Has any one ever proven that asynchronous USB DAC is better than Adaptive USB technology

[Mike Gillespie]

Hi, I'm new to Computer audiophile and recently posted re my great (at least to me) experience is using a Dacport as part of my home system. The Dacport, was, at least to my ears, as good as a quality async DAC I also had. Someone in the forum pointed out that Dacport (and Centrance's other product) Dac Mini use Adaptive USB technology. My question is: why can't the Adaptive USB technology, if properly done, control jitter between the PC and the DAC to the point where there's no difference sonically to the human ear than async. Not from an anecdotal pov, but are there any blinded studies that show a statistically proven difference? If so, I'd love it if someone could provide such a link. Thanks.

 

[bhobba]

There are many reasons DAC's sound different and jitter is just one. Async solves some of these issues - but not all. The Tranquility DAC for example deliberately eschews async because they believe what they chose sounds better (and no I don't know what that is). Listening tests I have done against an async dac shows whatever that is sounded better than async. The two best USB DAC's I have ever heard do not use async. One is the Tranquility - the other is the PDX. Via USB there is hardly anything between them to my ears - well maybe the PDX is a smidgen better. However here is the kicker. The Tranquility is a USB only DAC but the PDX is USB and SPDIF. With a heavily tweaked Marantz as transport the PDX easily won. And that is not even close to an I2S transport that has been tried - evidently that is jaw dropping - but I have not heard it myself. I believe there is a lot more to be discovered about what actually affects sound quality in a DAC.

 

To answer your question though would require someone to build two DAC's with adaptive and async as the only difference then do a double blind test. With all the different things that can affect how a DAC sounds I am not sure that is something particularly interesting when you consider async is not necessarily the best sounding method. I do know the Tranquility DAC guys did a double blind test with what they chose and async and went with their method - whatever that is. What they chose may in fact be adaptive in which case that would really throw a spanner into the works about what actually affects sound quality.

 

Thanks

Bill

 

[skyline]

"The Tranquility is a USB only DAC but the PDX is USB and SPDIF. With a heavily tweaked Marantz as transport the PDX easily won. And that is not even close to an I2S transport that has been tried - evidently that is jaw dropping - but I have not heard it myself."

 

There have so many instances of the SPDIF input (when fed a low jitter source) being better than USB, it makes me wonder why manufacturers omit the SPDIF input (like on the Rega Isis).

 

It sounds like the PDX dac has a I2S input. You could use an Off Ramp 3 or 4 with your computer to connect to the PDX via I2S.

 

 

[bhobba]

Yes the better transports best USB - but that is not what you would glean from the internet where it is regularly claimed it beats $5K transports etc. I could use an off ramp etc but right now I really don't feel like spending money on USB just to be disappointed again. Internet opinions, as the besting of $5K DAC's shows, are far from reliable. My ultimate system will be a Mac Mini feeding a home theater processor via HDMI and using its SPDIF output for home theater and casual listening. For critical listening I2S from a transport is my choice.

 

For those that didnt know about the PDX a friend has just completed a review:

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net.au/index.php/audio-reviews/digital-source-reviews/item/188-lenehan-audio-pdx-base-level-dac

 

Actually on second thought when I said the PDX may be a smidgen better it is probably a bit more than that although I would still say there is not a huge amount in it. It really depends on how much you like the very liquid sound the Tranquility has - I love it but if I was being objective I really should put that aside.

 

Thanks

Bill

 

[sq225917]

A isn't better than B in all cases, there are no hard and fast rules that can be applied to all products. It is all down to the specific implementation in each dac.

 

A dac that sounds better than another may not sound better due to the one aspect we assume makes the difference- unless someone makes a dac with all options we'll never know.