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Computer Audio Asylum Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies. |
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Computer Audio Asylum Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies. |
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In Reply to: RE: USB Ports sound different... posted by AbeCollins on November 4, 2017 at 11:23:46:
Abe has the best answer - you want your USB DAC on the port that has the least other traffic on it.
This is one of the problems with the Audio Asylum software - old topics drop out of sight and out of mind. This was discussed endlessly about 6 or 8 years ago. A quick search of the forums would supply your answer quickly. (That is one of the best things about the Audio Asylum software - a very powerful search engine.)
The way to get the very best sound from a USB DAC is to use a dedicated USB card. If you have a desktop, you can buy a USB 2.0 card for $10. If you have a laptop with a PC-Card expansion port (formerly clumsily named PCMCIA), you can also get a USB expansion card. Either way, the card with only the USB DAC will have its own top-level interrupt to the PCI (or PCIe) bus, and get "special red-carpet" treatment from your processor, with notably improved sound quality.
Or you can get a dedicated server like a Melco that does even more than that. I know there are other similar products that I've not heard, but a Melco server beats the pants off of any computer I've ever heard.
Computer audio turns out to be at least as tweaky as vinyl. Instead of worrying about tracking force, stylus overhang, VTA, anti-skating, et ceter, et cetera, you have to worry about a zillion other factors that apparently affect the amount of RFI/EMI that is injected both into your DAC and into your home's AC power line. No easy answers - at least not yet.
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Follow Ups
- Best answer - Charles Hansen 11/5/1702:56:50 11/5/17 (0)
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