What's the best DAC digital interface possible?

[Blizzard]

Not sure about that blizz, but since we are both speculating, fair enuff. You have your feedback and I have mine and soon we will see how it all plays out. SD card tech has been around with significant maturity since 2012 and the playback engine/UI side of things have NOT advanced much. Heck, by now I expected $300 1TB SDXC cards and they are still not even available even at >$1000.

So you don't think BE/Ravenna has a chance of matching the quality of SD card transports?

You keep talking about BE, but your leaving out the part of how the signal gets from the BE engine to the DAC chip. I guess that's of little importance.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Out of morbid curiosity I decided to listen to my squeezebox touch playing off sd card slot to analogue outputs and compared to streaming - could not discern any difference at all

Perhaps the implementation of the sd card on sbt is not "optimised?" Perhaps the sbt analogue output stage is too poor to discern the difference? Thoughts?

 

[wisnon]

So you don't think BE/Ravenna has a chance of matching the quality of SD card transports?

You keep talking about BE, but your leaving out the part of how the signal gets from the BE engine to the DAC chip. I guess that's of little importance.

No, you got me wrong. I DONT think you need BE Ravenna to match SD card.. Even good USB + BE will match and likely beat standard SD card. Souped up SD card with good engine/UI...well that COULD be the killer app...dunno.

 

[wisnon]

Out of morbid curiosity I decided to listen to my squeezebox touch playing off sd card slot to analogue outputs and compared to streaming - could not discern any difference at all

Perhaps the implementation of the sd card on sbt is not "optimised?" Perhaps the sbt analogue output stage is too poor to discern the difference? Thoughts?

Cannot be! The mere hint of an SD card should cure all playback ills and make everything hunky dory.

 

[wisnon]

Yes it's obvious that the data storage/GUI of these units are the downside. But in actual practice the sound quality makes up for it. So does the price. Personally I'd rather pay $450 for better sound quality, than $17000 for worse sound quality but better GUI/data storage. But to each his own. But as mentioned already, I'm hoping Ravenna is the solution that can combine the best attributes of both into 1.

$450? I thought that was the Board price and the complete boxed unit was $580..?
Either way...not super expensive.

 

[Blizzard]

Out of morbid curiosity I decided to listen to my squeezebox touch playing off sd card slot to analogue outputs and compared to streaming - could not discern any difference at all

Perhaps the implementation of the sd card on sbt is not "optimised?" Perhaps the sbt analogue output stage is too poor to discern the difference? Thoughts?

It's not just about sourcing the data from SD card, it's the implementation of these units that allow them to offer better sound quality.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

It's not just about sourcing the data from SD card, it's the implementation of these units that allow them to offer better sound quality.

Any idea what the sbt does wrong in sd implementation via a vis an optimised approach?

 

[Blizzard]

$450? I thought that was the Board price and the complete boxed unit was $580..?
Either way...not super expensive.

Sorry I meant $495 in USD if you convert the Yen to USD. And yes that's just the board. Most guys are just using the PCB without enclosure.

 

[Blizzard]

No, you got me wrong. I DONT think you need BE Ravenna to match SD card.. Even good USB + BE will match and likely beat standard SD card. Souped up SD card with good engine/UI...well that COULD be the killer app...dunno.

I highly doubt it. The BE engine may offer advantages to memory management inside a general purpose computer, but has no influence on the circuity between the USB chip in the general purpose computer, to the I2S/DSD output on the DAC's internal USB interface.

 

[Blizzard]

Any idea what the sbt does wrong in sd implementation via a vis an optimised approach?

I have no idea how it's implemented. But a good explanation of how the SD card transport in the Mirus is implemented can be found on several posts within this thread. How are you connecting the squeezebox to your DAC? This may offer some clues.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

I have no idea how it's implemented. But a good explanation of how the SD card transport in the Mirus is implemented can be found on several posts within this thread. How are you connecting the squeezebox to your DAC? This may offer some clues.

I am using the analogue outputs of the sbt on purpose. I did not do the test via the digital outputs of the sbt.

 

[Blizzard]

I am using the analogue outputs of the sbt on purpose. I did not do the test via the digital outputs of the sbt.

Well I guess it can be 1 of 2 things:

1: Their streaming implementation is the equal of their SD card implementation sound quality wise.

2: The DAC section in the unit doesn't offer high enough resolution to make out the differences.

 

[wisnon]

I have no idea how it's implemented. But a good explanation of how the SD card transport in the Mirus is implemented can be found on several posts within this thread. How are you connecting the squeezebox to your DAC? This may offer some clues.

He said analog out, so it is using the internal SBT Dac!

Could you give/PM me the email addy for the contact selling the raw board?

 

[cjf]

Well, it seems pretty clear to me at this point after reading this entertaining thread that Mr Blizzard already has all the answers on what the best digital interface is and couldn't possibly be wrong in his findings otherwise. So this leaves me with one question.

What was your point of this thread again?

I don't think I've ever encountered someone up to this point who has more answers then you no matter what the topic entails but yet hasn't shown a single shred of evidence to back up anything they claim. You've certainly done an excellent job at convincing yourself that your way is the only possible way to achieve audio nirvana in the digital age.

Thanks for giving us all a peak into your world.

 

[Blizzard]

Well, it seems pretty clear to me at this point after reading this entertaining thread that Mr Blizzard already has all the answers on what the best digital interface is and couldn't possibly be wrong in his findings otherwise. So this leaves me with one question.

What was your point of this thread again?

I don't think I've ever encountered someone up to this point who has more answers then you no matter what the topic entails but yet hasn't shown a single shred of evidence to back up anything they claim. You've certainly done an excellent job at convincing yourself that your way is the only possible way to achieve audio nirvana in the digital age.

Thanks for giving us all a peak into your world.

If you can show me a better way to do things please share. The point of this thread was to share what I have learnt with my research, and seeing if anyone knows of any better solutions.

The evidence of my claims can be found by actually trying the interfaces I've mentioned and compare them. Unfortunately it's very hard to hear these interfaces through forum posts.

 

[wisnon]

Blizz, Stop it…your mind is long ago made up! LoL

This is all test marketing.

 

[Blizzard]

Blizz, Stop it…your mind is long ago made up! LoL

This is all test marketing.

Test marketing?? I've been talking mostly about SD card transports on this thread. I have no intentions of marketing SD card transports. Like I've told you before I'm working on an active speaker system.

I know what I know based on research I've conducted. However I am open to other suggestions if someone knows about something better than what I have tested.

 

[wisnon]

Not of SD cards, but of the whole concept. This is a focus group.

 

[Blizzard]

Not of SD cards, but of the whole concept. This is a focus group.

Concept of what? The open standard interfaces I've been talking about?

 

[ellevoid]

Hi Blizzard,

Very interesting and insightful thread. I need some advise here, my music server has only usb output so I connect it to my dac (NAD M51) via usb which works very well and it sound very nice. But will it be better if I use usb-spdif converter to connect to my dac via aes/ebu or should I buy a new music server with aes/ebu output or a new dac with better usb implementation (e.g. Invicta Mirus, Lynx Hilo, etc.)?

Thanks.