SD Card digital music player

[NorthStar]

Yes for the 105. No for the 103. OTOH, I am using the ethernet inputs on each of them to "render" what I push from my PC/server.

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[DonH50]

Just got the new Audio Advisor catalog. They list a number of DACs from Benchmark, Bryston, Cambridge, Musical Fidelity, NAD, Parasound, and PS Audio. USB input is listed as a feature on every single one.

 

[opus111]

In the case of the Benchmark, my post #6 applies - it has a USB 'B' socket on the rear so its bound to be a device only. It therefore can't act as host to obtain the data off a USB stick. I suspect this may be true of many (if not all) of the other DACs you cite.

 

[Vincent Kars]

Almost all new DACs do have a USB input.
Most of the time it is asynchronous USB and UAC2 (24/192)
The ones using the Xmos usb receiver often support DSD (DoP, DSD over USB) too

Opus111 is right, all of them are devices, no host options.
Streaming audio players are often capable of reading a USB stick or a HD.
As they are connected to the network (Ethernet, wifi) and often DLNA compliant, they do have a build in OS.
If this is e.g. embedded Linux, adding USB support is a breeze.

 

[DonH50]

I did not look closely and do not care enough to go research each one, but the ad copy certainly implies yu can stick a USB stick in and play from it on most of them. As for whether I believe the ad copy, not really, but see first clause, first sentence of this post. I am not saying you all are not correct, I quite imagine you are, I just happened to see the table and thought of this thread. Alas, misled by marketing, again, what a shock.

 

[daytona600]

use a AK100 as a portable player , or via 3.5mm headphone to rca adaptors
as a cd transport into my main system . Excellent sound quality
RBCD to 24/192khz
http://www.astellnkern.com/

 

[cpp]

I've got the Invicta at the house with the latest software and SD sounds pretty darn good., even DSD on the SD card sounds good.

 

[LynnOlson]

That was my experience with the Invicta also. The SD card is simple (no computer hassles!), and plays WAV, AIFF, FLAC, and DSD files - with really good sound. It's a nice feature; wish more DACs supported SD cards.

 

[cpp]

That was my experience with the Invicta also. The SD card is simple (no computer hassles!), and plays WAV, AIFF, FLAC, and DSD files - with really good sound. It's a nice feature; wish more DACs supported SD cards.

Me too..... I say time will tell. But the Invicta does sound pretty nice from the non SD inputs. Nice DAC

 

[cowboy]

QA660 just added support for DSD (SACD) and ALAC (Apple lossless) in the latest firmware v1.5: http://forums.qlshifi.com/index.php?topic=210.0