Article: CES 2010 Notes

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Mike in MD - I have the new ASUS driver working right now and it's bit perfect at 44.1, 96, and 192k. More to come...

[Mike in MD]

Chris,<br />

<br />

I have one album at 88.2, the rest are all 44.1 and 96, so this would be useful. Did ASUS deliberately exclude 88.2 ?? <br />

<br />

Mike<br />

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Mike - I gave ASUS some info late last night/early this morning and I received a response saying 88.2 and 176.4 should be supported in the final release version of the software I received :~) This is looking very good.

[nottlv]

Chris,<br />

<br />

Did you get a chance to check out the Blue Smoke system that was discussed in another post here? Stereophile's CES coverage had a blurb about it.<br />

<br />

http://blog.stereophile.com/ces2010/blue_smoke_black_box_music_server/

[rfarris1]

Being a newbe I'm a bit confused about what sample rates are available via USB. I had thought that USB DACs such as the Ayre and Wavelength have so far been limited to 24/96 and I had the impression this was a USB limitation. From what Dave is saying I'm misunderstood. So, what exactly is the limitation on sample rate via USB and is there a difference between the Mac and PC platforms? <br />

<br />

Thanks v. much.

[rfarris1]

Dave/Chris, are the Cary products using Async USB input?

[labjr]

Rfarris1,<br />

<br />

The limit is not with USB but with the Windows native drivers. If someone wants to write the driver then they can use higher sampling rates. Currently there are drivers in MAC but not yet Windows 7. I read Wavelength is working on a solution for this

[Dave Clark]

Not sure if it is async, but according to Billy Wright they have written the drivers for Windows to support 196/24 via USB. In the end, for me at least, how it sounds trumps the choice of interface.

[barrows]

I am pretty sure that high resolution files (24 bit and 88.2,96, or higher sampling rates) are currently used, and have been in use, for most titles remastered in 1996 or later. These titles would include tons of classic rock, and jazz, and these titles are archived at higher resolution now. Additionally, anything released as SACD is likely archived in DSD, which converts quite transparently to high res PCM if done properly. Of course some of these remastered files come from original digital sources that may be 16-20 bit and 44.1-48 kHz sampling rates (mostly music recorded digitally in the early days of CD, mid 80s to first half of the 90s) and will not be much improved by the upsampling, too bad for all you late 80s rock fans. The good news, is that stuff recorded earlier than the mid 80s was analog, so as long as the tapes were handled well, the high res archives contain remasters from the original analog master tapes.<br />

The bottom line is that there is a ton of music (rock, pop, and jazz) already archived in high resolution available for distribution, and if the record companies can perceive a way to make money off of this it will happen. <br />

To me, high resolution is the great promise of computer based playback, and hopefully, the more people that get going with computer based systems the more potential demand there will be for high res music distribution (by download, or perhaps uncompressed files sold on DVD discs, like HRx). Ultimately, the record companies need to get over their fear of sharing and copying, as we know, every format, no matter how well "copy protected" (including SACD/DSD) can be hacked and end up as uncompressed files on our hard drives.

[labjr]

Understood Dave,<br />

<br />

However, virtually every DAC which has multiple inputs, sounds worse from the USB input than SPDIF when USB has the potential to sound better.

[Dave Clark]

Not sure I can agree as I have not heard virtually 'every' DAC, so I am not sure how to respond. I have heard here (in my own system) the following DAC/CD players when mated to my Mac: Cary 306 Professional, Playback MPS-5, Bel Canto DAC3, Redwine Issabellina, Neko Audio D100, Mhdt Labs Havana USB DAC, and the Ayre QB9. All these either feature different USB implementations and/or a S/PDIF input. And yes I have preferred one form of input over another based on how the designer went about it Of course in the end you are not listening to just the input (USB, S/PDIF, etc), but the whole DAC - input choice, power supply, digital, analog, etc. so how the input influences the sound is hard to decipher unless the DAC has multiple options to compare.<br />

On the MPS-5, the USB is not competitive with the S/PDIF, but Andreas and Jonathan will admit as much. On the Ayre, USB is the only option and the DAC is quite wonderful. Is async the way to go? Is the wonderful sound a result of async? No way to know as they do not offer a non-async USB input so one can hear the differences - now that would be cool...