RightBrain

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Any opinion on the longer USB cables? I see several described as active, of course what works for a printer might not be clean enough for audio. Can they still be asynchronous at that distance? Also my understanding of the S/pdif is that it pulls the signal out of the computer instead of letting the computer use whatever standard it needs to at that moment to push out the signal. Or is this better better with by audirvana and others?

My DAC is 30' away from the computer, hence the coaxial cable. Thanks for the explanation.

They seem to have disappeared from the market and discussion lately, eg V-Link discontinued. Are the newer DAC's so sophisticated that they are unneeded?

What is the sound? New sabre version?

Apparently you are using a PC which needs a driver because of its Hz limitations. The Mac doesn't which apparently prevents me from increasing the XMOS buffer. The Audirvana latency menu doesn't do anything. Does the integer mode menu apply here?

I went to Gustard's web site to download the xmos controller (I run windows on my iMac all the time anyway) but suddenly everything is in Chinese Kanji which I cannot read. Ill try again tomorrow. Hope its only a buffer.

Same clicks and pops. Seems to be a common problem as I look around the net. Gustard says their spdif "sounds just like vinyl." Yep.

I'm using Audirvana on a Mac. The noise sounds like vinyl records LOL, clicks and pops that rise and fall with the amount of sound. Someone suggested increasing XMOS buffer but I'm using Mac. Is there software to do that?

I swapped out the 10' usb printer cable for a 3' audio one from Radio Shack. No difference.

This makes some sense because as soon as I drop the band width even to 174hz the noise disappears. I'm using an ATLONA cable that is marketed for audio.

Good information, thanks. Is this buffer panel something I would typically find inside the unit? Nothing on the outside to set.

Using short Apple usb cable to spdif converter and then coaxial cable of 30' to DAC. I tried it with a toslink as well but that limits it to 96hz where there is no problem. Does the spdif and DAC have different chips for each frequency?

I installed a Gustard spdif converter yesterday replacing the original V-Link which topped out at 24/96. I am now hearing mild static at 192hz but not at 44,88,96, or 176.4. The problem is I cannot tell if it is from my MF M1 DAC which I never used at 192hz, or the Gustard. Everything sounds remarkable at anything but 192hz. If I use Audirvana to restrict the signal to 176.4 the noise disappears. Any ideas? I don't have an additional DAC...

I'm 59 and listening to high end audio since I grew up with a 5'0" tall tube Ampex reel to reel played through 4'-0" horns. The sound coming from my fathers system was the best that I had heard...until a few months ago when I began downloading high-resolution audio files. In between was a forty year hiatus. The difference is quite simple: when listening to that old tube tape system one heard musicians trying to blend together and make music. After the craft got crapped up with bad transistors and cassette tape and early CD it was the opposite: a listener would attempt to separate the homogenous sound, trying to pull apart what originally was. The first thing that caught my eye in your system is the 320kbp rip, you need to redo this and rip them at AIFF files which will be around 900kbp. Then you need to quit CD's entirely and begin replacing your collection with high-resolution downloads which will play around 3000kbp. the Mac is fine, it just pushes out a signal that varies, easily corrected with an asynchronous DAC, these are getting cheaper by the day, some as low as $500. You can run the DAC directly into your head-phone amp or directly into your main amp without a pre-amp in you want. These simple things will get you where you want to be. The very good news is that with high-resolution downloads one can get better sound on a $3000 system than one could on a $100k system as recently as ten years ago.

Somebody out there will know this. The V-link is being marketed as a good way to have a s/pdif coming out of one's computer, however the iMad already has a fiber optic port. This is s/pdif, right? Do I still need the v-link? Presently using a toslink to MF V-Dac v.10. Would I benefit using a USB to v-link to toslink? Any help appreciated.