Seeking Advice on NOS DAC

Lowrider - not a silly question at all. Jitter will be a problem unless you have a really low jitter source, like an expensive USB converter or network renderer, costing more than the DAC.

If you plan to use sources such as a transport or a Sonos etc., a reclocker like the Synchro-Mesh will bring that sound quality up to the latest technology uber-expensive DAC’s at a low cost.

You get the best of both worlds: analog sound of NOS, plus detail, dynamics and liveness of a low-jitter source.

I used to be of the opinion that resampling does some SQ damage to the datastream that cannot be recovered, but my latest Synchro-Mesh sounds almost identical to my best Ethernet renderer, which is 5X the cost of the Synchro-Mesh. My BNC cable is recommended with it because of the fast risetimes on S/PDIF.

Empirical Audio

@lowrider57 , Upsampling will not hurt, it will usually help, and most NOS chips support 24/96.  Simpler to filter this too.  Depends on the vintage of the D/A chip though.  If its a TDA1543 chip, maybe 44.1 would be better. 

You can also get the Synchro-Mesh in 44.1 flavor at minimal cost and select 16-bit.  Also great sounding.  I would recommend 24/96 standard version if the D/A supports it.  30-day money-back.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

@lowrider57 , the best USB converter is the Berkeley. Find one used.

I have abandoned USB after doing 6 generations of interfaces. I even designed a XMOS galvanically isolated one like the Berkeley. Ethernet is superior for sound quality and setup. I have a DLNA Ethernet interface that works with Jriver and Audirvana and I’m working on a Roon-ready interface now.  They can use WIFI or wired.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio