Topic: usb interface with S/PDIF output... anyone ever use the ESI-Audio Dr. DAC nano

[JasonSobel]

Quick response from the seller of the Musiland states that it IS bit-perfect.

Is there a US distributor for the ESI?

very good to hear about the Musiland being bit-perfect.

The only US distributor in the US listed on the ESI website is:
http://www.kaysound.com/

I sent them an email yesterday evening, just asking general questions about price, and how long it would take to get it delivered after being ordered.

[Chilly Brioschi]

Am I wrong to believe that USB to S/PDIF is a simple DIGITAL TRANSLATION

If it is bit accurate, that's all that should matter.
Didn't Gordon (live2496) test some of these for bit accuracy recently?

[Todd R]

Am I wrong to believe that USB to S/PDIF is a simple DIGITAL TRANSLATION

If it is bit accurate, that's all that should matter.
Didn't Gordon (live2496) test some of these for bit accuracy recently?

I agree that if it is bit perfect, that's really all that matters.  But I had been investigating USB dacs a couple months ago and found that many/most (all?) of the usb dacs I could find for mac were limited to 16bits.  The DACs would often have coax and optical inputs at 24bits and they would bill themselves as 24bits, but if you really dug around and did research, they were only 16bits when using the USB input.

The Musiland got very good reviews from what I saw and was true 24bit with the USB, but only with PCs.  I can't remember now if it didn't work with mac or whether it was only 16bits on usb on mac, but either way it wasn't an option for a 24bit usb dac for mac.

Good heads up on the ESI unit, I'll have to look into that more.

[Gutbucket]

Good to hear that people have had good experiences with ESI products in the past.  I found their Gigaport HD multichannel USB DAC a while back when looking for a 5 channel 24/48 capable USB DAC that I could just plug into a laptop USB port for surround recording playback (hardly anything else available that is DAC only and not a recording interface at less than multi-K$ prices). I perhaps unfairly wrote it off as most likely a cheap piece of junk priced at a mere $120 street.

Interesting in that it can use the available USB bandwith to output 2 channels at 24/196, 8 at 44.1/16 or a number of intermediate steps in between- 6 channels @ 24/48 work for me.  Maybe I'll give it a go after all.  I'm not expecting it to be a Mytek and the price makes it easy.

Appears to work with the Mac OS at those 24 bit rates too, Todd (but I'd check that).


Feature list from the ESI page linked above:

• 24-bit / 96kHz D/A converter
• 8 independent output channels with RCA connectors
• different playback modes: 44.1kHz with 16-bit and 8 channels, 44.1kHz with 24-bit and 6 channels, 48kHz with 24-bit and 6 channels, 96kHz with 24-bit and 2 channels
• 2 independent stereo headphone outputs: 1st output sends out mixed signal of all playback channels, 2nd output sends out different signal from playback channel 1/2 - perfect for monitoring and to pre-listen to signals
• compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista supporting ASIO 2.0, WDM, GSIF, MME (using ESI's EWDM driver technology)
• compatible with Mac OS X and supported by the native CoreAudio USB audio support from Apple, no special driver installation required
• bundled with Cubase LE 4 from Steinberg for Mac & PC

 

[JasonSobel]

I'm now also taking a close look at the M2Tech HiFace:
http://www.m2tech.biz/products.html

it looks like this could also be a viable option.

[audBall]

I scored one of the Musiland 01 USD devices on ebay used.  My laptop should be here soon, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to do any real testing before NYE or the move back west, but I will chime back in.  After reading the headfi discussions, it appears that people have had success running it with Win 7 x64, which is what my laptop will have. 

[JasonSobel]

right on.  when you do get your laptop, please do let us know how the Musiland works out for you.

At this point, I'll likely make my purchase sometime between Dec 27 and Jan 3.  Right now, I'm leaning towards the M2Tech HiFace.  everything I've read about it has been very positive.  but that doesn't mean that I can't be swayed one way or another in the next couple of weeks

[live2496]

Am I wrong to believe that USB to S/PDIF is a simple DIGITAL TRANSLATION

If it is bit accurate, that's all that should matter.
Didn't Gordon (live2496) test some of these for bit accuracy recently?

I was bit testing the Western Digital Media Player. (I haven't tested any of the USB -> SPDIF devices)

[audBall]

Well, Fedex's tracking site stated my laptop would not arrive until Wednesday, but it came today.   

I hooked it up, installed the x64 drivers from the CD included with the Musiland device.  It was super easy.  The normal "auto-install" will not work in x64.  You must manually run the separate driver installer.  The diagnostics tool allows you to set the output bitrate and sample rates and offers a "Test" function which chimes a bell in the left channel and then the right. 

I'm running:  PC > USB 2.0 > Musiland 01 USD (coax out) > Mytek Stereo96 DAC > AKG K-702 Heaphones

The Mytek has a normal "signal input" function (allows up to 24/96 with no upsample), as well as "Superlock" which upsamples to 192k, but also allows incoming sample rates of 192k as well.  With the Musiland's diagnostic tool set to 24/96, I get audio with the Mytek at both input settings.  When the Musiland is set to 24/192, I am only getting output when the Mytek is set to Superlock mode.

I installed foobar and have been listening to the motb 5/15/80 (24/96) release.  Sounds pretty good. 

I'm confident the Musiland is spitting out the right data, but I'll probably hook it up to the old desktop with the Audiophile 2496 and try to record some stuff sometime in the near future.   

edit - the motb music files are located on an external HD connected via USB

[spyder9]

Any thoughts on the E-MU 0404?  Has all kinds of digi ins and outs, especially AES.  And it has USB 2.0 for 24 bit transfers.  Anyone gots?