All PCs have USB but few (most  of the time the multimedia models) I2S on HDMI - LVDS format, pin compatible with PSAudio and Wired for Sound DACs. 99 - AP1+PP. Works fine. No need to buy additional cables - they won't improve They made the 1 by 1 inch cutout in the metal enclosure, and surrounded the USB input by plastic in order to reduce the possible capacitive coupling between the two. AP PurePower PSU lets you listen for like 15h straight, and then recharges itself via USB when you stop listening. Quite frankly, I was stunned when I first heard this. Not the Berkeley. The USB receiver and processing are powered by the computer, while the output master clocks and line drivers are powered by a separate isolated linear power supply. All PCs have USB but few (most of the time the multimedia models) have SPDIF out. You would expect it to move the ranking of relatively low noise converters up the list and diminish the weight of jitter performance of the converter (theoretically, jitter performance should become irrelevant). sampling : 24Bit/96Khz), Digital Output : Optical x 1, Coaxial Of course, the Scarlatti transport could be further improved by adding a clock link to the DAC or an external clock, but that only shows how flawed S/PDIF interface is to begin with. What a fantastic thread, thanks for the read. audio transformer for isolated It can also convert SPDIF to USB, a pretty rare property.. Works without drivers on Mac, Windows and Linux computer and accepts 32, 44, 48. 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4khZ, 192kHz, XMOS X-CORE 32BIT/500MIPS multi-core processing unit, Dual frequency ultra low jitter local clock, Sample rate support: 16-24Bit @ 44.1kHz/48kHz/88.2kHz/96kHz/176.4kHz/192kHz, AES/EBU: 110 Ohms Gold Plated XLR Connector, Drivers available for: Windows XP/ Windows Vista/ Windows 7/ Windows 8 - 8.1, Natively supported by: Apple Mac OSX & Most Linux Distro's, Digital output: Optical toslink, RCA and BNC coaxial, Digital dynamic range: 140dB (A-weighted), ASIO driver - support Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, 44.1KHz, 48KHz, 88.2KHz, 96KHz sampling rate, Ultra high speed RS422 driver for AES/EBU, Coaxial & I2S output, Flat chip audio grade resistor for PLL and power circuit, PPS film chip capacitor for PLL and power circuit OS-CON capacitor Sound wise – this is by far the best sounding USB/SPDIF converter I tried, better than the dCS Scarlatti transport. The Reflink is a definite step up from the Bel Canto uLink (which is a nice converter in its own right). Two independent low-jitter crystal oscillators. Very often we try a new component or a cable and at first are fascinated by improved resolution, only to find out a few days later (after we had X-rayed all our recordings), that the increased resolution brings listener fatigue and makes the listening far less enjoyable. Cheaper and better.... For what I can remember, I would categorize them in the following order, using the GD as reference: 100 - Audio GD DI-V3 TCXO + DI-PSU. Mine has a 2 pin spdif header so I had to draw 5v from an unused usb header. There is only one way to describe this post - AWESOME - no other word will do it justice. I'm not even sure exactly how the dCS clocking works with an S/PDIFor AES/EBU source, but I'm simply bringing this up because I suspect outcome of your shootout are highly DAC and architecture dependent (as you mentioned yourself). WIMA, OSCON, 24K gold PCB, Main body size (WxHxD/mm) : 75 x For the past year, I had a chance to try and compare over 15 different USB/SPDIF converters. I have demoed the OR compared to the AP2 on quite a few occasions in a number of systems - on every occasion without exception everyone preferred the OR - no contest.

