[walfredo]

Hi HeadFi Gurus:
 
I'm planning to get a USB DAC + headphone amp + digital out to my computer.  The best match I found to my requirements is the Creative X-Fi.  Anyone has experience with it?  Any other alternative to consider?
 
Thanks,
Walfredo

 

[joe_cool]

Unless you need hardware accelerated audio effects for games, DO NOT buy a Creative audio device. There are so many better alternatives.
 
Also, if you get a USB audio device, look for "USB Audio" compliance; this means you need NO DRIVERS for MAC or Linux. For Windows you need a driver only for 192kHz stereo or 96kHz surround, but that's a problem with Windows.
 
For stereo consider the Audiotrak Prodigy Cube. http://www.audiotrack.net/products/PDCUBE/
 
For surround consider the Audiotrak Maya U5. http://www.audiotrack.net/products/MAYAU5/
 
And please realize, not all USB ports are good enough for audio. Some PCs have both good and bad ports, and some PCs only have bad USB ports.

 

[walfredo]

Thanks for the advice, Joe.
 
I don't care for surround or games.  The Audiotrack Cube looks pretty sweet.
 
I'm curious on you comment on USBs though.  If some PC has a bad USB, it would lose packets in the USB bus, right?  I'd expect the effect to be missing pieces of the audio (chopped audio) instead of degraded quality.  That would suck, but would be easily detectable.  Am I missing something?
 
Thanks again!!
 
[]s
Walfredo

 

[Mauricio]

Audinst HUD MX-1
 

 

[joe_cool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by walfredo /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I'm curious on you comment on USBs though.  If some PC has a bad USB, it would lose packets in the USB bus, right?  I'd expect the effect to be missing pieces of the audio (chopped audio) instead of degraded quality.  That would suck, but would be easily detectable.  Am I missing something?
 
Thanks again!!
 
[]s
Walfredo

I'm afraid it's more complicated than "lost packets", some USB ports only work at full-speed (12mbps) and others at hi-speed (480mbps). Another problem is shared interrupts; if a particular USB port shares an interrupt with other devices (my USB ports use IRQs 16,18,19 and 23) the result can be latency and/or jitter. Depending on PCB, chassis and power supply characteristics, some USB ports have audible induced ground noise; this can also be found on some SPDIF ports. My point is that "USB DACs" are not the silver bullet!
 

 

[walfredo]

Thanks for the detailed clarification, Joe.  Yeah, "silver bullets" do not exist.
 
And thanks for the suggestion too, Mauricio.  I'm trying to figure if I'm okay with plugging on the outlet, or if I need the portability of an USB only solution.
 
[]s
Walfredo