[jrosenth]

So I have a non-os dac i love but it doesn't have usb

I've thought about selling it and getting a valab or gigamoon or the like as I didn't want to drop $150+ for a trends or $120 for a hagerman

Then I stumbled across this little guy from one of head-fi's sponsors

Any idea on how something like this would compared to a trends or hagerman?

my dac reclocks if that makes a difference

thanks

 

[Gollie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrosenth /img/forum/go_quote.gif So I have a non-os dac i love but it doesn't have usb I've thought about selling it and getting a valab or gigamoon or the like as I didn't want to drop $150+ for a trends or $120 for a hagerman Then I stumbled across this little guy from one of head-fi's sponsors Any idea on how something like this would compared to a trends or hagerman? my dac reclocks if that makes a difference thanks

I have never seen a device like this. Maybe you should buy it and give all of us a review with your impressions.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

There are a few inexpensive devices similar to this, like Behringer U-control and Sysconcept.ca has one, and there are a few others. And then there are more costly USB to SPDIF converters like Trends UD-10 and Travagans Green that have extra features. I have tried the following two. The Behringer was under $40 and had optical out, headphone out and line out. The Travagans is about 5x the cost shipped as the one you linked us to.

It seems they do a decent job interfacing the PC to the DAC. I have tried both connected to the Headroom Micro DAC optical, and they were close to the built-in USB interface already built in but not quite as good (but very acceptable). With the Behringer, only it's optical out sounded good - the headphone out was as bad as a 5.5G iPod video. The Travagans was/is a little better. The Travagans also has coax out as well as optical, and speaker output too, and it doesn't need wall power unless you use the speaker outputs. It's headphone out is also much better than Behringer.

So, you get what you pay for.

 

[linuxworks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrosenth /img/forum/go_quote.gif my dac reclocks if that makes a difference

if your dac does its own local clocking or dejittering then this should be a case of 'bits==bits' right?

 

[Ruahrc]

Anybody know if this is Mac compatible? I have an older Powerbook G4 that is one generation before they implemented optical audio output so all I have now is analog. I have a DAC inside my Klipsch DD5.1 decoder which has a spare coaxial SPDIF output. This might be a good cheap way to get digital output from my laptop (which I use to play music to my speakers) into the DD5.1.

Extreme quality may not be an issue here since my speaker setup is more casual than serious (Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Ultras, hooked up mainly for xbox/DVD) and any serious listening I intend to do will be done on a future headphone amp/DAC setup which I'm saving up for.

FWIW, the DD5.1 has a Crystal 20-bit CS4329 DAC. Anyone have a general indication on the quality of this chip?

Ruahrc

 

[FallenAngel]

Just a PCM2902, yes, it's compatible with MAC.