XXHighEnd

Good afternoon.
Interested in hearing your recommendations for USB-SPDIF converter.
In my system were: Alpha USB, Stahl Tek ABC, Gidra Z + power, but very good sound in my system was with Morello MAX! Unfortunately Morello MAX longer produce  :(
Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi Grom,

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First note :
Do not hesitate to ask me in email things which are not clear.
I know ho difficult English is for you.

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I hope someone is going to give you an answer, but I think it is not so simple !

A USB Interface is to be "working" and that is all.
Uhm, they say !
And we wished that were true ...

Now, *because* they only need to work (technically, hence without errors) we can easily find that under the hood they operate within margins, and it is that which makes them "sound" differently. It is about current draw, about noise they produce or pass on (from the PC) and ... all can not be explained because there is too much going on and actually nobody really knows. I think I know a lot, but still not all and certainly not in this field.

It is pure conincidence when something works out for you in your system.

This does not count for you alone, but for everybody.

What you have as additional dimension is that you have a legacy DAC with SPDIF input only. This, sadly, implies that your DAC Manufacturer never applied something for that DAC explicitly, while I know how difficult that is when you do. Thus, our Phasure NOS1a DAC is all about that USB Interface and how to make it sound the best possible, mostly because of that "stupid" interface. Call that years of work and evaluation and listening. And most certainly not to forget : with so many customers listening too (to the same solution).

BUT

It seems that there's consensus about the Intona isolator. Many of use use that and I myself use it too. It makes all the difference in the world. It makes so much difference that for you too it can "solve" bad sounding interface issues.
Intona High Speed USB 2.0 galvanic isolation (http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=3297.0).
Or if you trust me and without all the reading and nesessary translation for you, order directly from here :
http://intona.eu/en/products

Explanation for you :
Use this device in between computer and that USB Interface of your choice. Thus :

PC -> USB Cable -> Intona -> USB Cable -> USB Interface -> SPDIF Cable -> DAC.

I promise you a completely different sound and you can again try all the USB Interfaces you have.
The galvanic isolation is crucial and it makes all different, technically.

Last notice :
A USB Interface with a tube is interesting, but otherwise has no benefits for SQ. It is just that other interface, like I tried to explain in the beginning - and all sound different. There is no single electrical benefit when a tube is used in the digital domain (like a USB interface is in the digital domain).
This is different for a D/A converter. So I am not saying that for a D/A converter this does not matter. This is because in the analogue domain a tube amplifies totally different than Solid State (silicon).

I hope you could understand this ...
Peter

Peter,

The "industrial" version of the Intona ?

:)

Alain

Dear Peter.
Thanks for the answer.
I have 5 years with you and trust your recommendations.
My plan is required to purchase Intona and RAM OS. My friend from Slovenia already uses Intona and definitely recommended. Now my system is dismantled, but in the near future, I will continue experimenting.

Alain, you are correct !

So Grom, like Alain rightfully said : The Industrial version.
Also, when you order it, ask for "non flashing led". You can enter that in the Paypal info somewhere, or otherwise you can send an email to Intona with that request.

Kindest regards,
Peter

Why "non flashing led", does this affect the sound?
Kindest regards
Basil.

Hi Basil,

Peter may answer this too, but if you read the first pages about the Intona journey since it began, you will notice that the led was flashing all the time. Peter communicated with Daniel from Intona and between reports, he mentioned that. Daniel answered that if a customer asks for it, he will make the required modification so that the led will stop flashing when the USB connection is established at high speed.

While it is hard to know if it would have affected SQ, it seemed better not to have it flashing all the time :)

And we have peace of mind too :)

Regards,

Alain

Thank you, Alain!
We ordered :)