[jr41]

My new computer based listening station, it changed quite a bit since last time:
 

​

 

​

 

​

 
Audio related gear in the pictures:
 
Adam A3X Active Near Field Studio Monitor (just got these and they're fantastic, wonderful clear, detailed and big sound)
Nuforce UDAC II (serving as a DAC and convenient volume control for the monitors and as the amp for my HD 25s)
Sennheiser HD 650 and HD 25-1 II
Little Dot MK IV SE and DAC_I

 

[Jubei]

Very nice. Would love to own a pair of Adams but realistically, I have no space on my PC desk even for these, thus am stuck with 2.1 PC speakers .... still using an ancient Altec Lansing 221.
 
Quote:

My new computer based listening station, it changed quite a bit since last time:
 

​

 

​

 

​

 
Audio related gear in the pictures:
 
Adam A3X Active Near Field Studio Monitor (just got these and they're fantastic, wonderful clear, detailed and big sound)
Nuforce UDAC II (serving as a DAC and convenient volume control for the monitors and as the amp for my HD 25s)
Sennheiser HD 650 and HD 25-1 II
Little Dot MK IV SE and DAC_I

 

[jr41]

@Jubei
Thanks. I got lucky with this desk, I saved it before it was about to be thrown out as I figured the two drawers would make perfect monitor stands

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

bnc>coaxial>usb>optical

 
Thanks for sharing your opinion but there is no set ranking, it just depends on implementation. S/pdif, even optical, is better out of this HP than USB using iTunes through standard Windows audio. USB can be better than all forms of s/pdif if implemented the right way (asynchronous), or even worse than optical if implemented in an adaptive fashion. And don't forget the pro audio Firewire interfaces, they work very well also and are consistently ranked near the top.
 

 

[revolink24]

Quote:

Quote:

Hey my HP has built-in optical audio out!
 
 
Like a Mac y'know 

bnc>coaxial>usb>optical
 

But BNC connectors are coax.

 

[flipdac]

College rig 

 

 
Hot Audio USB DAC on the way

 

[dfkt]

Quote:

bnc>coaxial>usb>optical
 

Firewire >>>>
 

 

[Baird GoW]

Quote:

 
Quote:

bnc>coaxial>usb>optical

 
Thanks for sharing your opinion but there is no set ranking, it just depends on implementation. S/pdif, even optical, is better out of this HP than USB using iTunes through standard Windows audio. USB can be better than all forms of s/pdif if implemented the right way (asynchronous), or even worse than optical if implemented in an adaptive fashion. And don't forget the pro audio Firewire interfaces, they work very well also and are consistently ranked near the top.
 

Have fun... I'm guessing there must be zero bends in your optical cable then. Also like im about to tell the other guy BNC = TRUE 75ohm.
a really quick look seems like most of these people agree with me that bnc is number one http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/classic-digital-inputs-ouputs-Aes-vs-Bnc-vs-Rca-vs-Toslink-Does-it-matter
EDIT: from what I'm reading fire wire seems good too

 
Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Hey my HP has built-in optical audio out!
 
 
Like a Mac y'know 

bnc>coaxial>usb>optical
 

But BNC connectors are coax.

BNC = TRUE 75ohm just learned this not long ago

I'm actually mad about this because kingwa won't switch out the usb for bnc anymore on the NFB-10WM. So now I'll have to use the spdif out on the digital interface

 

[grokit]

RCA coaxial can be 75ohm as well, and there are plenty of BNC-terminated coaxial cables and adapters out there that are not certified 75 ohm. It's the same cable with different connectors; 75 ohm is always desirable with coax, whether it has BNC or RCA termination. Yeah, one of my Toslink cables is real glass fiber.

 

[revolink24]

Quote:

RCA coaxial can be 75ohm as well, and there are plenty of BNC-terminated coaxial cables and adapters out there that are not certified 75 ohm. It's the same cable with different connectors; 75 ohm is always desirable with coax, whether it has BNC or RCA termination. Yeah, one of my Toslink cables is real glass fiber.

This. It's just that many of the RCA connectors designed for coax are not 75 ohm. Some are.

 

[FallenAngel]

RCA by design cannot be 75 ohms, but it really REALLY doesn't matter as in 99% of commercial gear, a simple pair of wires (not 75 ohm coax) run from the connector to the PCB and the PCB traces certainly aren't 75 ohm.
 
Async vs Adaptive USB : whole other story.  Async USB is still not properly buffered or error-corrected (which should really have been done when drivers were written, but I'm an optimistic software engineer...)

 

[BobSaysHi]

Quote:

RCA by design cannot be 75 ohms, but it really REALLY doesn't matter as in 99% of commercial gear, a simple pair of wires (not 75 ohm coax) run from the connector to the PCB and the PCB traces certainly aren't 75 ohm.
 
Async vs Adaptive USB : whole other story.  Async USB is still not properly buffered or error-corrected (which should really have been done when drivers were written, but I'm an optimistic software engineer...)

*brain explodes*

 

[grokit]

That's weird, Blue Jeans sells the "Belden 1694A "Brilliance" precision digital video coaxial cable, a 75 ohm coax" with whichever connectors you want:
 
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/digital-audio/index.htm
 
Maybe when they put the RCA connectors on they lose 75 ohm certification somehow, but I don't think so. There was all kinds of consternation on the HiFace threads regarding the scarcity of 75 ohm RCA/BNC & BNC/RCA adapters, but they were available. One of those two kinds of adapters is much harder than the other to find in 75 ohm though.

 

[Baird GoW]

believe what you want... I've bought 75ohm rca's to make cables with but I know that they really weren't 75ohm. Since the connectors say they are 75ohm BJC can say they are...

edit: Also my friend got a hiface and says it was a flavor of the month... kinda like I fell for the flavor of the month (was actually about a year) saying that the DAC makes more difference than the amp which I now see definitely isn't true...  This is just his and my opinion though

 

[grokit]

How on Earth can they get away with that!