[haveblue]

My motherboard has both optical and coaxial outs:
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128419
 
I realize that USB DACs bypass the onboard sound, but if I were to get a DAC with SPDIF inputs and hook them up directly to my motherboard, my onboard sound card would be a part of the audio loop, correct?

 

[SP Wild]

To a minimal amount - not at all in the analogue domain.  I always prefer on board fibre optic out than a generic usb dac connection.  Use Asio, use foobar, upsample to 48khz with dithering on - sounded a lot better going into the Bryston DAC than its USB input.

 

[Hybrys]

Quote:

To a minimal amount - not at all in the analogue domain.  I always prefer on board fibre optic out than a generic usb dac connection.  Use Asio, use foobar, upsample to 48khz with dithering on - sounded a lot better going into the Bryston DAC than its USB input.

It's not fibreoptic.  It's optical.
 
Don't use ASIO4ALL.  Use ASIO if you can with native drivers, if not, WASAPI (Vista/Win7) or KS.
 
Resampling from 44.1 to 48 may produce a negative effect.  You definitely won't be getting bitperfect sound out anymore.  (And this step defeats the purpose of WASAPI/ASIO/KS in an audio output only situation.)

 

[SP Wild]

Most on board cards are locked at 48khz digital output.  I have two computers, one has SoundmaxHD and other realtek - both are locked at 48khz.  You're better off resampling 44.1khz with a quality software resampler to 48Khz - so the onboard doesn't do its own crappy resampling - which it does if the output is not exactly 48khz.

 

[flaming_june]

Anyways, to original question, yes, it goes through onboard sound.

 

[plonter]

Quote:

Anyways, to original question, yes, it goes through onboard sound.

so usb is the only way to bypass everything inside?

 

[SP Wild]

16/48 khz usb sounded inferior to onboard digtal in my equipment.

 

[plonter]

i still don't fully understand something,i would like you guys to explain it to me like i am a 6 years old.  
if the "onboard" sound card is actually a part of the motherboard...and the usb output of the computer is also coming from the motherboard,than what is the difference between the two? (is there any difference at all?)     
i mean..if i can get the on board spdif out to work with wasapi,shouldn't it be the same like using wasapi with usb?

 

[SP Wild]

Using wasapi or asio with onboard digital (not analogue, an important difference) is superior to generic USB.  The onboard has a better powersupply and bus integration with motherboard (occupies dedicated PCI lane - expansion port), than raw USB.  Why do some dacs have a generic USB?  Not for sound quality but for conveniance - every PC has USB - not all has digital out. 
 
When USB is not generic and is incorporated correctly (Async), USB will in the future, be bettered by none in timing control.

 

[plonter]

Quote:

Using wasapi or asio with onboard digital (not analogue, an important difference) is superior to generic USB.  The onboard has a better powersupply and bus integration with motherboard (occupies dedicated PCI lane - expansion port), than raw USB.  Why do some dacs have a generic USB?  Not for sound quality but for conveniance - every PC has USB - not all has digital out. 
 
When USB is not generic and is incorporated correctly (Async), USB will in the future, be bettered by none in timing control.

can you please explain (shortly and simply) what is "generic" usb and what is "async"?

 

[plonter]

Quote:

i still don't fully understand something,i would like you guys to explain it to me like i am a 6 years old.  
if the "onboard" sound card is actually a part of the motherboard...and the usb output of the computer is also coming from the motherboard,than what is the difference between the two? (is there any difference at all?)     
i mean..if i can get the on board spdif out to work with wasapi,shouldn't it be the same like using wasapi with usb?

by the way...i would still be happy to get an answer to my question above.  

 

[SP Wild]

When you see a dac with a USB limited to 16/48, this is a generic USB.  Other Dacs have 24/96 USB (Benchmark, Bel Canto) is better.  The absolute best is "Asynchronous" 24/192 USB (HiFace, Ayre, Wavelength).
 
The difference is the clock and timing.
 
With the car engine analogy,  Early cars had it's engine spark timing mechanically linked (slaved) to the engine (the clock) - this was inferior (generic USB), because mechanical wear and tear affect the timing of the spark - the computer affects the timing of the audio data whenever the hard-drive kicks in, a software process is processing, wireless activity - etc.
 
Modern cars are different.  A computer reads the bits output of sensors that read the engine speed - the computer sends its own timing of spark programmed into it - this program times the spark to the engine - regardless of engine wear.  The spark timing is no longer "slaved" to the engine.  The clock is no longer the engine - it is a dedicated electronic component - dedicated to timing.  This is Asynchronous data transfer - or Async USB - superior timing.

 

[plonter]

Quote:

When you see a dac with a USB limited to 16/48, this is a generic USB.  Other Dacs have 24/96 USB (Benchmark, Bel Canto) is better.  The absolute best is "Asynchronous" 24/192 USB (HiFace, Ayre, Wavelength).
 
The difference is the clock and timing.
 
With the car engine analogy,  Early cars had it's engine spark timing mechanically linked (slaved) to the engine (the clock) - this was inferior (generic USB), because mechanical wear and tear affect the timing of the spark - the computer affects the timing of the audio data whenever the hard-drive kicks in, a software process is processing, wireless activity - etc.
 
Modern cars are different.  A computer reads the bits output of sensors that read the engine speed - the computer sends its own timing of spark programmed into it - this program times the spark to the engine - regardless of engine wear.  The spark timing is no longer "slaved" to the engine.  The clock is no longer the engine - it is a dedicated electronic component - dedicated to timing.  This is Asynchronous data transfer - or Async USB - superior timing.

ny dac takes only 16/44.1 through usb (but it also have optical and coax which can handle 32-96 input) but it than takes the usb input and upsample it internally to 24/192 with an analog devices 1896 async' chip that also reclock the data.   in that case,is it really matter if i got a generic (16/44.1) usb input?

 

[SP Wild]

Its crap, I stand by this.

 

[xnor]

Sorry, SP Wild, but asynchronous isn't always better nor is a higher sampling rate or sample size....
Most of the music is mastered as 16/44.1, and resampling can only degrade the signal.
 
Just because something is generic doesn't mean that it's worse than expensive custom implementations, which only make sense for recording and processing anyway. (or audiophiles :s)
 
 
Quote:

Using wasapi or asio with onboard digital (not analogue, an important difference) is superior to generic USB.  The onboard has a better powersupply and bus integration with motherboard (occupies dedicated PCI lane - expansion port), than raw USB.

Pure nonsense.
 
And please show us that most onboard sound cards are locked to 48 kHz... maybe you're confusing this with the Windows Mixer's default format, which can be freely configured starting with Vista.
 
 
Anyway I can only disagree with every single post you made here...
 
 
 
 
Quote:

Its crap, I stand by this.

Do you even know which device he is talking about? More nonsensical generalizations please!