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192 from usb/spdif to NOS dac to amp

I have some flac files that I want to optimize the SQ on.
I have an Audio Note NOS DAC with USB and coax inputs.
I have a Mac MINI with USB out.

My thinking is that if I route the MAC USB to a USB/SPDIF converter that Audirvana will recognize as a 24/192 device that it will convert the flac to 24/192. Then the output of the flac from the converter will then output to the NOS DAC, through the coax (spdif) at a better resolution (sq). Then the dac will not over sample anything at all because it has all been accomplished by the usb/spdif converter.

On my dac, the USB is inferior to the coax input but I do not have any way of converting my flac to any higher resolution that 24/96.

I hope this is enough info.
mattzack2

Showing 2 responses by audioengr

audioengr
3,282 posts
 
USB converters usually dont convert the data. They just pass it through and reformat.

A good USB converter like the Off-Ramp 5 would give you better results at 44.1 however, by reducing jitter even more.

NOS DACs usually are based on older chips,which do not support rates above 44.1 and sometimes 96.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
MattZ - absolutely, jitter is much more important to reduce than increasing the sample-rate, particularly when using a NOS DAC because there is typically no digital filtering.

Upsampling helps the most when the DAC is a Sigma-Delta and uses digital filtering. upsampling tries to mitigate the effects of poor digital filters.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
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