[Zybane]

Quote:

After reading reviews in a couple of high end magazines...................reading  about what the reviewer is hearing has made me a believer ..................
Here is one review I could find online of the $500. STELLO U3 USB/SPDIF CONVERTER.......
 
http://www.aprilmusic.com/eng/bbs/bbsView.php?id=47&page=1&code=bbs_industry
 
Found another.....this one being the $169. MUSICAL FIDELITY V-LINK II
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Musical-Fidelity-M1DAC-M1HPA-and-V-Link-Async-USB-Converter-Review

Morfeeus, the answer is right in that second article you linked. http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Musical-Fidelity-M1DAC-M1HPA-and-V-Link-Async-USB-Converter-Review
 
That headphone amplifier in the review USB input stinks:
 
 
USB Input on M1HPA
Audio Stream Format Type Desc.

1. Format Type: 1 PCM
2. Number Of Channels: 2 STEREO
3. Sub Frame Size: 2
4. Bit Resolution: 16
5. Sample Frequency Type: 0x03 (Discrete)
6. Sample Frequency: 32000 Hz
7. Sample Frequency: 44100 Hz
8. Sample Frequency: 48000 Hz

Endpoint 0x02 - Isochronous Output

1. Address: 0x02 (OUT)
2. Attributes: 0x09 (Isochronous adaptive data endpoint)
3. Max Packet Size: 192
4. Polling Interval: 1 ms

 

ADAPTIVE USB input stinks!

 

"Listening to the adaptive input followed by the much better asynchronous input then the adaptive input one more time made it much easier to recognize how subpar the adaptive USB interface can sound. The V-Link's superior asynchronous USB interface plays a major role in the sound quality of this Musical Fidelity system."

 

The USB to SPDIF converter will make the sound better when using devices that have inferior USB setups. The Essence One already has this as it uses Asynchronous mode and PC isolation. The E1 already does what these USB to SPDIF converters do so they are not needed. 

 

[morfeeus]

Troll alert everyone!!!!!!!!...............enough spoken.........some people just need to chill.
 

 

[firev1]

Quote:

Troll alert everyone!!!!!!!!...............enough spoken.........some people just need to chill.
 

You need to read up some science.

 

[anetode]

Quote:

In theory, yes.

Which theory would that be?
 
Use optical, use USB - whatever's more convenient for you. Remember you were the one who purchased this product and its features are meant to accommodate your setup.
 
Or I could throw out some scientific factoids in a manipulative manner to sway your decision. Like, optical output is the only one among SPDIF and USB that offers electrical isolation! See? That means something, it might even be of interest to an engineer.
 
But in the end such factoids will have jack to do with what's audible. Either the connection will work without dropping out, or it won't.

 

[firev1]

Quote:

Which theory would that be?
 
Use optical, use USB - whatever's more convenient for you. Remember you were the one who purchased this product and its features are meant to accommodate your setup.
 
Or I could throw out some scientific factoids in a manipulative manner to sway your decision. Like, optical output is the only one among SPDIF and USB that offers electrical isolation! See? That means something, it might even be of interest to an engineer.
 
But in the end such factoids will have jack to do with what's audible. Either the connection will work without dropping out, or it won't.

In theory because 
 
1. I have not the equipment to do Jtest.
2. While the USB implementation of the E1 may be all good and achieve good jitter performance (Async USB), I really can't say the same for SPDIF since Asus does not provide any specs to say what strategies they use to attenuate jitter on the SPDIF side
3. Certainly while either connection will surely work without dropouts, going around saying "such factoids will have jack to do with what's audible" is a bold statement when neither of us know what goes on inside the E1 for the SPDIF side. On top of that there have been a few papers stating the limitations of SPDIF and the strategies to counter them.
4. While I have stated all this "factoids" above, in real world situations, E1 may still sound as good on SPDIF(and strategies to prevent jitter), that is why I say, "in theory"
 
 

 

[anetode]

Quote:

In theory because 
 
1. I have not the equipment to do Jtest.
2. While the USB implementation of the E1 may be all good and achieve good jitter performance (Async USB), I really can't say the same for SPDIF since Asus does not provide any specs to say what strategies they use to attenuate jitter on the SPDIF side
3. Certainly while either connection will surely work without dropouts, going around saying "such factoids will have jack to do with what's audible" is a bold statement when neither of us know what goes on inside the E1 for the SPDIF side. On top of that there have been a few papers stating the limitations of SPDIF and the strategies to counter them.
4. While I have stated all this "factoids" above, in real world situations, E1 may still sound as good on SPDIF(and strategies to prevent jitter), that is why I say, "in theory"
 
 

I was asking about the specific theory, like the real physical law or research or somesuch.
 
