Ralph- As everything in audio, it depends on the implementation. There's good USB which sounds as good as anything else around, and not so good USB, which can sound very bad.
As computer audio becomes more popular, USB is being used more and more by DAC makers for 2 reasons: (1)it's ubiquitous on just about every PC/MAC/XXX Box computer made in the past 10 years, and will continue to be for the predictable future; (2) modern USB hardware and drivers have made the sound at least the equal of the other formats (SPDIF/FW). Some of the quality USB>SPDIF converters out now have been demonstrated (reviews, listening tests) to be the best sounding option for many DACs - even better than straight SPDIF. Yes, getting high quality USB reproduction does cost a few bucks extra. But not fair to say that it is inherently inferior. Read some recent reviews of the better USB devices/DACs out there and see what they say. -- firedog GIK Acoustics Room Treatments. Tranquil PC fanless server running Vortexbox OS; SB Touch slaved to Empirical Audio Pace Car; MF X-DACV3, MF X-150 amp, Devore Gibbon Super 8 Speakers; Dual 506 + Ortofon 20 (occasional use); sometimes use PC with M-Audio 192 as digital source. SB Boom in second room. Arcam CD82 which I don't use anymore, even though it's a very good player. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ firedog's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=11550 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=88540 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
