I have limited experience with DACs, so am looking to the community for your expertise and experience. I listen to a lot of music still on spinning disc, but I am starting to build a collection of digital music downloads. I have read in threads here and on other site reviews that a DAC's USB input may be somewhat improved by either using a USB cleanup device (i.e. iFi iUSBPower) or by bypassing the USB input altogether by use of a good USB to S/PDIF converter.
The particular DAC I am thinking to experiment with is the Peachtree DAC-iTx. I have experimented first with the Toslink input of the DAC sourced from multiple transports. Perhaps I am wrong, but the DAC seems to perform better when fed PCM data from my better transport sources.
It is my understanding that S/PDIF and USB are quite opposite with regards to the DAC clock. Asynchronous USB is clock-controlled by the DAC. But the S/PDIF data stream is simply matched at the DAC to the source clock. Thus a better source clock will result in better performance of the DAC. I concluded that my better transport sources may indeed have resulted in a better sound output from my DAC. Does this make sense? Could the transport differences be that audible
And going one step further, perhaps a best approach to music playback from my computer would be to bypass the Peachtree USB input and try a converter. The converter would be responsible for maintaining the same high accuracy clock as I am currently enjoying from my transport.
However this is just an experiment. As such, I don't want to pay a lot of money for what may be not much of a sonic upgrade. The Peachtree itself is not all that expensive. Yet all the recommended converters are quite costly. My question - how good does the converter have to be to make a noticeable improvement in DAC performance. I already have the Meridian Explorer, so it is no cost for me to use it. I also have the Schiit Wyrd, for those of you who think the Explorer is no good when plugged directly into a dirty computer USB. However I've read nothing regarding the quality of the Meridian Explorer as a converter. They just say it can be used that way. Should it be?
I like what I hear so far, but there are so many other variables. And simply, I've never heard a "good" USB to S/PDIF converter. So there may be anomalies that I'm adding to my system that I'll likely hear 4 weeks from now. So what do you guys think? Good idea or bad idea to use the optical output from the Meridian Explorer?
The particular DAC I am thinking to experiment with is the Peachtree DAC-iTx. I have experimented first with the Toslink input of the DAC sourced from multiple transports. Perhaps I am wrong, but the DAC seems to perform better when fed PCM data from my better transport sources.
It is my understanding that S/PDIF and USB are quite opposite with regards to the DAC clock. Asynchronous USB is clock-controlled by the DAC. But the S/PDIF data stream is simply matched at the DAC to the source clock. Thus a better source clock will result in better performance of the DAC. I concluded that my better transport sources may indeed have resulted in a better sound output from my DAC. Does this make sense? Could the transport differences be that audible
And going one step further, perhaps a best approach to music playback from my computer would be to bypass the Peachtree USB input and try a converter. The converter would be responsible for maintaining the same high accuracy clock as I am currently enjoying from my transport.
However this is just an experiment. As such, I don't want to pay a lot of money for what may be not much of a sonic upgrade. The Peachtree itself is not all that expensive. Yet all the recommended converters are quite costly. My question - how good does the converter have to be to make a noticeable improvement in DAC performance. I already have the Meridian Explorer, so it is no cost for me to use it. I also have the Schiit Wyrd, for those of you who think the Explorer is no good when plugged directly into a dirty computer USB. However I've read nothing regarding the quality of the Meridian Explorer as a converter. They just say it can be used that way. Should it be?
I like what I hear so far, but there are so many other variables. And simply, I've never heard a "good" USB to S/PDIF converter. So there may be anomalies that I'm adding to my system that I'll likely hear 4 weeks from now. So what do you guys think? Good idea or bad idea to use the optical output from the Meridian Explorer?