Cable Mountain 5m Gold Plated Single RG59 Coaxial Phono Cable for SPDIF/Digital Audio and Composite Video Cable. Great care was taken in the design of the Alpha USB to isolate the noisy computer/USB environment from the digital audio output. They were not bad, but M2Tech stack was still better – and much cheaper (if pita to use). You could hear the sounds that you were not aware are on the recording, the HF decays had much longer trails and hung in space much longer. Allekabels heeft een ruim assortiment aan SPDIF kabels in diverse afmetingen. This is a $449 option for both AP1 and AP2. All the converters were tested on my dCS Scarlatti and Metrum Octave DACs. etc. Free shipping. The biggest news is probably that M2Tech decided not to use their proprietary drivers but to using the native mode USB audio drives of the operating system. Same for the AP1. If I were to assign a score of 10 to the REFLink (merely as a guide for comparison to the uLink), then.... uLink + iUSB: 8.5 (using a twin-head USB cable with separate power/data lines, which does improve performance vs. a single strand 'traditional' USB cable).


On the positive side, ORT5 had the best texture out of all converters I tried up to that point, and was the only converter that fully matched my Scarlatti CD/SACD transport in that regard. Ultra-flexible audio interface connects your instruments, mixer, Optical-to-Coaxial or Coax-to-Optical Digital Audio Converter Adapter, ROOFULL Premium Bi-Direction… At $4990 and $3000 respectively, they are one of the most expensive converters available on the market today. If audio gear has digital inputs, it is most of the time SPDIF/Toslink.

have SPDIF out. optical Toslink™ As much as I wanted to go with the M2Tech full stack, the lack of userfrendliness of that setup was a show stopper for me. It is not difficult to imagine a situation, where a component with a lower score, may actually be a better fit in our system, because of our preferences and/or system synergy, than a component with a higher score. 99.99% manufacturers make a suitable hole in the metal enclosure and mount there the USB input. I already spoke to a Bel Canto and BADA dealer and Im arranging to audition both soon, can't wait! x 1, AES/EBU x 1, USB signal isolator : Analog Devices If you voice your system around the AP, ORT5 will most likely sound a bit muted. BTW - I have my eyes on the new Naim DAC which, from what I gather, uses an Audiophilleo based USB input. Both scored 95 points, and yet, they sound a bit different. Watch. usual harshness, I can understand why many would prefer this, especially at the first listen. My results generally mirror yours (eg I give the AP the edge over the JK) with a few exceptions. Free shipping. Although it is changing slowly, the audio world is not very computer minded.

Sorry couldn't rank it as high as you did - very good - but only third on my list behind the Wavelength and Off-Ramp (OR) although it was so close to the Wavelength you could reasonably call it a tie. The receiver is by XMOS and the driver by Thesycon. The cables I used for the shootout were the excellent AudioQuest Diamond USB, Kimber D-60 RCA->BNC, dCS generic BNC to BNC cable and later on, also the Stealth Varidig Sextet AES/EBU. Sure, but if the two main USB converter performance parameters that impact sound quality are jitter and noise, than using a DAC that is fully asynchronous on its S/PDIF input will change the relative performance of the USB converters with that DAC (probably quite dramatically so). Modified HiFace 24/192 asynchronous USB - SPDIF converter. HiFimeDIY UX1 €56.69. I2S (RJ-45), Digital Input : USB x 1 (USB input
If you’re looking for the difference between SPDIF vs. TOSLINK – then you’re probably as confused as we were.The first thing you need to know is that SPDIF and TOSLINK are not necessarily separate things. AP has superior resolution and better microdynamics than the ORT5. DAC because we want you to judge the USB Thingee by its sonic performance If CA had a contest for "Computer Audiophile Forum Member Post of the Year" your USB-SPDIF converter posts would be up for consideration in my view. 4.6 out of 5 stars 310. I have a good feeling about the REFLink. Alpha USB is based on the the XMOS chip. That being said, in some systems AP may be too much of a good thing. You can say that BADA is best of both worlds, and then some.

88 and 96 Khz sample rates and 16/24 bit. Saying this, Im not claiming that the Audio GD DI-V3 is the best there is, Im sure it can be bested, plus we all have different systems and hear differently. Additional data processing circuit (with data buffering and clock-synchronization) to reduce jitter. and not by the numbers and specs. 99 - AP1+PP. Works without drivers on Mac, Windows and Linux computer and accepts 32, 44, 48.