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RE: End of Days for USB audio?

Hi,

Yet your preferred "network audio" has precisely the same issues as USB, including "corrupted data with no re-transmit" as USB Audio. It is as sensitive to cables, tweaks etc.

So, what is it precisely that we gain? USB is a long standing system and over time it has been optimised for sound quality by those who care, without loosing universality.

If Networked systems are fundamentally better (never mind that probably the only reason is that Ethernet is fully isolated) they work only in a complex environment, compared to simply plugging a DAC into a PC, lest the DAC is network attached.

The current state, even in pro-audio, reminds me of the early days of computer audio. More standards than you can shake your stick at, no inter-operability, severe data integrity issues.

And the best commodity solutions (e.g. Google Chromecast Audio) do a sterling job if SPDIF connected to a decent DAC that has a competent SPDIF implementation for next to no money.

Of course, if selling to audiophooles who live in constant FUD - selling an Audiophile NAS (with audiophool HDD Drives costing ten times that of a generic AV HDD), a network 2 I2S interface bridge, an I2S DAC and so on may be better. Because every audiophool knows more boxes more better and paying more means it sounds better.

I have been on competent USB implementations and generic PC hardware for > a decade. I have evaluated most current network based solutions. I find them to lack any compelling advantage over USB (and to have many drawbacks). But of course they cost a lot more, so they must be better.

USB audio is far from perfect, but the same applies to any other current transports.

For all "networked commodity audio" I now use Google CCA via optical SPDIF to my Retro System. Unsurprisingly uncompressed audio this way sounds as good this way as from a Blue-Ray Player or via PC from USB. If listening serious (or above 96k) USB is my choice, arguably with an iUSB Nano sitting with a 2" USB cable behind the retro.

Non of the networked solutions I trialed did better, perhaps because they all still used the same clock and isolation build into the Retro as the other options.

Thor

At 20 bits, you are on the verge of dynamic range covering fly-farts-at-20-feet to intolerable pain. Really, what more could we need?

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