Stello U2: Another 24/96 USB->SPDIF Converter ($285)

[some1x]

Did you get the U2 as well? I'd be interested in how you think it compares with the CDT100 with your DA100 Sig.

 

[tomk]

Good Evening some1x,

Have not ordered a U2. Sure enjoy the CDT 100 with the DA100 Signature. In spite of all the equipment Head Fi'ers own, or have heard, the particular combination that most of us would like an opinion of, is seldom a known combination. Such is life.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Has anyone tried one yet?

 

[ironmine]

Please convince me that I have to buy this U2 converter, if I already have DA100 DAC with USB input....

 

[MadMan007]

Do you have a lot of 24bit/96kHz files that you play from your PC, and are you stressing to play them back over USB? That's literally the only reason to get one of these. As was stated earlier, in a year there will be hundreds (well ok, maybe the number is a stretch

) of such devices. Take a look at the PCB, it's a very simple device and probably just uses a reference design for the ICs. If you don't mind optical and aren't bothered by casing (which OEMs have said is like 30-40% of high-end audio 'jewelry' cost) this guy for $100 is a much better bargain: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Transit.html

 

[ironmine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMan007 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you have a lot of 24bit/96kHz files that you play from your PC, and are you stressing to play them back over USB?

No, I don't have a lot of 24/96 files, maybe 10-15 albums only. I just want to:

1) improve the playback of 16/44.1 files which I currently feed via a USB cable to my DAC. My computer does not have a soundcard with optical/digital outputs, so I have to use a 5 m long USB cable and I am concerned about the possible jitter.

2) try upsampling the 16/44.1 files in Foobar up to 24/96 and feeding them so to the DAC (I will deactivate the upsampling feature in the DAC then). I want to see if the sonic quality improves this way compared to my current connection scheme. I am not quite satisfied with the 24/192 upsampling algorythm in my DAC - while it does have certain benefits, it also causes the loss of transparency and defeats the bass in the music.

 

[ironmine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMan007 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you have a lot of 24bit/96kHz files that you play from your PC, and are you stressing to play them back over USB? That's literally the only reason to get one of these. As was stated earlier, in a year there will be hundreds (well ok, maybe the number is a stretch ) of such devices. Take a look at the PCB, it's a very simple device and probably just uses a reference design for the ICs. If you don't mind optical and aren't bothered by casing (which OEMs have said is like 30-40% of high-end audio 'jewelry' cost) this guy for $100 is a much better bargain: M-AUDIO - Transit - Hi-Resolution Mobile Audio Interface

Does M-Audio Transit performs any data resampling of its own? Or, does it only convert the USB signal into the optical one?

 

[MadMan007]

Well it may be worth trying if you can get a solid return policy. I'm not in to resampling for playback, I just play things in their native format.

The jitter issue is a legit concern. Stereophile, despite all the reasons to dislike them, does do some very solid measurements of jitter and the USB interfaces I've read about there so far are not very good wrt jitter. If you want high quality from USB you have to get one that works in asynchronous USB mode.

*Didn't see your last post: You'll have to do some research and reading

You'll probably learn some stuff too

I'm no real expert on USB audio aside from what I read.

 

[joe_cool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ironmine /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does M-Audio Transit performs any data resampling of its own? Or, does it only convert the USB signal into the optical one?

I understand the transit performs no resampling. It converts the USB signal to SPDIF. It requires a specific driver which uses asynchronous mode and has lower jitter measurements than most similar devices which have published measurements. I consider it quite a bargain even though I don't own one.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joe_cool /img/forum/go_quote.gif I understand the transit performs no resampling. It converts the USB signal to SPDIF. It requires a specific driver which uses asynchronous mode and has lower jitter measurements than most similar devices which have published measurements. I consider it quite a bargain even though I don't own one.

With 16/44.1 files I did not notice Transit performing better than native Stello USB, in fact I found direct USB sound smoother and less grainy than Transit -> optical in.

 

[ironmine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT /img/forum/go_quote.gif With 16/44.1 files I did not notice Transit performing better than native Stello USB, in fact I found direct USB sound smoother and less grainy than Transit -> optical in.

This is the answer I've been waiting for!

Thanks for saving me my money!

 

[ironmine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT /img/forum/go_quote.gif With 16/44.1 files I did not notice Transit performing better than native Stello USB, in fact I found direct USB sound smoother and less grainy than Transit -> optical in.

Andrew, did you try to upsample 16/44.1 files to 24/96 and feeding them this way to Stello via Transit? Any improvement? Please pay close attention to the bass notes (depth, impact) and overall transparency. I would appreciate your comments very much! Use the bypass mode in Stello, please.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ironmine /img/forum/go_quote.gif Andrew, did you try to upsample 16/44.1 files to 24/96 and feeding them this way to Stello via Transit? Any improvement? Please pay close attention to the bass notes (depth, impact) and overall transparency. I would appreciate your comments very much! Use the bypass mode in Stello, please.

No, I haven't, was trying to make comparison more fair, unfortunately I do not own Transit anymore as didn't see it adding any value after my A/B test.
There are lots of others hi-def budget USB converters that probably perform better than Transit, here's a good roundup on the most of them.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/usb...hiface-449885/
Although I've read stereophile review of $500 BelCanto USB Link where reviewer found it performing no better than Transit. I would guess that Stello unit performs at the same level as BelCanto for the half the price, here's a glowing review of the unit 6moons audio reviews: April Music U2, take it for what it's worth. On a hardware side there is not much inside, and it is confirmed that it uses Tenor chip
U2 Chip, not sure if it's the top of the shelf nowadays.
For non USB DAC I use Trends UD-10.1 paired with CIAudio PSU, it does only 16/44.1 but does it quite well plus I do not have hi-def albums in my collection to take advantage of anything more exotic yet, but very interested in the recent async converters development.

 

[ironmine]

Thanks, I've already read all the articles and forum threads which you refer to in your post. I don't think that buying a USB-SPDIF converter will be high on my priority list...

 

[MadMan007]

It gets more complex when you're talking about doing multiple conversions like USB-SPDIF-DAC AND when the outputs are in different formats too. For example, a USB-coax versus a USB-optical, even in to the same receiving DAC, may perform differently depending upon how well the DAC works with the two formats.