dafiend wrote: > But USB is a purely digital, bit-perfect connection. I don't see how it > would affect the digital-analog conversion in any way. Anybody care to > explain? From my (surely incomplete) understanding, USB audio interfaces > usually work just as well as sound cards directly hooked up to the > board. Yeah, you may need a USB buffer of 1-2 ms or so to account for > slightly higher latency of USB, but that's about it.There should be no > difference at all as long as the USB connection is just sending the data, and not electronic noise. That is an occasional problem with some cheaper audio devices with poorly designed power supplies but I have not come accross the problem with the Pi USB and is certainly not any kind of general problem with USB.
I had a Behringer USB DAC attached my Pi, but it was a less than ideal solution (ugly, messy, more cables). I bought the IQAudIO PiDAC and dedicated case because it looks prettier, no extra cables. A neater solution all round and the DAC chip itself is a much more capable and modern design than the one in the Behringer. I have not done an A/B comparison between the Behringer and the PiDAC, but the latter certainly sounds very good. A lot of the sound quality of a DAC lies in the pre-amplification of the fragile analogue signal that emanates from the output side of the DAC which needs boosting up to "line level" of 1.5v before going to a power-amp, powered speaker or whatever. The PiDAC seems to do a decent job of that part of the process, but ultimately that is where you get the benefit of more expensive "Hi-Fi" DACs. They often use the same chips as cheaper DACs but are better at the amplification job. The SqueezeBox Touch was praised for its sound quality but the Transporter was exemplary - despite an older design of DAC chip. Matt http://www.last.fm/user/MJL-UK SQUEEZEBOXES:[/B] TWO SB DUETS (LIVING ROOM AND KITCHEN) AND A *'PICOREPLAYER' (HTTPS://SITES.GOOGLE.COM/SITE/PICOREPLAYER/HOME) [b]Server:* Synology DS111 (2TB) NAS running LMS 7.7.3 (official Synology package) *Network:* Netgear DG834GT ADSL modem/router, Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH access point *Livingroom:* Receiver, Naim 42/110 amp, B&W CM2 speakers *Kitchen:* Receiver, Topping TP20 Mk2 Class T amp, B&W 686 speakers *Study:* Linn LP12, Naim 72/Hi-cap/Headline ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TheLastMan's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=16021 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=97803 _______________________________________________ unix mailing list unix@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/unix
