Headroom Desktop DAC USB vs. SPDIF?

[Yikes]

I’m getting a Headroom Desktop Portable and with the Home Module and the DAC. It should be arriving next week. It will see portable duty pretty much only for traveling, and then only if I’m sure that the TSA won’t confiscate it. So most of the time I plan on using it as my Bedroom Computer amplifier and DAC.

My question is concerning the use of the DAC. My current sound card does not have a digital output so to start I’ll have to use the USB input. How does the DAC using the USB input sound compared to when using a SPDIF input?

I have vast experience with D/A’s running SPDIF, but I’ve never tried one using a USB input. The audiophile in me feels that it is likely to be significantly inferior, but I have no empirical evidence to back up that feeling.

Opinions please?

 

[mrarroyo]

My ears are bad because I could not tell the diference (Micro Stack usb vs. optical). Sorry I can not be of much help. Perphas is because I do not know how to make iTunes work with the Chaintech AV710.

 

[Snake]

http://stereophile.com/headphones/406head/

Page 2

 

[TheSloth]

Those measurements were taken with the Max DAC which has upsampling and reclocking. Without those features, I expect the jitter measurements of the Desktop DAC through USB to be significantly worse.

I find the USB to be somewhat thin and lacking body, compared with SPDIF connections of either variety with the Desktop DAC.

Investment in optical output from your computer would be worthwhile.

 

[warrior05]

to get the best out of a usb dac is to make sure you are getting a bit-perfect feed to the dac. by default, windows upconverts to 48. kernel streaming or asio will bypass the kmixer and ensure you stay at 44.1.

 

[Snake]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSloth Those measurements were taken with the Max DAC which has upsampling and reclocking. Without those features, I expect the jitter measurements of the Desktop DAC through USB to be significantly worse.

Yes, as would I.

Quote:

Investment in optical output from your computer would be worthwhile.

ditto

 

[Snake]

Quote:

Originally Posted by warrior05 to get the best out of a usb dac is to make sure you are getting a bit-perfect feed to the dac. by default, windows upconverts to 48. kernel streaming or asio will bypass the kmixer and ensure you stay at 44.1.

You, my man, are awesome! Thanks for these tips - I'm still trying to figure out what my ZD can / can't do and this may change things!