Topic: wireless digital uncompressed 96/24 PC>remote DAC

[noam]

I’m not sure if this belongs in computers or playback: I am tired of the problems I have trying to get 96/24 files into various media and would like to play the files straight from the computer to my DAC>power amps>speakers. Problem is, my computer is on a different floor that the playback system and there is no way I can place a computer on the main level where the system is.

Is there any wireless device that takes the uncompressed 96/24 signal from the computer through a USB and transmits it to a receiver connected to the digital input of a DAC in another zone? I don’t want to rely on the DAC’s of the slimdevices products.

Or, how long can a USB cable be without running into problems? Can I run a 20 feet long USB cable from the computer to the remote DAC?

Noam

[ethan]

I wonder how well something like this would work:


http://www.provantage.com/d-link-systems-dub-2240~7DLNW067.htm

You'd need at least 4.5 Mbps over wireless which should be doable.

[bgalizio]

I don’t want to rely on the DAC’s of the slimdevices products.

They have digital outputs, so you are not utilizing their DACs.

[Brian Skalinder]

They [SlimDevices devices] have digital outputs, so you are not utilizing their DACs.

True, but not all of them support 24/96.  Audio that's 24/96 and outputing via a Squeezebox, for example, is resampleed on the fly to 24/48.  Dunno if the USB cable length is an issue, but for sure you could run a 20' S/PDIF coax (or longer) from the computer to the DAC.  I did that for a while, with a ~30' cable.

[bgalizio]

They [SlimDevices devices] have digital outputs, so you are not utilizing their DACs.

True, but not all of them support 24/96.  Audio that's 24/96 and outputing via a Squeezebox, for example, is resampleed on the fly to 24/48.  Dunno if the USB cable length is an issue, but for sure you could run a 20' S/PDIF coax (or longer) from the computer to the DAC.  I did that for a while, with a ~30' cable.

Definitely true for the SB3. The Transporter does 24/96, right?

[noam]

for sure you could run a 20' S/PDIF coax (or longer) from the computer to the DAC.  I did that for a while, with a ~30' cable.

That sounds like a good option, but I don't have a S/PDIF coax output from my computer. Installing a sound card with a S/PDIF coax output would be a problem because I wouldn't be able to do it myself and my local computer guys don't understand audio. The various usb-S/PDIF interfaces suspiciously have analog outputs, which makes me wonder if the digital signal is not converted to analog and back again to digital, and almost all have only Toslink output, no coaxial...

Any opinions about the M-Audio Transit USB? Anything wrong with a 20' optical cable?

Noam

[Carrera2]

Any opinions about the M-Audio Transit USB?

The M-Audio Transit is what Grace Design suggested to me to use as the digi-out from my computer to their headphone amp, FWIW.

[noam]

Any opinions about the M-Audio Transit USB?

The M-Audio Transit is what Grace Design suggested to me to use as the digi-out from my computer to their headphone amp, FWIW.

They made the same suggestion to me. The reason they suggested that is that their USB DOES NOT SUPPORT 96/24 (according to their own tech support)!!! Again: you cannot stream 96/24 through the Grace Design USB!!!Even though the USB 1.1 protocol does not state a limit on the sampling rate and 24/192  requires only 9.216Mbps, most of the host USB controllers that fall under the 2.0 realm are better suited for audio.

John Atkinson writes in the January, 2008 issue of stereophile about the Benchmark DAC1 "Benchmark chose to use a USB 1.1 port rather than the more modern and much faster USB 2.0 (which is backward-compatible with USB 1.1), because then the D/A could be used without the host computer having to run a custom driver program, and Benchmark could thus control communication to allow the transmission of bit-transparent high-resolution data. (The code to do this was developed for Benchmark by Centrance, Inc..) USB 1.1 has a maximum transmission rate of 12Mbps, which is sufficient for two channels of 24/96 data." 

So I'm not sure why the Grace Design USB does not support 96/24. It's interesting that Sam Tellig does not bring up this point in his comparison of the 2 DAC's in the October 2008 issue. He is not as tech savvy as John Atkinson and his prose (and jokes) can be embarassing, but he has good ears and "discovered" the Triangle speakers for me (until John Atkinson started analyzing how they measure...)

Noam