DAC Manufacturer Aversion To External DSP

[matthias]

10 minutes ago, hopkins said:

 

Can you give me an example of a USB implementation "done well" were  swapping a USB cable or tweaking with the source has no impact on the sound quality? 

 

IMO, one of the best USB implementations at the moment is the Schiit Unison USB. But even with this implementation the source matters. It seems to be that the better the implementation the better shows the USB interface the quality of the source and the quality of the music.

 

Matt

[matthias]

3 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

Well, it seems USB is more sensitive to cable, reading here at AS.

However maybe John S can develop a optical USB interface 😀

 

So far we haven’t started comparing SQ in fiber cables, and I hope we never will. I understand SFP devices are under discussion. I’m not sure how much that matters or single mode vs multimode. 
 

Ethernet seems like a better option than USB in order to avoid these cable discussions, and it already have a good standard for fiber, and remove the cable issues. 
 

Anyway, the manufacturers could make a module based DAC, so one could choose preferred interfaces. 

 

You have cable differences with all inputs like USB, AES and Ethernet. With Ethernet there are endless discussions about fiber vs copper.

 

Matt 

[matthias]

14 minutes ago, Jud said:

Audirvana's Direct Mode hasn't been available for many iterations of MacOS. I think the check box may be selectable even on MacOS versions where it isn't available, so the UI may cause some confusion.

 

At least with High Sierra DM is not selectable, so the UI seems to be correct.

 

Matt