I have been using the USB hiface for about a 2/3 weeks now, got a Belkin F5U237QEA Hi-Speed USB 2.0 7-port Hub to power it as using the computer (USB) or switched mode based power was a no-no for me regardless of the internal regulators etc, my assumption/reasoning is if the hiface is expecting the PSU to be potentially noisy/varying and the actual PSU is then less noisy (I hope) and likely more stable, then the PSU quality to the to the hiface internals should now be very clean and even more stable.The Belkin hub came with an unregulated 6v/4A linear PSU which should be a good thing and I will keep my fingers crossed that the Belkin hub does a good job of regulating and filtering the 5v supply. I also for good measure bought a Belkin Premium Series USB 2.0 to 5-Pin Mini-B Cable 1.8M >>>(link for illustration purposes only) as they are gold plated, have screened conductors and are seemingly very well made, the mini-B end fits the hub more securely than the supplied cable and can be had for about £3.50...why not?.
I stick to x2 upsampling (which in practice means 88.2/96khz as seen by the Hiface/DAC I think) use 24 bit mode as it apparently stops you losing resolution when you "turn down" the volume and I always stick to kernal streaming mode, 2 reasons...1, It was the original operating mode for the hiface and I guess the most developed of the drivers and 2, the wasapi mode sometimes gives some buffer messages that I do not ever get in kernal mode. I set my other USB sound card as the default sound card as that it connected to my A/V setup via toslink, the hiface usually is just used by Foobar and is connected to the DAC/hifi/..no need to change or swap soundcards for general browsing and all other windows mixer applications, you can even have both sounds at the same time. My understanding is that the hiface "clocks out" the data to the DAC from the p.c so I use about 200ms of buffer..I suppose if you are multi tasking your own p.c you might want to use a little more buffer to ensure you don't get dropouts while the p.c is otherwise engaged.
On sound quality..just brillant in all departments even on less than perfect mp3's...not as nice as analogue but the sound has great seperation, a more organized and 3D sound stage and the quality of the bass is like no CD or digital player i've ever heard, smooth, not the usual digital "hammering bass" but more subtle, extended and textured too ..might be because of the precision clocks etc coupled with the fact that the sound/digits are no longer meandering through the various windows sound mixers. Looks like I finally can accept digital as good and possibly excellent sounding..maybe I should have had my previous CD players clocked. Made me hear things I never heard before and made me listen to tracks I previously may not have listened to. Be in no doubt the Hi-Face is worth every single penny if you have a DAC and a p.c...it sure ain't hype.
Edited by 405line - 10/21/11 at 7:57am