Sorry for the bold statement, I made it because at that moment I had reached a tolerance limit for audiophilia and it wasn't targeted specifically at you. Nonetheless I stand by that statement you quoted and I'd like to point out that Asus engineers aren't idiots, that they know far more about jitter effects, its audibility and prevention than the vast majority of forum-goers who discuss it. That's the last bold statement from me for a while in this thread as there are other sections of the forum where these technical topics are discussed in greater detail.

 

[leeperry]

 

E1 may still sound as good on SPDIF(and strategies to prevent jitter), that is why I say, "in theory"

A wild guess would be that the SHARC DSP reclocks the S/PDIF (and possibly all) inputs, because I tried coax off the ST and it sounded just as good as the USB input to my ears. There's no hard rule between USB and S/PDIF because of 1) reclocking 2) galvanic isolation 3) their result is highly implementation dependent...and C-Media aren't exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer either

 
This said, I read that the ST provided excellent jitter over its coax output, too bad it's not isolated...but isolation is known to add distortion and jitter, hah

 

[dave_pass]

So where did we land on US price for the E1?
 
Looks like MSRP is US $599.
 
Seems like it could be had for $530-$540 last week, but most sites sold out this weekend at that price.
 
Has anyone found a better deal in the US?
 
 

 

[Mutsu]

Just bought myself a 5m USB a/b cable, as the one provided with the E1 was not long enough to reach where I wanted to use my laptop.
 
The 5m cable doesn't work though, I guess it's too long for the single to pick up. On one USB port the device is picked up by my laptop as an unknown device and doesn't work.
 
I might try a 4 or 3m cable next. Anyone else experienced this issue using longer USB cables on the E1?

 

[GChiu]

Ok, here's my set-up:
 
1. Amazon Cloud > Realtek® ALC889 > TOSLINK > Essence One > Headphone-out (Volume dial at 9 o'clock) > AKG Q701
2. Amazon Cloud > Realtek® ALC889 > TOSLINK > Essence One (Volume dial at 12 o'clock) > Unbalamced-out > Behringer HA400 (Volume dial at 9 o'clock) > AKG K272 HD

3. Amazon Cloud > On-board USB 3.0 (ASUS P6X58D Premium) > Essence One > Headphone-out (Volume dial at 9 o'clock) > AKG Q701
4. Amazon Cloud > On-board USB 3.0 (ASUS P6X58D Premium) > Essence One (Volume dial at 12 o'clock) > Unbalamced-out > Behringer HA400 (Volume dial at 9 o'clock) > AKG K272 HD
 
For options 1 and 2, with UPSAMPLING on, I hear a faint ringing sound at the first 7 seconds of Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" from the MTV Unplugged version when using TOSLINK. I don't hear that with options 3 and 4. It sounds like someone put a few coins on top of a sub-woofer and the coins are vibrating with the heavy bass. Does anyone hear that? 
 
I can NOT hear the same effect with other songs with deep bass (e.g. Free by Marcus Miller, Chameleon by Herbie Hancock), so I am not sure whether it was caused by the difference between the TOSLINK and USB implementation.
 
