PickyPants

Hi: I am a conservative digital DJ who plays his 1950s thru 1970s music with a Dell 1500 Studio Laptop running Windows 7 & Media Monkey over a fairly accurate pro-audio stereo sound system. To clean up the sound a bit, I'd like to add an external DAC to my rig, spending between $300 to $1,000. Of course, rugged construction would be a must, and asynchronous USB input would be a close second. So Chris (or anyone else), which DACs in that price range would you say best suit the intended purpose? Thanks in Advance,

Barrows - thanks for the response. if "SPDIF is a flawed format" as you say, then what's the purpose of the myriad USB to SPDIF converters being made & sold (the Halide Bridge, for example)? Why convert to a flawed format? Also, I agree that the people at Ayre are authorities on computer audio, but where exactly on their website do they refute the use of SPDIF connections? I realize that most computers don't have one, but still.....

Hi Chris and members: I'm running a custom-made desktop PC with Win XP Pro and an ASUS Xonar D2X Soundcard. This card sounds pretty good with its analog output feeding my Creek OSH-11SE headphone amp and Grado RS-1 cans. The card also has a SPDIF output. I store my music in both WAV and WMA Lossless formats, and play the latter with my player of choice, Media Monkey. I'm now pondering the purchase of an external DAC. Over the last few years, I've noticed that most DAC manufacurers have done considerable research getting the USB interface to transfer audio with low jitter, with varying degrees of success. We now have three connection-types: synchronous, adaptive isochronous, and asynchronous (four if we include CEntrance's JitterGuard). Here are my questions: If your computer has a SPIDF output, why bother with USB at all? Is there some downside to using a good soundcard's coax or TosLink output to transfer audio to an external DAC?