[koso]

I found the Red performed significantly better through AES then through USB.

Yes, I can agree with this.

 

[stosoorok]

@koso did you try I2S to Spring?

 

[koso]

@koso did you try I2S to Spring?

Yes I did. I2S is best sounding output of Red in my opinion, AES/EBU is second best.

 

[FOUNDERZERO]

Yes I did. I2S is best sounding output of Red in my opinion, AES/EBU is second best.

Did you compare SPDIF RCA to these? Curious if you heard any differences.

 

[alanb]

I'\d be interested in this as well.

 

[koso]

Did you compare SPDIF RCA to these? Curious if you heard any differences.

RCA Spdif is good as well, almost the same as AES. But this is dependent on input quality of used DAC. Spring 3 has very good all inputs I guess. The only output/ input which I dont test on any device is optical, because I dont have any good quality optical cable to do a fair comparison.

 

[GoldenSound]

Measurements are up: https://goldensound.audio/2023/02/09/holo-red-streamer-ddc-measurements/

TLDR: It's the lowest jitter and some of the lowest noise of any device I've tested. Absolutely incredible especially considering the featureset, well done Jeff!

 

[abase21]

Hello everybody,
..has someone compared the red to the "sotm sms-200 ultra" (SQ) - for me it is maybe interesting to use the my HQ-Player at 1,5 khz. The „Ultra§ is only stable up to 384

 

[Clemmaster]

Measurements are up: https://goldensound.audio/2023/02/09/holo-red-streamer-ddc-measurements/

TLDR: It's the lowest jitter and some of the lowest noise of any device I've tested. Absolutely incredible especially considering the featureset, well done Jeff!

Thank you so much for these.
Performance indeed looks state of the art!

If only the USB In was galvanically isolated... Oh well!

 

[GoldenSound]

Thank you so much for these.
Performance indeed looks state of the art!

If only the USB In was galvanically isolated... Oh well!

Would have been nice, though the issue is galvanic isolation adds significant cost and also space. So if wanting to keep it under $1000 I can see why they didn't.
FWIW though I could see none of the usual noise that often shows up when connecting DACs directly to the PC so it seems the filtering is still extremely effective.
I'll grab some noise comparisons of USB vs galvanically isolated in the morning.

 

[FooFighter]

Refering to the earlier discussion here I am still trying to imagine how some high end streamer like e.g Auralic will create a bigger stage presentation than Red or even Zen Stream (e.g by using galvanic Isolation).
My imagination reaches up to DACs and Amps creating such effects - but (bitperfect) digital transports?
Have never heard such high end stuff myself though

 

[McPh1st0]

@golden
Are there any sonic differences to be expected (for the better) If the Red is used in streamer mode (USB output) in comparison to standard Pi4? Dac in this case is Spring 3 Level 1. And what about I2S from Red (streamer mode) vs USB from Pi4?

 

[GoldenSound]

@golden
Are there any sonic differences to be expected (for the better) If the Red is used in streamer mode (USB output) in comparison to standard Pi4? Dac in this case is Spring 3 Level 1. And what about I2S from Red (streamer mode) vs USB from Pi4?

Depends on the DAC.
RED will have lower USB noise, which for some DACs may have an impact, but for stuff like spring 3 which has full galvanic isolation then no it won't make a difference.

USB vs I2S is situational. With USB your DAC is in charge of timing, there's no clock signal from the source, and the DACs internal clocks are running the show.
With I2S, the source device provides the clock signal so the quality of the I2S source has a direct impact on quality. Whether this is better or worse or no different will depend on whether the DAC's internal clocking is better than the source device and how it handles I2S inputs (some DACs run directly from that clock signal some will do stuff like buffer it and use their own clocks anyway).

With the spring 3 though you'll get best performance by using USB. I've not found any source that provides lower jitter than the internal clocking yet

 

[OneEyedHito]

Depends on the DAC.
RED will have lower USB noise, which for some DACs may have an impact, but for stuff like spring 3 which has full galvanic isolation then no it won't make a difference.

USB vs I2S is situational. With USB your DAC is in charge of timing, there's no clock signal from the source, and the DACs internal clocks are running the show.
With I2S, the source device provides the clock signal so the quality of the I2S source has a direct impact on quality. Whether this is better or worse or no different will depend on whether the DAC's internal clocking is better than the source device and how it handles I2S inputs (some DACs run directly from that clock signal some will do stuff like buffer it and use their own clocks anyway).

With the spring 3 though you'll get best performance by using USB. I've not found any source that provides lower jitter than the internal clocking yet

Your posts are always so informative, thanks. Now I am not sure if they are making me any smarter, but definitely more dangerous!

 

[Clemmaster]

Would have been nice, though the issue is galvanic isolation adds significant cost and also space. So if wanting to keep it under $1000 I can see why they didn't.
FWIW though I could see none of the usual noise that often shows up when connecting DACs directly to the PC so it seems the filtering is still extremely effective.
I'll grab some noise comparisons of USB vs galvanically isolated in the morning.

My audio setup is on a balanced isolation transformer, while my PCs are on a regular outlet, so I need the galvanic isolation.
USB isolation should get much cheaper with the introduction of TI's ISOUSB211 chip.