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More => Old Versions => Media Center 17 => Topic started by: joetiii on September 01, 2012, 11:55:13 am

Title: PC connection to DAC differences
Post by: joetiii on September 01, 2012, 11:55:13 am

I will be upgrading my PC music interface shortly from Xitel to a CA Dac Magic Plus or other comparable upsampling DAC. I currently use a USB port of my XP based PC. The CA has a USB input as well as optical and digital coax inputs. Since I only have USB on my computer I was thinking the USB most convenient but wonder if these other digital forms offer a better signal?

 I have a basic sound card. No optical or digital out. Does it make sense to get a better sound card and utilize either of these outputs rather than USB?   :-\

I also notice that Acoustic revive offers a HiFi USB interface but that seems pricey.   :(

Title: Re: PC connection to DAC differences
Post by: psam on September 01, 2012, 03:01:13 pm

No reason to spend money there...
The Magic Plus is equipped with a very good USB implementation, so stick to that and spend the money elsewhere!!

Title: Re: PC connection to DAC differences
Post by: mbagge on September 01, 2012, 05:04:27 pm

USB outperforms coax/toslink/spdif anytime.
Spdif was invented back in the 80'ties along with the cdrom drive. USB offers much higher signal quality.

Title: Re: PC connection to DAC differences
Post by: joetiii on September 01, 2012, 07:02:14 pm

Does USB vs USB 2.0 make a difference?

Title: Re: PC connection to DAC differences
Post by: pcstockton on September 01, 2012, 08:25:37 pm

I would try to stretch for the VDACII if you can.

Great async USB unit.  You wont need a soundcard.

-patrick

Title: Re: PC connection to DAC differences
Post by: Vincent Kars on September 02, 2012, 04:22:43 am

Quote from: joetiii on September 01, 2012, 07:02:14 pm

Does USB vs USB 2.0 make a difference?

There is USB 1/2/3, the standards for the bus. This is about speed.
There is UAC1 (USB Audio Class 1) and UAC2
UAC1 is more or less tied to the USB1 standard and allows for 2 channel audio 24 bit 96 kHz max. UAC2 doesn’t have this limitation as it uses USB2 in high speed mode.
Bit more detail on my website: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/USB.html

Title: Re: PC connection to DAC differences
Post by: joetiii on September 02, 2012, 05:38:38 pm

Quote from: pcstockton on September 01, 2012, 08:25:37 pm

I would try to stretch for the VDACII if you can.

Great async USB unit.  You wont need a soundcard.

-patrick

Patrick,

I am in need of both a digital output and analog out on my DAC. Does the VDAC have both?

Title: Re: PC connection to DAC differences
Post by: joetiii on September 02, 2012, 05:40:39 pm

Quote from: Vincent Kars on September 02, 2012, 04:22:43 am

There is USB 1/2/3, the standards for the bus. This is about speed.
There is UAC1 (USB Audio Class 1) and UAC2
UAC1 is more or less tied to the USB1 standard and allows for 2 channel audio 24 bit 96 kHz max. UAC2 doesn’t have this limitation as it uses USB2 in high speed mode.
Bit more detail on my website: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/USB.html

So it seems as long as I do not have super high audio files, the USB on my XP computer should be fine?

Title: Re: PC connection to DAC differences
Post by: Vincent Kars on September 03, 2012, 01:01:18 am

Correct