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Schiit Audio Releases its Unison USB Upgrade


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1 hour ago, AriMargolis said:

@vortecjr Aurender‘s platform is based on the standard USB audio drivers and MPD player software but it’s not just an “off the shelf” / “plug-and-play” implementation. Inevitably, some DACs do things a little differently. As you know, many DACs were not engineered explicitly for use with Linux sources, so Aurender’s SW team installs certain tweaks to achieve full compatibility when necessary. I don’t know how much if any of it is proprietary, but it is custom engineered/bespoke implementation for Aurender.

It can not be proprietary if they are patching the Linux Kernel. Custom patches to the Linux Kernel, MPD, etc. have to be shared back with the Linux community or it's an illegal product. I know you are not the developer so maybe Aurender should provide clarification.  

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1 hour ago, AriMargolis said:

@The Computer Audiophile @jabbr The source code is posted at aurender.com

 

Just to clarify - I'm not a software engineer. Maybe I used the wrong terminology about "patches" and caused confusion above? I can get more info from Aurender's SW team on Monday if clarification is needed. All I was trying to say in my comment above is that in cases where compatibility issues arise, most of the time they can be fixed by changing settings on the software side without the DAC manufacturer having to do anything. 

I know that:) If Aurender has an older Kernel like Jabbr says then Aurender could take newer (within the same series more or less) Linux code and apply it to their older Kernel. However, they can only do so much of that before they need to write their own code to make things work correctly. Any new Aurender code would need to be provided to the Linux community.  

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2 hours ago, AriMargolis said:

I can get more info from Aurender's SW team on Monday if clarification is needed. All I was trying to say in my comment above is that in cases where compatibility issues arise, most of the time they can be fixed by changing settings on the software side without the DAC manufacturer having to do anything. 

 

There may indeed be software settings that optimize each DAC, for example some work better with PCM vs DSD at various rates. In other cases the USB audio driver itself needs to be patched. Since this thread is about the Schiit USB interface I would imagine that "incompatibilities" have to do with the Linux ALSA USB audio driver. That is not something supplied by the DAC manufacturer, rather the Linux kernel which is of course GPL. Other members here such as @Miska, @agillis / @vortecjr have been known to supply ALSA USB patches to fix incompatibilities with various DACs. So, yes, let us know!

Custom room treatments for headphone users.

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  • 3 weeks later...
11 hours ago, baldr said:

The best USB connectivity I have ever heard

Can Unison host be implemented in a PCIe USB card like the JCAT USB Femto or a device like the Uptone ISO REGEN?  Is Schiit interested in partnering with another company to accelerate adoption of Unison host?

Pareto Audio AMD 7700 Server --> Berkeley Alpha USB --> Jeff Rowland Aeris --> Jeff Rowland 625 S2 --> Focal Utopia 3 Diablos with 2 x Focal Electra SW 1000 BE subs

 

i7-6700K/Windows 10  --> EVGA Nu Audio Card --> Focal CMS50's 

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3 hours ago, rickca said:

Can Unison host be implemented in a PCIe USB card like the JCAT USB Femto or a device like the Uptone ISO REGEN?  Is Schiit interested in partnering with another company to accelerate adoption of Unison host?

 

AFAIK from comments of Jason and Mike on some forums they are not interested. With these devices they would promote their competitors.

 

Matt

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some news from MM:

 

Work on transport continues. The transport is still in alpha stage, where it will remain until I have confidence in it USB driving a majority of the DACs out in the wild. Sounds amazing, though. The reason is that there are far more USB input chips (DAC side) in the wild than USB output chips which drive the Unison USB input section already in Schiit production. I have just built a gizmo which can test DACs to see if they are compatible. I shall see how many DACs I can find and test. More shall be revealed.
 

Matt

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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40 minutes ago, baldr said:

It is quite the challenge to qualify the USB output of the transport with the hundreds of D/A converters in the wild. No such problem with S/Pdif, as it is a standardized input/output protocol, with specific control bits reserved.

The USB, on the other hand, has standard descriptors and handshake speeds for both speeds of digital audio. Other unusual formats, such as dsd (not picking on them – there are many others) have descriptors and handshake protocols which vary in speed and assignment. It therefore becomes a complex problem to interface our USB output with a wide variety of D/a converters, which only begins with access to those devices. The generally proprietary nature of our industry, makes access problematical.

The gizmo we have built is a two input USB switcher with our Unison USB output. This will allow the user to verify if our USB out works with their converter. It is also a much smaller box than a transport to utilize when we arrive at early beta times. As quoted above the transport remains in alpha. If it is not already obvious, the product is a CD transport. This is a good time for me to restate my opinion that CD playback with our Unison CD Host and Input is the finest digital audio I have heard.  I know, I know, it is all ones and zeros, no??  There is something else in play, since streamers are just NOT the same.  When I figure out what's different, maybe I'll be rich. 

 

Mike,

thanks for sharing 🙂

Does it sound better than your famous Theta transport?

 

Matt

"I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe)

 

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2 hours ago, baldr said:

It is quite the challenge to qualify the USB output of the transport with the hundreds of D/A converters in the wild. No such problem with S/Pdif, as it is a standardized input/output protocol, with specific control bits reserved.

The USB, on the other hand, has standard descriptors and handshake speeds for both speeds of digital audio. Other unusual formats, such as dsd (not picking on them – there are many others) have descriptors and handshake protocols which vary in speed and assignment. It therefore becomes a complex problem to interface our USB output with a wide variety of D/a converters, which only begins with access to those devices. The generally proprietary nature of our industry, makes access problematical.

The gizmo we have built is a two input USB switcher with our Unison USB output. This will allow the user to verify if our USB out works with their converter. It is also a much smaller box than a transport to utilize when we arrive at early beta times. As quoted above the transport remains in alpha. If it is not already obvious, the product is a CD transport. This is a good time for me to restate my opinion that CD playback with our Unison CD Host and Input is the finest digital audio I have heard.  I know, I know, it is all ones and zeros, no??  There is something else in play, since streamers are just NOT the same.  When I figure out what's different, maybe I'll be rich. 

it's all about timing

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7 hours ago, beerandmusic said:

 

why?  sd card may not be as easy for noise or other reasons, but certainly would be a much more useful product than a cd player in terms of quantity and convenience.

 

Because unless it's a portable device, my entire library won't fit on an SD card for one, and for two, why? It is a pointless complication.

No electron left behind.

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