-=Aurender=-

[amabrok]

This being the Aurender thread leads to the question of why Aurender on many of it's models chooses to use exclusive USB 2 output, rather than SPDIF or AES/EBU. Is USB technically superior if implimented properly? Of is USB used to achieve maximum compatibility with DACs which are primarily designed for use with computers, hence USB compatible?

As I understand it, asynchronous USB should in principle be superior to AES/EBU from a clocking point of view, because the DAC can use its own, highly stable clock rather than having to recover it from the input stream (e.g. with a phase-locked loop).  Also USB provides much more robust error detection capabilities, although for isochronous transfers used by audio devices there is no automatic re-transmission mechanism to support error recovery.

Against that, you might argue that USB could be more prone to injecting noise into sensitive analog circuits, if not dealt with carefully.

So USB should perhaps give both better sound quality and wider compatibility than AES/EBU.  In practice it'll still depend on good engineering (like the obsessive attention to detail in the totalDAC devices), so I'd hesitate to generalise...

I am keenly intereseted in sorting out this optimal digital bridge interface.  I asked Devialet which digital input port should be superior and they responded that they should be equivalent (for typical short cable runs).  I have an Aurender S10 which offers AES, USB and SPDIF outputs.  Given all the bad press concerning the poor USB audio kluge processing needed, I assumed that my AES digital connection should be superior.  It does sound great, but I really didn't invest anytime comparing a USB vs AES digital interface connections to confirm all this.

Your discussions regarding clocking have me back to scratching my head again considering the USB connection.  Can anyone comment on the specification caliber of the DAC clock in the D200?  The clock in my S10 is an OCXO (12.8 MHz).  If that S10 OCXO clock is equal, or superior, to the Devialet clock, should that provide superior, or equivalent sound (through the AES)?  Or, does the Devialet DAC asynchronous USB clocking digital stream master control have the potential to be superior (even with a potentially lesser caliber of DAC clock)?  i.e. does the DAC asynch USB digital protocols trump a potentially superior clock in the source/client?

Thanks
Kenreau

Hi Kenreau, I will be keen to hear your opinion on the differences between AES/EBU and USB on S10 to Devialet.

It will be great if you do a head to head comparison and share with us your thoughts