Musical Fidelity V-LINK USB SPDIF - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeperry 

 

...and they use a single clock for 44.1 and 48kHz multiples...

Where did you read that Lee? The ComputerAudiophile hands on report says. "Two fixed oscillators, one for rates based on 44.1 kHz and the other for rates based on 48 kHz is also the hallmark of a smart design". Are we talking about the same piece of gear?

Their tech-support told me "It does not use two discrete clocks for 44.1kHz and 48kHz multiples like on the Hiface."

Anyway, they were unable to tell me if it could pass-through AC3/DTS, so maybe you could crack it open and shoot a few pics?

And here, Steve N. said that measuring SNR in order to show the jitter impact simply wasn't a practical solution: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/446451/jitter-measurement#post_6724559

But what *truly* matters is how it sounds to you? and compared to what?

I'm at work and the FedEx website still says 'on truck for delivery'. I don't play surround sound or watch videos, but I'll grab a couple dts files and try to figure out how to play them to see if it works. I don't care about the jitter measurements, I just want to see if asynch sounds better than regular usb and see what the 24/96 fuss is all about, since my dac's usb input only does 16bit. As for the 'dirty' power on my laptop's battery - I'm galvanized baby.

Well, even my el cheapo Envy24HT s/card has got two separate crystals, doesn't sound too promising if the V-link only has one.  But I suspect there's quite few folk waiting on some "real world" feedback on how this gizmo performs.

As a Linux user I've passed on the hiface.  Even though the V-link is limited to 24bit/96Khz it is supposed to be driverless and work under any OS so it does give some folk a chance to see if "asynch USB"  really is "the one" without costing an arm and a leg.  It's an itch I'd like to scratch.

Hope to hear more about it soon ...

Just listening to the V-link now.

Running it through an old dacmagic II it sounds very good. The improvements are, more balance, clean deeper bass, improved soundstage positioning. Also much smoother but very clear.

Can only see one clock though.

pics! thanks! no components at the back of the PCB?

got any other transport to compare it against?

Nothing on the back,

At the moment can only compare to a sony cdp-xe330, optical out. But the v-link sounds closer to my Rega Planar 3 than the musiland usd which was to bright and synthetic for my taste. 

The v-link is richer in the lower mids without being congested. More analogue if you like.

Running on a msi wind, its prone to the occasional pop and crackle if you do other things other than just playing music.

Its seems to improve PRaT, 

Running in foobar with asio4all.

ok, sounds great! any chance you could try AC3/DTS pass-through please?

AC3/DTS bypass?

yup sending 5.1 AC3/DTS over S/PDIF, instead of PCM stereo. You'd need some sort of hometheater receiver, though.

Sorry I don't have any facility for 5.1 here.

Listening to the v-dac some more now, strikes me more and more just how analogue it sounds. The dacmagic 2 always sounded typically digital, a touch strident and harsh in the highs, but with the v-link transport it sounds richer and smoother but still clear. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wood 
 it sounds very good. The improvements are, more balance, clean deeper bass, improved soundstage positioning. Also much smoother but very clear.

 

 

My thoughts exactly.

I'm thrilled so far. Listened 'til about 1am this morning. Seems to give my K501's more bass and my Sennheisers more soundstage. Don't know what to attribute it to- asynch or s/pdif, but it feels like a definite winner. Plug and play. Only gave it a few minutes on foobar, since I've been using Mediamonkey4 beta with wasapi mostly now. No glitches there or with XMplay. Only problem was when I tried KS. It didn't work.

@leeperry  Now I see what you were talking about with galvanic isolator heat. I never had a problem with it heating up before, but now I do. My dac has a dedicated power supply so no power was flowing through the isolator, but now with the v-link in between which uses usb power, it gets hot. Took out the v-link and unplugged the ps from the dac so it then used the usb power and the isolator got hot. Now I'm running usb>v-link>dac and it sounds great without it.
 

Thanks for the pic Wood.  Unless it's hiding, there does seem to be only one xtal, but it looks like it's labeled XT2, which is curious.  What number is written on the Xtal's metal case?

Now  I'm wondering where that info about "two separate clocks came from". Surely review version of this gizmo weren't sent out with two in them, only for production models to be cut to one with one family of freqs being synthed? What is IC3, an opamp?

Now the question is does anyone have Linux to see if the device is correctly detected and how it is reported with a "lsusb -v" at the command line.

Anyway, I'm glad you like it, souding closer to a Rega Planar 3 cannot be bad. I have that TT, not that it's used these days, but can't see myself selling it.

I guess comparisons with the hiface may surface at some stage.

Originally Posted by Justin Uthadude 

 

Now I see what you were talking about with galvanic isolator heat. I never had a problem with it heating up before, but now I do. My dac has a dedicated power supply so no power was flowing through the isolator, but now with the v-link in between which uses usb power, it gets hot. Took out the v-link and unplugged the ps from the dac so it then used the usb power and the isolator got hot. Now I'm running usb>v-link>dac and it sounds great without it.
 

Oh indeed, ADuM5000 is said to get really warm when providing power.

Anyway, I don't see any pulse transformer or ferrite bead...or maybe "FB1" does the job?

I'd appreciate if you could run an AC3/DTS test please, as you previously mentioned.
 

Originally Posted by BrightSpark 

 

I'm wondering where that info about "two separate clocks came from". Surely review version of this gizmo weren't sent out with two in them, only for production models to be cut to one with one family of freqs being synthed? What is IC3, an opamp?

A good rule of thumb is to never believe a single word of what's written on computeraudiophile.com(the website that said that there are two discrete clocks).

swappable DIP8 packages are often used for updatable firmwares, like in in the HRT thingies: http://static1.headfonia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/hrt_streamer_IIplus_07.jpg

Does that mean that they've licensed their async USB technology from HRT? maybe, maybe not. But I think I can see the same TI USB controller...and quite honestly, writing firmware for this chip does seem to take rocket science. WaveLength seems to be asking for HUGE license fees(look at the Halide), so HRT looks like a more viable async USB solution provider.

For the record, I find I am gravitating towards the coax output, through my ESL63 speakers it sounds more open than the opt out. I am not hearing anything that might be attributed to noise from the laptop. I am not tempted to stick a TX in the box just yet, that FB1, that looks like a ferrite bead, might be doing the job.

Lots of room in that box for modding, but for the moment it doesn't sound like it needs anything doing.

A few hours on it now, really sounds very analogue, like a nos dac but with extension and dynamics.

I think comparison to other async devices on very high end systems would be needed to discover if the v-link has any limitations, on my temporary rig it is indispensable.