[ambush276]

i just bought a new laptop and i obviously do not want it to decode my sound with its crappy sound card..
 
i have a LiteAM dac.. but i need something that goes from USB (plug into the laptop) to an optical out to plug into the dac. I want something that will not touch the signal and allow for the dac to fully decode the signal and send it to the amp.. If i get something that uses optical is that the case???
 
i was looking at these two..
 
will these make work without touching the signal?
 
is one better than the other?
 
i am ONLY pluggn' it into the dac.. ??thanks!
 
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829270009
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829186002

 

[ambush276]

anyone..
 
i was to get something either expresscard or USB that has optical out that does not touch the sound.. i have a dac which i want the sound to be processed through etc...

 

[Bones13]

I googled USB to Toslink  and found this right off :
 
http://www.jr.com/turtle-beach/pe/TBS_MICROII/
 
this just does what you are looking for, and appears to be priced nicely.

 

[ambush276]

my question is theoretical...
 
 
do i need a high end sound card if im just using SPDIF... will the digital signal doesnt matter if i get a $20 or $500 sound card... the Spdif is carrying the digital signal not being processed.. ? or is it being processed?
 
i want something that will not touch the sound until it hits the dac.. from my computer (;

 

[Bones13]

Search this thread for jitter, and take the weekend to read up.  Many opinions.  In truth, only you will know if you like the music you get out of your system.
 
In general, optical is not as well regarded as Coax, or well done USB.  It does offer the advantage of not being electrically hooked up to a noisy computer.
 
And remember, you are converting USB to Toslink, which is translated in the dac for use by the DAC chips.  Lot of room for jitter introduction.
 
Don't get me wrong, I use optical out of my Mac to my Lavry DA10 on my home unit, no USB adapter needed.  I have upgraded my office unit to a Halide USB-Coax cable.  Improved the sound on that system.  I plan an update to the home unit sometime.  It will be an asynchronous USB DAC, most likely the Wyred4Sound Dac2.
 
The optical portion does not involve processing, but one must be vigilant with the computer setup, as a lot of processing can be present there.  Be sure you are getting bit perfect out.

 

[FallenAngel]

Sending audio through a USB interface which converts it to S/PDIF obviously "touches audio".

 

[ambush276]

what are you talkin about on the computer of "processing audio" i mean i know its physically seekin the file.. but is there anything i can do to have the DAC to do the work? certain music players? etc... ? i bought that SIg dac and i think from the USB should be fine and the optical should be ok.. but like you are saying.. is there something i can do to do minimally process the sound.. or is it hopeless.. I guess what im saying.. i want my Dac and Amp to be hte bottleneck not my computer / cheap ass usb optical thing

 

[digger945]

what are you talkin about on the computer of "processing audio" i mean i know its physically seekin the file.. but is there anything i can do to have the DAC to do the work? certain music players? etc... ? i bought that SIg dac and i think from the USB should be fine and the optical should be ok.. but like you are saying.. is there something i can do to do minimally process the sound.. or is it hopeless.. I guess what im saying.. i want my Dac and Amp to be hte bottleneck not my computer / cheap ass usb optical thing

no.

 

[FallenAngel]

Please read the digital audio primer in my signature to get a general understanding of the basics.
 
The basic idea is this - the computer reads the file as a data stream, an application "plays" the data stream by decoding it (whether it's an MP3, WMA, CDA, etc) and sending the digital audio stream (still in it's very basic format) to a processor, this is usually a sound card or other digital transport.  Depending on the operating system and other software installed, there could be other processing that goes on before the digital audio stream reaches the transport.  From the transport, it gets encoded again, usually into S/PDIF and sent to a digital receiver, which in turn sends it to a DAC.
 
The quality of all of the components listed above, from software to transport, play a part in the audio "chain".  The basic thing you should be looking for is a "bit-perfect" transport.  Lots of them around, from $25 sound cards to $500+ USB to S/PDIF converters (which in my opinion, is a waste of money, but others disagree and have their own opinion).  The bit-perfect part still means that the audio stream will not get tampered with, the rest is playing with timing accuracy (jitter).

 

[ambush276]

i read your article and i can see the differences between toslink and coaxial etc.. but what about this "bit-perfect" transport. Im looking for something that jsut goes from USB to toslink that does bit perfect transport...what would i need to get?

 

[ambush276]

how about this...
 
http://www.audiophileproducts.com/usbtospdif
 
 
remember i bought this....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829270009
 
will i see a difference with that one at the top ?