Looking for Better Jitter Reduction in a DAC

Try this...

https://www.mutec-net.com/product_mc-12.php
https://www.mutec-net.com/product_mc-3-plus-usb.php

These unholy units interconnect anything to everything and have super clocking systems.    I know you say USB is secondary, but these system's drivers ensure bit-for-bit transfer through Windows kernel.

I have the 1.2 on order..... I am connecting an Accuphase DP55v CD player with digital ins to my computer (Foobar, bit-for-bit library from a home server).  I contacted Accuphase a long time ago and they noted their unit does not re-clock the incoming signal so I need one of these.  Long history.... I used an Audio Alchemy DTI Pro 32 for computer to DAC interface but these new Mutec units are far superior in their jitter is lower, connect more things, and pass more sampling rates.

The unit has plenty of in/out options....  It looks like I can use it to A/B tons of grear as a side benefit.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Actually, I just purchased the 1.2 from eBay for $190. A great deal IMO.

If anyone cares, I have a few moments to type..... I had an old laptop running Windows XP as my player. This PC sat in my equipment rack and was a real challenge to get bit-for-bit out of it... XP was not that sophisticated and I had to remove some of Microxoft’s kernal programs... anywho.... I took the SPDIF out to an M-Audio converter to optical... then to the Audio Alchemy, then to my Accuphase (Accuphase has both optical and RCA ins). Foobar’s kernal streaming driver worked well. Since the Accuphase is both a DAC and player, I could put a CD in the tray and A/B the exact same bit stream from my computer...... I got it 99% there.... jitter was a big problem so I understand your real needs.

Then I dumped that whole rig and purchased a Benchmark DAC1 with native USB port and one that touted no jitter. Life got way easier.

I was using a pair VTL 300 Deluxe tube monoblock amplifiers and one just died... so I just received my new PrimaLuna HP intetgrated amp.... I chose an integrated so I could hook up more than one source..... so now I could pull out my Accuphase and A/B with the Benchmark... and hook up some old stuff like a tuner etc...

Now I am back to using that Accuphase... it just sounded so much better than that dead sounding Benchmark.... I dumped the Audio Alchemy but could never part with that wonderful Accuphase... now I need something back again with native USB interface with Windows 10 hence the MUTEC (temporarily, I am using the M-Audio Transit product that I will retire.)

An interesting lesson here...... the Benchmark DAC 1 was generations ahead of the Accuphase but it didn’t sound as good. The lesson here is that just because there are newer chips out there does not mean the old stuff sounds worse...... as we old guys know, it is all in the details of implementations and the subtly of designs. The Accuphase used four stereo DACs in some goofy configuration that sounds beautiful.... I have no idea what they were doing but they did it right.

There is more to this story (more like a journey), so some of the equip configurations above may not make sense... lotsa stuff came in and out over the years, but I thought I would share the highlights.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Interesting.......

I plan on dragging that older Accuphase to a good store and comparing it to some of these modern units.... I am rooting for the Accuphase simply because it sounds so much better than a Class A rated DAC, the Benchmark DAC1.   Again, the design of the Accuphase is that it uses multiple stereo DACs..... who knows, maybe these guys discovered something great.  From their manual:

"The MDS (Multiple DeltaSigma) principle em-ploys several deltasigma type convertersin a parallel configura-tion which results in adrastic precision enhancement. The delta sigmaprinciple combines oversampling with noise-shaping (a kind of digital feedback) which projects the amplitude information of the digital signal onto a time axis for precise conversion.Figure 1 shows several delta sigma converters which are fed with the same signal and whose outputs are combined to arrive at the overall waveform. "

Sounds good to me.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Shadorne,

My Benchmark DAC1 is ... oh I don’t know, maybe seven years old. I runs warm and always did. I have it on 24/7 for most of that seven years. Yes this is true it runs all the time. Did this degrade the sound? Maybe, heck I don’t know. It just is dead sounding next to my Accuphase. I always felt this way since I first plugged it in.

What I learned when I purchased my Accuphase, a lesson that I keep relearning thirty years on now, is it is more about implementation than what chip does what.  The earliest chips sucked... then something happened, I think the chips became good.   The only two machines I thought were musical back then were the Accuphase and Ayre machines. That’s was it. Boxes that used the same chip sets were not nearly as good sounding as these machines.... it was not the chips that did it.

Peace
Bruce in Philly