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new to me: USB transport?

post #1 of 5
7/26/10 at 4:48pm
Thread Starter 

In doing some research on upgrading my DAC (I've got a Gamma 1, prolly will go Gamma 2 eventually), I've started coming across people mentioning USB transports, but they seem to be a more subtle item than your standard DAC, amp, headphone categories.  Doing searches here and on google lead me to a wide range of only occasionally relevant information.

 

So my question is, well I guess it's two questions:

 

1.)  What's a USB transport?

 

2.)  What are some good examples in various price categories?  Am I looking at $10/$100/$1000 ranges?

 

My current configuration is FLAC -> Foobar2000 -> USB -> Gamma 1 DAC -> M^3 amp -> Earsonics SM3... and I really like it.  But as I've been thinking about upgrading to a Gamma 2, and reading that it might be a good idea to improve my transport before bothering to upgrade my DAC.  So what's the deal?

 

Or if you can even give me a few links to point me in the right direction.... ?

 

And thank you.

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post #2 of 5
7/26/10 at 6:59pm

I didn't that such a thing existed either, unless you are talking about a network player like a squeezebox or a usb soundcard.


Edited by khaos974 - 7/26/10 at 7:01pm
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post #3 of 5
7/26/10 at 7:53pm
Thread Starter 

Well, I'm getting the impression that they are basically USB to SPDIF converters that correct jitter and clock.... er I have no idea what I'm talking about (Even if I got that much right, I don't know what it means).  hahaha.

 

Basically when they come up in discussions, there's always someone that says "your setup is only as good as it's weakest link", implying the USB signal out of your computer is a weak link.  Also, the Gamma 2 is supposed to be substantially better via it's SPDIF coax inputs (vs its USB inputs), and I'm either going to be using a netbook as source, or whatever computer at work, so I won't have an option of upgrading the soundcard itself.  So I need something that will give me a good SPDIF coax output, and I'm guessing that's  what people mean by "USB transport", as opposed to just using the USB from your computer straight into the DAC.

 

Can anyone confirm if I'm right this far?  Anyone help me take it further with actual product recommendations?

 

EDIT: finding a few people recommending this: http://www.tweekgeek.com/_e/Portable_Computer_Audio/product/HiFace/HiFace_Turns_an_Ordinary_PC_into_an_Audiophile_Music_Server.htm

 

The price is certainly on the high end of what I was hoping to spend for a piece of the chain I never knew existed.  Is it that good?  It would certainly fit the criteria I think I have.


Edited by baglunch - 7/26/10 at 8:02pm
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post #4 of 5
7/26/10 at 8:01pm

Well, external USB devices acting as a transport merely take the digital signal as USB and convert it to a different digital form like SPDIF. If this is passed to another DAC, there isn't really any jitter-correction going on. All the jitter correction you hear will come from the other DAC. On the other hand, if the transport itself is used as an asynchronous DAC (like the Musiland Monitor 02 USD), then the jitter correction is applied. I would say that the main reason for a transport is convenience because not all computers have an optical out and your DAC of choice might not have USB in. Other than that, they are unnecessary.

 

For the $100 range, I would confidently say the Musiland Monitor 02 USD (~$120 new) is a good choice and the DAC section is excellent too. (Better than uDAC by far.)

 

Hope that helps :)

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post #5 of 5
7/29/10 at 11:24am
Thread Starter 

Any new thoughts on this?  Do the "Musiland Monitor 02 USD (~$120 new)" and the "M2Tech HiFace USB Interface" represent what's worth knowing about for getting SPDIF coax out of a computer that you can't or aren't allowed to replace the sound card on?

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