johnjen
Headphoneus Supremus
An observation of USB vs AOIP.
USB is convenient, near universal, and 'inexpensive' to implement.
I mean you can go to target or malmart or staples (etc.) and get a perfectly usable USB cable.
And if you think that the $14.95 cable MUST be better, well, because that $8.49 cable, just can't be that good, Can It?
For many this is more than enough.
You get to play your music with little fuss nor muss.
BUT,
USB was never designed nor meant to handle streaming, nor audio, let alone AudioPhoolerly levels of performance.
It's for keyboards and mice and printers etc.
AOIP is just about a perfect opposite.
It's fussy to an extreme, obscure, and expensive.
Even music stores that sell to pro audio guys usually don't know much about AOIP, nor networked audio (there are exceptions, especially online).
It certainly isn't mainstream, nor much embraced even by those with a technical bent.
And the thing is Digital Audio is just as susceptible to 'external and unwanted influences' as tweako analog is, perhaps even more so, especially while using USB, and in ways that we are just now ferreting out.
That is why there has been a steady increase in USB 'fixer devices' of all sorts types, natures and extremes ever since the Wyrd Schiit surfaced.
And the proliferation of the number of these devices doing pretty much the same thing (cleaning up the signal coming from the player's hardware (computer)) AND that using multiples of them in series also helped, was a clear indication that troubles lurk just under the surface while using USB for streaming digital audio.
AND that using this same tactic, even in an AOIP setup results in 'Better' SQ, just points to the "susceptible to 'external and unwanted influences'" that exists in all of digital audio.
And this too, we are ferreting out, meaning we are finding those specific technical aspects that contribute, in a major way, to 'Better' SQ in the digital realm.
So why AOIP?
It's 'Better' from a SQ perspective in every way I use to describe 'Better'.
The first time I heard about it was from Musiqboy who just started raving and then brought up the topic in RB2013's thread from where it started getting more attention.
It really hasn't stopped, but there are more and more who are leaving USB audio and all of these 'fixer devices' (DDC's, bare boards, tweako clocks, and a mess of wires on their desk…),
behind and not looking back.
All because the techno stuff is cool and all but that's not what this is all about.
It IS about a step up in SQ and for some a Giant step up in SQ.
As Musiqboys sez
"USB AIN't GOT NOTHIN' ON AOIP!!!"
And I agree 1001%
And yeah right now its sorta 'rough around the edges' and expensive and fussy to get working 'properly', but for some those quirks are just the what ya gotta do to make it happen.
And we are early in this unfolding of AOIP as a replacement/substitute/improvement for USB Audio.
JJ
USB is convenient, near universal, and 'inexpensive' to implement.
I mean you can go to target or malmart or staples (etc.) and get a perfectly usable USB cable.
And if you think that the $14.95 cable MUST be better, well, because that $8.49 cable, just can't be that good, Can It?
For many this is more than enough.
You get to play your music with little fuss nor muss.
BUT,
USB was never designed nor meant to handle streaming, nor audio, let alone AudioPhoolerly levels of performance.
It's for keyboards and mice and printers etc.
AOIP is just about a perfect opposite.
It's fussy to an extreme, obscure, and expensive.
Even music stores that sell to pro audio guys usually don't know much about AOIP, nor networked audio (there are exceptions, especially online).
It certainly isn't mainstream, nor much embraced even by those with a technical bent.
And the thing is Digital Audio is just as susceptible to 'external and unwanted influences' as tweako analog is, perhaps even more so, especially while using USB, and in ways that we are just now ferreting out.
That is why there has been a steady increase in USB 'fixer devices' of all sorts types, natures and extremes ever since the Wyrd Schiit surfaced.
And the proliferation of the number of these devices doing pretty much the same thing (cleaning up the signal coming from the player's hardware (computer)) AND that using multiples of them in series also helped, was a clear indication that troubles lurk just under the surface while using USB for streaming digital audio.
AND that using this same tactic, even in an AOIP setup results in 'Better' SQ, just points to the "susceptible to 'external and unwanted influences'" that exists in all of digital audio.
And this too, we are ferreting out, meaning we are finding those specific technical aspects that contribute, in a major way, to 'Better' SQ in the digital realm.
So why AOIP?
It's 'Better' from a SQ perspective in every way I use to describe 'Better'.
The first time I heard about it was from Musiqboy who just started raving and then brought up the topic in RB2013's thread from where it started getting more attention.
It really hasn't stopped, but there are more and more who are leaving USB audio and all of these 'fixer devices' (DDC's, bare boards, tweako clocks, and a mess of wires on their desk…),
behind and not looking back.
All because the techno stuff is cool and all but that's not what this is all about.
It IS about a step up in SQ and for some a Giant step up in SQ.
As Musiqboys sez
"USB AIN't GOT NOTHIN' ON AOIP!!!"
And I agree 1001%
And yeah right now its sorta 'rough around the edges' and expensive and fussy to get working 'properly', but for some those quirks are just the what ya gotta do to make it happen.
And we are early in this unfolding of AOIP as a replacement/substitute/improvement for USB Audio.
JJ
