[khaos974]

My MB is not from big manufacturer like ASUS.  It's a Taiwanese brand, model MP-A3GM-GT3
 
http://www.magic-pro.com/product/socketAM3/A3GM-GT3.htm (in Chinese)
 
I dun have any audio use PSU or DAC.
 
My question is as follow if I didn't make it clear enough.
 
Are there any difference in sound quality if rigs are connect the following ways?
1.  Desktop computer ► USB to S/PDIF converter (no brand, cheap one, or on-board sound card with S/PDIF out) ► DAC ► Head-Amp ► Headphone
 
2.  Desktop computer ► costly USB to S/PDIF converter (say M2tech hiFACE) ► DAC ► Head-amp ► Headphone.
 
Assumptions:
1. same track of music being played in both cases (say 24b/48k)
2. the cheap USB to S/PDIF converter support the sampling rate and depth of the music being played without upsampling. (i.e. native 24b/48k in this example)
3. DAC, Head-amp and headphone are the same in both cases.
 
 

The first sentence is quite funny considering that Asus is a Taiwanese brand.

There could be some difference if your DAC is absolutely ****ty at dealing with incoming jitter, but I wouldn't buy a DAC with bad jitter rejection in the first place.

 

[J@CKY]

Quote:

The first sentence is quite funny considering that Asus is a Taiwanese brand.

There could be some difference if your DAC is absolutely ****ty at dealing with incoming jitter, but I wouldn't buy a DAC with bad jitter rejection in the first place.

 
Haha... ya... mis-wording, I knew that ASUS is Taiwanese, but the brand of my MB is way smaller, I couldn't find an official English page of my MB... 

 
So, you are suggesting that the main difference would only be about jittering?  In terms of other aspect of sound quality won't be much different?
 
 

 

[khaos974]

 
Haha... ya... mis-wording, I knew that ASUS is Taiwanese, but the brand of my MB is way smaller, I couldn't find an official English page of my MB... 

 
So, you are suggesting that the main difference would only be about jittering?  In terms of other aspect of sound quality won't be much different?
 
 

Jitter, not jittering, see

And yes, that would be the only difference, any computer with a digital out is able to output a bit perfect signal, ie one that corresponds to the audio file bit to bit. The only difference left would be the timing of the 1s and 0s, that's jitter. If a DAC isn't good enough to reject the incoming jitter, it simply isn't doing it job.

 

[drez]

If you count out the effects of computer hardware and software, you may as well count out the DAC chip, Digital to digital transport setup, digital transfer system (toslink, spdif I2s), music output format (ASIO, WASAPI, KS, DS, WAVEOUT etc.) amplifier etc.  The main arguement behind "jitter doesn't matter" is that the distortion created by the jitter is in almost all cases below human perception, or even the noise floor of the equipment , and that blind tests cannot prove any audible effects with real world jitter figures.  You may as well believe this and not worry about dac chips, music players or anything else, and just enjoy the music and save money 

 

[Willakan]

 
Quote:

If you count out the effects of computer hardware and software, you may as well count out the DAC chip, Digital to digital transport setup, digital transfer system (toslink, spdif I2s), music output format (ASIO, WASAPI, KS, DS, WAVEOUT etc.) amplifier etc.  The main arguement behind "jitter doesn't matter" is that the distortion created by the jitter is in almost all cases below human perception, or even the noise floor of the equipment , and that blind tests cannot prove any audible effects with real world jitter figures.  You may as well believe this and not worry about dac chips, music players or anything else, and just enjoy the music and save money 

Yes, because saying jitter is heavily overstated as a problem is directly analogous to saying "Everything sounds the same." And for the record, a fair chunk of the stuff listed there DOES sound the same.
 
 

 

[drez]

so which one sound different, and why does it sound different?

 
Hmm well I guess transport can sound different because of different upsampling algorithm, many people tend to suggest most modern music players sound the same if they don't upsample, same with output format.  How about digital transfer method (SPDIF, TOSLINK, I2S)  I wouldn't claim to be able to pass a blind test on these - but I haven't thoroughly compared enough to have a strong opinion.
 
I guess I may have oversimplified there.
 
For a test though I may try comparing transport systems without upsampling - would be a rude shock if they sound the same.

 

[Willakan]

The majority of transports don't do anything with the digital signal - the clue is in the name. As for transfer protocol, S/PDIF TOSLINK (optical) and S/PDIF coaxial transmit data in essentially the same format and combine the clock with the data in the same way. I2S separates the clock and data, so theoretically is 'superior', but not conceivably audibly superior - perhaps not even measurably superior if the interfaces used for transmission format comparison are well designed.

 

[Prog Rock Man]

Quote:

 
 
 
I can only report these anecdotes.
 
The C-media usb transport integrated into my Constantine+ is noticeably inferior to optical from my dedicated music computer.
 
The USB, Blue Thingee Transport (PCM2707), using either the optical (for isolation) or coaxial outputs sounds like the optical input from the music computer.
 
My Stello DA100 uses a PMC2707 implementation for USB transport but sounds noticeably leaner than the PMC2707 implementation in the BCT, and again, the Thingee manages to sound indistinguishable from optical out of the music computer.
 
The HiFace USB transport sounds noticeably cleaner than the other digital converters. 
 
It is also worthwhile to mention that the stock HiFace doesn't play well with upsampling DACs.
 

 
 

The point is, are those differences caused by the digital part or the analogue part of the component?
 
 
I say if there are differences they are caused by the analogue part.

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

The point is, are those differences caused by the digital part or the analogue part of the component?
 
 
I say if there are differences they are caused by the analogue part.

I don't think the transports have an analogue part.
 
You don't think the differences are caused by the various implementations?