Quote:

 

A wild guess would be that the SHARC DSP reclocks the S/PDIF (and possibly all) inputs, because I tried coax off the ST and it sounded just as good as the USB input to my ears. There's no hard rule between USB and S/PDIF because of 1) reclocking 2) galvanic isolation 3) their result is highly implementation dependent...and C-Media aren't exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer either

 
This said, I read that the ST provided excellent jitter over its coax output, too bad it's not isolated...but isolation is known to add distortion and jitter, hah

 

 

[leeperry]

Realtek, toslink, upsampling...none of this can sound good tbh. A friend of mine is in the market for a battery powered Hiface, I will try it on the One and report back. The built-in USB chip from C-Media doesn't seem to have two discrete low jitter clocks for 44.1 and 48kHz multiples like the Hiface, and it's not isolated either...so we'll see, but first we need to receive the army of AD797B's

 

[antberg]

is there somebody that tested it with a good rig that could tell if they are a worthy convenient  and competitive to buy instead a more expensive desktop amp/dac,instead useless conflicts?
i wish i could afford one and spend a whole week to compare,many people around here have to work hard to even buy just one reasonable amp/dac for their hard-worked-worthed headphones,then a forum should be here just for this purpose,to recommend people if what they are looking for is worth or not.

 

[GChiu]

Hmmm... I am pretty happy with this set-up, but obviously it's not good enough for you.

- The Realtek I have is an on-board sound card, so I know it's subpar, that's why I bought the Essence One. Doesn't processing the data through Essence One bypass Realtek?
- TOSLINK should be able to transfer 32bit audio data, so why would it be insufficient?
- ASUS seems rather proud of the Essence One's capability to perform 8X upsampling. I am not an engineer, but isn't that supposed to make the audio data sound better?
- I can't figure out how to get bit perfect to work on Win 7, that's why I used upsampling...
 
I did notice SIGNIFICANT improvement with my listening experience compared with my previous DAC. The Essence One is a keeper for me. 

 
 
However, I just can't figure out whether the "ringing" sound I hear with TOSLINK is nuance introduced by the TOSLINK implementation on the Essence One, or an existing data that was not audible through the USB. I don't think it's the source as I used the same source to transfer the same piece of data, just using different cables. I am a noob, so I am probably  just understanding this all wrong...
 
Quote:

Realtek, toslink, upsampling...none of this can sound good tbh. A friend of mine is in the market for a battery powered Hiface, I will try it on the One and report back. The built-in USB chip from C-Media doesn't seem to have two discrete low jitter clocks for 44.1 and 48kHz multiples like the Hiface, and it's not isolated either...so we'll see, but first we need to receive the army of AD797B's

 

 

[Chado]

GChiu - bit perfect out of the usb --> headphone port on E1 is working for me by using the ASIO plugin with foobar - http://www.foobar2000.org/components you can get it from there.  Then you have to select that as your output device in foobar preferences. 
 
Hopefully that helps with the Bit Perfect anyway - the light will come on when you have it working.  I don't think the source data really matters as I am using mostly FLAC / Apple Lossless files but the lossy MP3's I have work with it as well.  Someone can feel free to correct me but I think even the most terrible quality file would play 'bit perfect' once you get it setup in foobar.  I also have seen people talking about a winamp plugin and maybe other media player plugins - I'm using Foobar as it seems to be the fan favorite around here by people who know more than me .

 

[GChiu]

There are a few reviews out there comparing the Essence One to Benchmark DAC1, which is ~$1600. The conclusions have been favorable to the DAC1. So without listing with my own ears, I am guessing that the Essence One probably can't stack up against those +$1500 DACs.
 
 
Here's my VERY subjective opinion. I paid $590 for the Essence One. Comparing with my previous DAC worth $200, I don't think it is 3 times better, because I can't quantify how many times my experience was improved. But I feel the Essence One worth the $400 difference in price tag, every penny of it. The Essence One is quite impressive in the price range for the test data it publishes. I can't find another DAC in the same price range that meets my needs, I am a very particular person with limited resources. I won't be looking for a desktop DAC for a while. My next quest is for a portable DAC. 

 
At the end of the day, my opinion is MY opinion. I am keeping my Essence One, but don't blame me if you ended up not finding the same value in Essence One as I do. 

 
Quote:

is there somebody that tested it with a good rig that could tell if they are a worthy convenient  and competitive to buy instead a more expensive desktop amp/dac,instead useless conflicts?
i wish i could afford one and spend a whole week to compare,many people around here have to work hard to even buy just one reasonable amp/dac for their hard-worked-worthed headphones,then a forum should be here just for this purpose,to recommend people if what they are looking for is worth or not.