[DoYouRight]

I dont believe in the "sound differences" really between the two, but I do want to keep my vinyl rips in 24/96 flac from my uncles lp collection, which now takes up about 1.5 TBs of my externals. I just want the easiest and best solution for my system so when its all done and setup I can forget about it. I snagged a transit also so I will compare it and if I don't hear a difference I will return the Bel Canto.

It was mainly because it has BNC 75ohm which 1up said trumps optical. So it is not a matter of anything but usb > whatever in this case being BNC or optical spdif

EDIT: I might open up the Bel Canto and wire the output directly to the Buffalo32s board instead of using a cable from BNC - BNC. And the transit the same way on a mux board to do quick tests of each. Unless a cable would sound different.

 

[DoYouRight]

I just read a long post about USB vs SPDIF

The State of USB Audio by Alan Taffel | Computer Audiophile

Now if you read all the comments, it states companies like Wavelength and Ayre who have the "best" implementation of USB would not send units to the reviewer, well wavelength sent one and demanded it back after knowing he did not have a SuperPower MAC with SSD drives and droves of ram.

This further adds my desire to have a Buffalo32s and the Bel Canto, because If I just bought an Ayre I would be stuck with ONLY usb. And without trying all of this gear, it is hard to throw down a large sum on only 1 input. Anyone else's ideas?

 

[1UP]

There's full info on the debunking of the article and a rebuttal on the Computer Audiophile forum

 

[FallenAngel]

You're incredibly obsessive, might as well admit it and realize that the only way you are going to get anywhere is by buying all the different options and picking the one YOU like best.

 

[1UP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif You're incredibly obsessive, might as well admit it and realize that the only way you are going to get anywhere is by buying all the different options and picking the one YOU like best.

Agree; too many cross-posts, too many questions, but all the same question!

 

[tim3320070]

Musiland Monitor 01 anyone? 24/192 via USB with RCA and BNC output.
USB Digital Sound Card - Musiland Monitor 01 USD - eBay (item 260412600017 end time Jul-17-09 00:06:03 PDT)

 

[DoYouRight]

I guess so, when I got into it and just wanted to have the option of toslink from my laptop and my expresscard doesnt work with ubuntu, started an obsession to get the vinyl rips to be good, now great. USB audio is ALOT more of a pain than spdif. And considering the PITA of programming that TS chip many companies don't do it.

I am REALLY looking forward to USB2.0 standards for audio that were just released, maybe someone will develop something easier to implement on usb 2.0

 

[morphsci]

Based upon how the Sabre32 handles SPDIF input, I do not see any advantage of using the Bel Canto over the M-Audio transit taking the SPDIF off the board and directly into the SPDIF input of the Sabre32. Perhaps I am missing something.

 

[DoYouRight]

True, but I like the idea of just throwing a usb cable into whatever laptop is around. It is obsessive and I may find I like running spdif better with a transit, the Bel Canto just seems really nice