steven2583

The sound card in the pc is not at all involved so that shoudn't change the sound any. Digital data is being sent to the USB output device. A usb chip really should be no issue unless there is some defect or the USB chip is being overloader with other busy devices. If it is overly busy then another USB card might help. But you would have to have a few busy disks attached to the USB ports. I see that they sell expensive USB cables but I doubt that would have much affect. I just use the cheap one. If you PC is very busy it may cause more jitter but using the async driver that comes with the bifrost should relieve that. If you do get a high quality cable make sure they have a good return policy. I saw a device recently that cleanup the power from the USB drive but the bifrost shouldn't be using the power for the USB cable. The DACS that are powered by the USB cable it probably has some affect.

The Bifrost has a solid foundation for a DAC. I had mine modified and boy it made a world of difference in it's dynamics, sound stage, imaging, and music flow. I had the regulators replaced and some caps to audiograde caps. Power regulation I think is one of the main keys to get good sound out of a DAC. The VDAC also improves with a better power supply.