From
http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=1414.msg13671#msg13671This topic is worth discussing in it's own thread...
I've been trying to find a better USB to SPDIF or AES converter that doesn't screw up the sound moreso than trying different variations of stand alone players. My Oracle DAC1000 is phenomenal and sounds better fed true XLR connected digital than RCA coax. But there is a dearth of products that do nothing but the conversion from USB to coax or AES. They all want to do the DAC step as well. I've thought about trying an Apogee Big Ben in there for clocking since most USB implementations aren't great. But I've got to get out of the computer into it first.
Shane, the only high end USB / digital audio converter I know of is
Empirical Off Ramp. Consumer pro audio versions prioritize features and price, not sound quality. Big boy pro audio doesn't use USB since a new dedicated computer is cheapest part of the system. There is a middle ground like MOTU, Mackie, etc, but it is features based, you will get 16 analog mic inputs along with your AES.
Big Ben is a great clock, but you have to clock the transport too, not just the DAC. The Oracle already has a good clock, but it's not in control of the SPDIF stream.
But if you can do PCI, there are some high end pro audio cards worth checking out:
Lynx L22 - $675Digital Audio Labs CDX-D8 - $500Both are very well regarded brands in pro audio. Both have AES/EBU output and word clock output. Both also have excellent analog I/O for recording FM, etc. Both are standard PCI cards.
I like the Lynx stuff, great reviews. Hantra once used Lynx2 for analog out, said it was great.
How tolerant is Oracle DAC1000 of jitter on spdif? Does it buffer the stream and reclock?
