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[Iam Nemo]

I've been trying to extend the distance between my MC20 server PC and my DAC to create a listening station in a remote area of the house. My goal is to pass 2CH 24/192 at a distance of 75ft (25m) without a glitch.

So far I've tried 2 solutions over CAT5/6 cable :

1) A Gefen pair of active USB 2.0 (480mbps) sender/receiver over CAT6a shielded. Tried 50ft : DAC is not even recognized. Tried 6ft : same result!! Product : http://www.gefen.com/pdf/EXT-USB-2.0.pdf

2) A similar cheap Chinese (self-powered from USB itself) sender/receiver pair bought on eBay. Tried first 6ft (without too much hope) : worked! The DAC is recognized and plays correctly. Then tried over 100ft CAT6a shielded : works perfectly up to 48kHz !! Product: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181420899745 .

Next thing I want to try is USB over IP : pass the USB 2.0 signal over my 1Gbps home network. I am waiting for such a unit right now : http://www.cooldrives.com/index.php/4-port-usb-2-0-to-gigabit-ethernet-adapter.html.

Other alternatives: to send everything via S/PDIF, AES3 or even TOSlink (using Monoprice 8mm O.D. optical cables http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10229&cs_id=1022904&p_id=3448&seq=1&format=2).

I would like to share people's experiences with such extended setups.  Thanks! Iam

[TobiMan]

Hi,

I'm running a Teac UD-501 USB/DAC via a Silex SX-DS4000U2 USB2IP Bridge http://www.silexamerica.com/products/connectivity-solutions/device-networking/usb-parallel-connectivity/sx-ds-4000u2/.

I haven't run into any issues so far, I'm very satisfied with this setup.

[Iam Nemo]

I'm running a Teac UD-501 USB/DAC via a Silex SX-DS4000U2 USB2IP Bridge http://www.silexamerica.com/products/connectivity-solutions/device-networking/usb-parallel-connectivity/sx-ds-4000u2/.
I haven't run into any issues so far, I'm very satisfied with this setup.

Thanks for the info. Very interesting! May I ask a few questions?

1) What is the max. bit rate (#channels*bit depth*sample rate) have you been able to transmit reliably? For ex. does 2 channels of 24bit/192kHz work with your extender?

2) Are your devices (computer and Silex) connected to the same gigabit switch  i.e. on the same network segment or does the signal have to go through a few switches between computer and Silex box?

3) Do you use managed switches where you could adjust the QoS (Quality of Service) parameter? If so, how much did you change the QoS?

Many thanks for any info about this! Best, Iam.

[Iam Nemo]

UPDATE about my experiments :

I did try an USB over IP box, passing the USB 2.0 signal over my 1Gbps home network. I have used this unit : http://www.cooldrives.com/index.php/4-port-usb-2-0-to-gigabit-ethernet-adapter.html.

Result : did not work. My computer did not see my USB DAC correctly at all through my network! At all sample rates (even down at 16/44) I got *completely* distorted audio. I was barely able to hear that something was happening.

Possible reasons :

1) I have too many hops (switches) between my computer and my DAC. My network is a bit complex and extended physically throughout the house. I should try on a reduced version.

2) Most of my Gbit switches are UNmanaged (dumb) so I have no control over QoS (Quality of Service) per port. I have only a few Netgear 24-port managed switches with such control. Maybe that would make a difference although I doubt it as my trials were made at night when traffic on my network was close to zero.

I will contact the USB2IP manufacturer's tech support and discuss the issue with them.  More to come...  In the meantime TobiMan made it work with his Silex box so there's hope

[TobiMan]

Thanks for the info. Very interesting! May I ask a few questions?

Sure :-)

1. I've run 2xDSD with no issues, also I have to admit, the bottleneck is my server. It runs fine from my bigger machine. I have also played studio masters, like from Linn Records, at 24 bit/96kHZ with no problems.

2. and 3. My connection is like this: Server --> AVM Fritz!Box 7390 (common dsl-router in Germany) --> Cisco SLM2008 Gigabit Switch (has been rebranded to Linksys I believe) --> IP2USB Bridge --> USB DAC.

Frankly I haven't thought about QOS yet, as I have only hicups when doing heavy load jobs over network, like transfering really big files. I'd rather add a second NIC to my server just for the server to USB2IP I think. But thanks for the thought, I could play with this a little. Maybe like establishing a VLAN just for the USB DAC connection. Mhh... I have to think about this 

Edit: Forgot to mention... I've tested the USB2IP Bridge from ExSys EX-6002 with no success. The system came up with a BSOD when trying to play audio. OK, to be honest, this product is advertised as a printer server, where the product from Silex especially mentions usb audio cards. But the ExSys support was interested to fix the issue and requested wireshark protocols and such. I have to admit, I was a bad cusomer. As the Silex worked for me, I have lost interest in the ExSys product...