[mauriceg]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if it matters what computer you have (or what specs your computer has) when using an external DAC using your computer's optical (or usb) out? Do you need anything special computer-wise to achieve the best possible sound quality or will pretty much any computer/soundcard do?
And when using USB, would the usb type or anything like that (2.0, 3.0) matter?
Thanks,
Maurice

 

[mauriceg]

Double

 

[mauriceg]

quick bump

 

[Billheiser]

Short version- no it doesn't matter. Usb 3.0 not needed. As long as the digital data gets out to your external DAC via optical or SPDIF or optical.
Longer version: using music player "engines" like Amarra or Decibel or others can improve the player function, and can handle hi res files of different file types (such as FLAC).
There are some other factors too that can optimize things but I'll leave that to the computer whiz guys around here.

 

[mauriceg]

Short version- no it doesn't matter. Usb 3.0 not needed. As long as the digital data gets out to your external DAC via optical or SPDIF or optical.
Longer version: using music player "engines" like Amarra or Decibel or others can improve the player function, and can handle hi res files of different file types (such as FLAC).
There are some other factors too that can optimize things but I'll leave that to the computer whiz guys around here.

Thanks so much!!!

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Hi everyone,
I was wondering if it matters what computer you have (or what specs your computer has) when using an external DAC using your computer's optical (or usb) out? Do you need anything special computer-wise to achieve the best possible sound quality or will pretty much any computer/sound card do?
And when using USB, would the USB type or anything like that (2.0, 3.0) matter?
Thanks,
Maurice

 
The only real and practical difference between USB or S/PDIF (optical & coaxial), is S/PDIF will work with your sound card features, where as USB bypasses sound card features.
So S/PDIF is more desirable if your into surround sound gaming.
USB is easier to setup and is fine for those basically in to music.
There are some detailed audio issues with USB vs optical vs coaxial, but i would think it not something that effects average every person practical audio issues.
I'm of the understanding that USB 2.0 has more then enough bandwidth to handle any audio traffic, so no practical advantage for USB 3.0, at least not that I've ever heard off. 

 

[mauriceg]

The only real and practical difference between USB or S/PDIF (optical & coaxial), is S/PDIF will work with your sound card features, where as USB bypasses sound card features.
So S/PDIF is more desirable if your into surround sound gaming.
USB is easier to setup and is fine for those basically in to music.
There are some detailed audio issues with USB vs optical vs coaxial, but i would think it not something that effects average every person practical audio issues.
I'm of the understanding that USB 2.0 has more then enough bandwidth to handle any audio traffic, so no practical advantage for USB 3.0, at least not that I've ever heard off. 

Thank you for your help!

 

[MohawkUS]

In my experience when you get to higher end gear/playback software it does. I use the JPLAY software(and would suggest trying their trial if you're interested) and I did a back to back comparison with three variables:
i5 2500K Gaming PC
i5 4200U Ultrabook
Ultrabook as 'control' PC, gaming as 'playback'

The later two sounded terrible to my ears, they were actually indistinguishable from each other as well. Can I tell you why I heard what I heard? No, but there are many on their forum tweaking their computers & custom building for audio only whom hear the same differences between their PCs and gaming PCs like mine. This is with playback through my UltraFi DAC, perhaps the DAC itself can negate this issue?

As per your question on connectors it is recommended to try using a USB hub which is not running any other devices. Figuring out which ports corespond to which hubs in your desktop is another matter entirely and I haven't really picked up on any differences myself save for some instability using USB 3.0 ports for various applications(however my motherboard is a P67 chipset and USB 3 is not native but provided by third party hardware/drivers which is most likely why this is the case.) As per USB v Optical v Coax, depends on the DAC. Implementation is key.