Stello U3: async USB to coax & AES/EBU transport <Impressions updated>

[leeperry]

OP updated

 

[Currawong]

The Audiophilleo measurements are in this post FYI.

 

[leeperry]

Interesting! It's 3AM here, I'll check this thread thoroughly tomorrow. But indeed I agree when he says "Everybody else follows along from the extracted clock regardless of the internal pathways for the data" as I really like the sound of CS8414 when using a short RCA male/male adapter and a low jitter transport, but it quickly becomes hollow and jittery to hell when using a 1m coax cable and a cheapo transport. CS8414 has a pretty poor clock extraction recovery algorithm, but if you chew its job it sounds most excellent IME.
 
To those interested: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/1788545-post2.html

S/PDIF is a horrendously poorly designed interface. This is because it combines the clock and audio coding onto the same signal. The receiver is supposed to recover the clock from this signal as well as extract the audio data. This turns out to be a non-trivial task, and one that almost always leaves the recovered clock contaminated with signal correlated jitter artefacts.

 
It indeed makes far more sense to slave your transport to your DAC through a word clock signal, but this kind of setup doesn't come cheap.

 

[K3cT]

Does it come bundled with an AES/EBU cable? 

 

[leeperry]

Does it come bundled with an AES/EBU cable? 

Nope, but you can always go

 

[uelover]

I have shamelessly throw a question at Audiophilleo regarding how well it will perform against the U3 given its price premium.
 
The guy replied that he believes the U3 will have considerably higher jitter and phase noise and that the measurement he took from a XMOS board is not good.
 
No sure how true his reply is. Hmmm.

 

[damon54]

I have been waiting to hear more on this unit. A tad surprised it does not have I2s capability since I thought it had been spec'd for the Eximus companion piece soon to be released?

 

[leeperry]

I have shamelessly throw a question at Audiophilleo regarding how well it will perform against the U3 given its price premium.
 
The guy replied that he believes the U3 will have considerably higher jitter and phase noise and that the measurement he took from a XMOS board

 
How about showing us the measurements?

I have been waiting to hear more on this unit. A tad surprised it does not have I2s capability since I thought it had been spec'd for the Eximus companion piece soon to be released?

from what 6moons say, the Eximus will already have a U3 board embedded: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/aprilmusic8/3.html

 

[uelover]

I am still awaiting reply from Audiophilleo to get back on me regarding the measurement.

 

[uelover]

Ok. I have just bought myself a Stello U3 =D
 
It is much heavier than expected so I don't think I can dock it at the back of my DAC with the XLR coupler.
 
Any AES/ABU cable recommendation??

 

[leeperry]

It's pretty heavy yes, put a pile of books/CD's underneath the U3 until it exactly reaches the level of the input of your DAC and you'll be just fine IME. The best cable is no cable.

 

[uelover]

 My desk forbids me from using books or anything else to support the U3 at the back of my DAC because my desk is just too narrow.
 
It is for this reason that I always buy DAC that is short.
 
It is either getting a new desk or a simple AES cable which I think is more practical T_T

 

[leeperry]

It is either getting a new desk or a simple AES cable

which reminds me of the "Head-Fi, the only place where you can plug headphones into a laptop, have them not work, and say "thank goodness it's just the laptop"" quote

 

[uelover]

 
Quote:

which reminds me of the "Head-Fi, the only place where you can plug headphones into a laptop, have them not work, and say "thank goodness it's just the laptop"" quote

Lol. All things are peripherals in the world of audio.
 
I noticed that U3's performance varies when I shift it around. Was placing it on top of my DAC before moving it some 1m away. Not sure if it is due to interference from my DAC's PSU or the power cord.

 

[leeperry]

I noticed that U3's performance varies when I shift it around. Was placing it on top of my DAC before moving it some 1m away. Not sure if it is due to interference from my DAC's PSU or the power cord.

"performance varies" sounds a bit vague...what do you mean? Maybe your digital cable between the DAC and the U3 is catching interferences.