timing, data integrity, and s/pdif format compliance are the most important features to look for in the optical output. Any of these can be suspect on any devidce, but especially motherboards, sound cards, and DVD players. Specifically:
Timing: accurate sample rate and low jitter. I have measured some popular sound cards and DVD players which output over 800ps of jitter (timing noise) and this is regarded by audiophiles to be well in the realm of audibility. SB3 measures below 50ps which is comparable to multi-$K CD players. Data inegrity: many devices resample the audio in order to use cheaper clock circuitry, and this not only sacrifices pass-through capability but also can introduce audible artifacts. Also I have seen many devices which drop a sample or get an error on the interface from time to time. SB3 has "bit perfect" pass-through which means it does not drop data or molest the signal. s/pdif compliance: easy to overlook, but there are many devices with quirky s/pdif compatibility issues due to loose implementation of this complicated spec -- seanadams ------------------------------------------------------------------------ seanadams's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=18772 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
