Article: Audiophile Style Products of the Decade

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

The Sonore products did popularize the use of SBCs for audio, which had been around for quite some time. Witness this article by John Swenson in 2008: https://db.audioasylum.com/mhtml/m.html?forum=pcaudio&n=42367&highlight=nycparamedic&search_url=%2Fcgi%2Fsearch.mpl%3Fforum%3Dpcaudio%26searchtext%3Dalix

 

There had been many variants around for quite some time, including the Logitech Squeezebox as early as 2003. Perhaps some recognition of this would have been appropriate ? I would not describe the sonore products, even back in 2016, as "ground braking". They are certainly well engineered, well packaged and marketed, but hardly "ground breaking".

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

Several other manufacturers are doing this, as it is the only way of offering perfect isolation between the source and the DAC. PSAudio is implementing some form of fiber connection ("Air Gap Audio Interface") I believe. I have been using  optical connections with the ECDesigns product, and their latest implementation ("ElectroTOS") is quite impressive. The devil is in the details, as always, and all the technical aspects go way above my head. 

 

What I do find exciting is the idea that DACs my finally become "source immune" with these types of connections, meaning an inexpensive source will be sufficient, without the need for all sorts of tweaking upstream (for example, Audiophile network switches, the latest craze). 

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

@vortecjr

I have been using only ECDesigns equipment, so if you are referring to PSAudio I have no idea. ECDesigns is finalizing new products which should be available in a couple months. Their new DAC will use this ElectroTos interlink (which I am using now in a prototype version, between their UPL source and their current MOS DAC). The led is at the DAC end of the cable, to put it simply, but in their latest implementation they have further improved the circuits that generate the signal in the source and decode it in the DAC, from what I understand. They will be offering adapters for sources with usb, toslink, or coax digital outputs. The source immunity may not be perfect, but we are getting closer, I believe. This is all mentioned in their thread on Diyaudio.  Something to keep an eye on. 

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

2 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Which ones?

 

The one mentioned by Raimund Heubel, PSAudio I believe, and ECDesigns (the only one I am familiar with). Could be others. 

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

ECDesigns will be affordable as well. Their adapters will be compatible with toslink inputs of most DACs. 

 

Can you tell us more about your project ? 

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

6 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

Ayre has used optical isolation inside DACs. If I remember right, they said it has a small negative effect. I could be wrong though. 

 

 

 

 

Toslink is so limited. I don't think I'd go back to it. 

 

Well, that is another interesting debate

For the coming decade I believe we will see "source immunity" and "format immunity" meaning DACs capable of offering similar quality for Redbook and high res. Let's see in 10 years (if we are still around) what will be in your "products of the decade".

 

Vis à vis the négative effects of optical, they really depend on the implementation. The toslink cable is also a source of jitter signal degradation from what I understand. 

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

I would like to add something, to "tie" these different comments together. What Chri's 3 selections have in commmon, it seems to me, is "simplicity". As Duke Ellington once said: "Simplicity is a most complex form", and that is true for audio systems as well - there is certainly a lot of complexity involved in the design of these systems. Now lets hope we see even more progess in the coming years, with outstanding audio quality of course.

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

Optical, in itself, does not seem to be the magical key to high quality audio - after all, it has been in use for years. The devil is in the details, and the implementation is key:  how the signal is generated in the source and the decoding of the signal in the DAC (and of course the ability of the DAC to transform precisely to analog all the information it is given). By addressing all those aspects, then we may see significant progress in digital audio - I believe this is what will be achieved in the coming years, and that we can finally reap the full benefits of digital audio (as I am convinced there is nothing wrong in the "data" itself and how it is stored in files, locally or on the cloud, or on CDs - recording quality being what it is). Who will get there first ? I sometimes wish all the experts in the field would just sit down together and get all this sorted out

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

No, I meant at whatever place the bits are transformed into an optical signal. Decoding of the signal in the DAC is relative to how the optical signal coming into the DAC gets transformmed and fed to the DAC chip. From what I understand, this process itself can generate "noise", and then there are of course jitter aspects - I am not "technical", but browsing through on-line litterature, interviews, you can get a grasp of what is going on and what DAC manufacturers have to deal with. My intention is not to generate any debates about this, I am just in a hopeful "wait and see" attitude...