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Good Bye USB Audio

Posted by soundchekk (A) on February 5, 2016 at 01:44:02

Bought a HifiBerry DAC+ Pro @ $50 two weeks ago.

It piggybacks on a Raspberry PI2 powered by the iFi iPower (Thorsten told me that iFi will provide a DC-5.5mm -> microUSB adapter, for e.g. powering a PI, soon).

The DAC+ Pro comes with clocks in the picosecond jitter range and acts as a I2S clock master towards the Raspberry Pi. That's currently pretty unique!
Most other PI DACs use the rather low quality PI I2S signal. I do have to admit that I don't have a clue what's left from these picosecond jitter clocks.

I use my own Arch Linux setup and squeezelite.

I modify this SW setup with all the mods I've been figuring out over the years.

So far so good.

First impression: The sound was much better than I expected. It even made quite some stuff better than my old setup.

I've been using a modified RME Fireface UCX (linear supply and more) and on USB link an iPurifier, Jitterbug, you name it, to get the flawed USB interface under control. (I admit - I failed on getting USB under control. I'm not alone though. Nobody did.)

The iPurifier and the Jitterbug alone cost me as much as my current full system setup with HifiBerry DAC + PI2 + iPower. The RME DAC is 30 times more expensive then this PI DAC. No. I shouldn't think about all that.

If you add another $60 you'll get a nice metal case for the combo.

I havn't applied many HW modifications yet. I'm in the process of applying some, since I think there might be space for improvement.

But even at this very early stage I don't feel the need to go back to USB and my RME Fireface.

That made me thinking.
Live can be that easy. No more USB DACs. No more insane USB mods.
Just keep it simple.

Yep, we've been there before. PCs with internal soundcards - Ah. I forgot: Today they are called streamers.

(And Steve. The best USB cable is not the $700 cable you just tested or the other ones in a similar price range. The best cable is no cable! Sometimes less is more.)

Enjoy.

PS: I'll get a friends Mamboberry DAC today. Let see how that performs in comparison.

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Edits: 02/05/16 02/05/16

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