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Does your DAC sound better through the S/PDIF or I2S inputs than through USB?

For a long time I used a Windows NUC driving my DAC through USB. (A modified Gustard X20Pro.) Then I got an Aurender N100 which provided a better USB source. I also tried a DAC on the recommendation of a friend in the New Jersey Audiophile Society. People were excited about this there: the Gustard R26.

I found that the R26 is disappointing through its USB input, but excels through the Coax S/PDIF input using a Gustard U18 Digital/Digital Convertor.

This probably points to a subpar USB implementation, to be honest, but I started wondering if this is a general pattern among DACs that can take both S/PDIF and USB.

Anyone find something similar in their DAC?

For example, I'm interested in a Schiit DAC (not sure which model yet). Now that I have the DDC I can drive it through Coax and compare to USB. With the Gungnir 2, I may not have the choice of USB because they have a USB C connection and my only good USB cable is A to B.

Note: what is wrong with the R26 through the USB input: very light bass, unintegrated treble (sibilance kind of clouds over the sound and doesn't integrate with the body of the instruments)

magon
sns
3,700 posts
 

The salient point using I2S vs all the others is the ability to use a better clock via a DDC vs dac's internal clock. With superior clocking presentation can be greatly affected. Proper clocking means data packets more correctly timed which results in a much more analog like presentation. If you investigate most dac's internal clock you'll generally find Femto clocks with rather pedestrian power supplies to those clocks, one can do better in this case. Not sure I'd want to purchase any dac devoid of I2S input, minimally I'd want to compare my Denafrips Gaia with Tubulus Ximius I2S cable to the dac's internal I2S architecture and/or it's usb implementation. The only higher level dac I know of that incorporates I2S is the Mola Mola Tambaqui.

jas_in_phila1
9 posts
 

PS Audio also incorporates I2S inputs in their Stellar Gold and PureWave DACs.

I use the Tubulus Concentus I2S v.2 cable between my Jay's transport and PS Audio StellarGold DAC. Sublime!

magon OP
88 posts
 

Is it possible that my Gustard R26 gets the clock in two different ways?

- via internal clock when using S/PDIF inputs like coax? (i.e. it would do reclocking)

- via the input when using I2S?

What happens when I connect an external 10 MHz clock to my R26? Does that not affect the I2S input?

I say this because the S/PDIF coax input sounded similar with two different DDCs and one was small and cheap (probably not a good clock). It sounded worse through I2S from the DDC compared to S/PDIF (perhaps the cable wasn't good enough and the DDC (U18) clock wasn't an improvement on the internal DAC clock).

medium_grade
102 posts
 

I've tried this using several DACs and I have never heard one in which S/PIDF didn't sound significantly better than USB. I have no idea if it is due to the USB controller, noise from the power provided by the medium or what, but it definitely degrades the quality. Noise reduction devices like those from iFi can help, and I do think that some computers USB controllers are better than others, but it's still not as good as a S/PDIF inputs.

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
5,175 posts
 

Aurender doesn’t offer I2S.  They has prioritized USB and recommend it. I have nothing to compare it with, but my N200 sounds mighty fine to me.

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