about the PC -> DAC route / Re: PCI soundcards
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on: November 11, 2009, 12:26:06 pm
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Because I want a multichannel solution, I plan to get the Asus Essence ST with the H6 DAC expansion board. All the opamps are swappable and I already have a 1ppm TCXO to install when I get the card. I did some more search last night and IMO the Essence ST seems the best bet for internal cards to be used as DAC. Do you know if the opamps are swappable also on the H6 board? This card has its own Molex power connector for the audio output section. Yep, this means that the power can be filtered before going to the card (i'm thinking of a small but effective shunt regulator). A better shielding all around both cards should allow us to put them in the same case of the PC, which if is already fanless and not very polluting should be sufficiently quiet to not pollute the card HF.
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