[dshea_32665]

I am getting confused. When reading people's posts comparing the M-Audio Transit to various other DACs and Soundcards, people often seem to insert the Sonica as an equivalent substitute in the comparison. Are these cards the same? I know the Sonica isn't made anymore, but wasn't it selling at half the price as the Transit is now, and wouldn't that imply that the Transit is a better DAC?

Can anybody clarify the differences between the two to me?

dshea

 

[Wodgy]

The Sonica and the Transit (and the OptoPlay) are similar in many ways.

From a software perspective, both the Sonica and Transit have drivers that allow them to output a digital signal in a clean, bit-perfect fashion. You'd think every sound device could do this, but in actuality only a minority of devices do this properly. The Transit also has driver support for ASIO; the Sonica doesn't.

From a hardware perspective, there are some differences. The Transit has a line in; the Sonica doesn't. They both use DACs manufactured by AKM Semiconductor, but the part numbers and specs for the DACs are slightly different. The biggest difference is that the Sonica's DAC is connected directly to the audio out jack. The Transit has an op-amp between the DAC and the audio out jack. This enables the Transit to drive longer cables and make an effort at driving headphones; the Sonica cannot do this. On the other hand, some people feel that op-amps potentially degrade the signal quality, so some people feel that the Sonica may have a small edge in sound quality. It really depends on your gear and your ears.

The AudioTrak Optoplay is essentially a Transit in another case with slightly different drivers.

 

[dshea_32665]

Thanks for the explanation. I am using the Transit mainly as a USB connection to an AOS Piccolo I have just ordered. Just trying to find out more about this link in the system, or if I would need to upgrade to something like the Waveterminal USB device at some point. My iBook only has USB out and no Card slots.

Your right the Transit can drive my Ety 4S's without an amp, but I also have an amp ordered as well. Thanks again for the info.

dshea

 

[commando]

I found when I use my pioneer DVD player's optical out I get more bass than when I use the sonica. I would trust the hardware DVD to be bit perfect before the sonica - but could anyone shed any light on this?

 

[Hello]

Some of the sonica drivers are bit-perfect and some aren't -- unfortunately, I do not remember the version of the drivers that are bit perfect. It was mentioned here, so a search will probably give the answer.

 

[commando]

The 1.2.0.5 drivers are the ones reputed to be bit perfect and the ones I use - I posted them on my website in case anyone else wants them. I have no idea how to test if the output's bit perfect or not, nor do I really care that much to be honest

 

[Wodgy]

Bit-perfect just means that the data stream is intact. The other aspect to a good transport is low jitter. Several people have reported that the Sonica/Transit is relatively high in jitter.

This isn't an issue for people who have DACs that reclock the input signal (e.g. Benchmark DAC1, Bel Canto DAC2) but it will affect the sound quality of DACs that derive their clock from the input data stream (e.g. AOS' Piccolo and PPA DAC). My homebrew AD1852 DAC is in the latter group and I have also noticed a slight tonal shift when using the Sonica for input versus my DVD player. Similarly Iron_Dreamer has reported similar sound quality differences between various sound cards with different amounts of jitter when used as a transport to the Piccolo.

That said, this is a relatively small issue in the grand scheme of things. Also, as far as I know, there are no commercial USB solutions that have digital outs with much less jitter than the Sonica/Transit/Optoplay.

 

[merlock]

Does the transit/sonica output a bit perfect stream with any media software or only with media software that supports ASIO? I'm interested in using the Transit to output bit perfect to my receivcer using Windows Media Player (MCE). Does anyone know if this is possible?

TIA

merlock