bluelans
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2011
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well done keep post
MPD supports S24_3LE format, so you can bypass the ALSA completely addressing the card with hw,0,0 (or whatever is your device number)
I'm sure other players do the same.
While I probably should have said "then in Linux it might be addressed in ALSA as a plughw device" , I believe your own statement is incorrect. It's not just a case of what format a particular Linux sound player supports (MPD, mplayer etc.) but also if this matches what the hardware supports.
In that same April 2011 issue of Stereophile, the V-Link is one of the Class A recommended components (p. 82).
Towards the end of the review, the V-Link was compared to the Halide Bridge:
"Well, as much as I would have liked to say that the $169 V-Link equaled the $450 Halide, with the Sibelius symphony the Halide did provide a slightly more transparent window on the Walthamstow Town Hall acoustic, with slightly more precisely defined stereo imaging. (Although, if I had to swear, the Halide's bass sounded a little less rich.) Reverting to the expensive glass AudioQuest TosLink did even matters up, the V-Link still sounding slightly richer than the Halide and the Halide still ahead in precision and transparency. But these are small differences in absolute terms- and with a DAC that offer better jitter rejection than the Benchmark, those differences may well vanish." (Stereophile, Vol 34, No. 4; April 2011, p 167).
........ PS . all this so I can play 24/96 that in reality I dont even think I need.
Yes, it makes sense!
What I meant is with hardware supporting 24 bit streaming (like Halide Bridge or V-Link) you can bypass the ALSA mixer and address the device with hw.
By the way, I'd love to compare my Bridge with the V-Link
That is exactly my setup. MPD > usb convertor > benchmark dac1.
The issue I have with being forced into 24bit samples is software trust. I know if I play a 16/44.1 flac into the trends, what goes in comes out. Ie it appears to be bit perfect.
I've looked at the mpd source and it appears just to be a shift from 16>24 (ie padded with 8x0s). Which is exactly what I want but what about other software? If there is more processing done, there is more risk of something going wrong. My hifi philosophy is always to keep it as simple as possible.
So is there anyone in the NE of England who has one of these? Then we can test and get the final defacto answer as MF tech support is worse than useless.
PS . all this so I can play 24/96 that in reality I dont even think I need.
Really, I don't think you need to worry about sound playback where bit padding from 16bits to 24bits takes place. Mixers and software volume controls are a concern, and do degrade playback SQ. But it's not just so you can play 24/96, it's the magic bullet of "async USB" you'll be paying for. Assuming of course it really is a magic bullet and there is a descernable difference between using your Trends convertor and the MF V-Link. In the end it's your ears and your money.
But back to the V-link. I'm happy with my DAC's adaptive USB input so I'm not convinced the V-link is for me yet. But if I change to say the new Rega DAC it would become a necessary purchase.
Really, I don't think you need to worry about sound playback where bit padding from 16bits to 24bits takes place. Mixers and software volume controls are a concern, and do degrade playback SQ. But it's not just so you can play 24/96, it's the magic bullet of "async USB" you'll be paying for. Assuming of course it really is a magic bullet and there is a descernable difference between using your Trends convertor and the MF V-Link. In the end it's your ears and your money.
lmf22-
thanks for the relay. This makes me happy. The Halide would have been my first choice, but at 3X the price of the v-link I went with the MF. I didn't want to be in the same boat with the m2tech/kingrex/etc boys when microsoft eventually rewrites the usb driver. There aren't a lot of fanboys for the v-link on head-fi like the audio-gd di. because there aren't any parts to swap or tweak IMO, but plug and play sweetness sounds good to me.
I have a Musical Fidelity X-DAC v8 with a USB input. Does anyone know if the USB interface on the X-DAC provides the same functionality as the V-LINK? I'm wondering if the V-LINK would improve the sound for my setup. Thanks.
....On my desktop, I can hear no difference if I use the usb galvanic isolator dongle (both data and power lines). Switching cables seems to make no difference. No problems. All is well in musicland. I am going to buy a powered usb hub for the laptop and see if it makes a difference.