[drvelocity]

Hey everyone,

I want to get sound from my computer to my Meridian 568.1 in pure digital form, but the computer doesn't have an optical or coax digital output. So I'm looking at a USB to SPDIF converter, but I'm not sure how much I should spend here. Questions:

1. I don't need a DAC at all on the USB converter, correct? So if I find some cheap $15 USB sound card with an optical or coax digital, and output that straight into the Meridian, is that sufficient for optimum quality? Is there a difference between the worst optical output on a computer, and the optical output on a $1000 sound card?

3. Some USB to digital converters output at 24 bit, 192khz - would the 568.1 be able to take that signal? What would happen with it exactly, since as I understand it the 568.1 can only work with 96khz signals? Am I losing the benefits of the 568's anti-jitter and other goodies by feeding it a signal already upconverted to that level? If so, I assume I would be better off just feeding it a straight up 44.1 or 48khz signal?

Here are three options I've seen:

1. Musiland 01 USD ($70)

2. USB to coax with Burr-Brown PCM2902E This one really confuses me - it's just a straight up USB to SPDIF converter - so why is the Burr-Brown PCM2902E necessary? (I assume this is a DAC?) The computer is already outputting information in digital form, no?

This one puts out sound at 44.1/48khz so I think it might be better for my slightly antiquated 568. And it's $40.

3. A cheap "AudiMAX T1 USB" for $12USD: Audimax T1

The latter is in Chinese but it's essential a USB dongle with an optical and normal headphones output.

Thanks so much for helping me clear this up!!

[Mr_Sukebe]

To my knowledge the 568.1 would not be able to accept a 24/192 signal and you'd get zilch out of it.

From reading around, USB connections are often considered to be a not particularly nice connection method for digital audio.
For one thing, some are limited to 16/48 signals, which is a seriously restrictive bandwidth.
Additionally, I get the impression that the standard USB implementation can introduce a shed load of jitter.

Either way, if I were you, I'd be looking at getting an SPDIF output to your 568.1. There can be differences between the jitter outputs via SPDIF, but I've never seen anything that would suggest that more expensive sound cards would have improved jitter over a cheap and nasty one. I'd suggest you go with a cheap one and see what you think.

One final thought, I don't know whether the 568.1 uses the same amount of buffering to reduce jitter as the 568.2, but mine is far more resistant to jitter differences than any stereo DAC I've played with to date.

[drvelocity]

Great, that's what I needed to know - thanks.