What is the best USB S/PDIF converter

[digitalman]

Hi,

My Hiface is broken, USB connector have loose contacts. If i have no warranty anymore, i want to buy a new converter.  What's the best converter sound quality wise for under 400-500 eu., Any opinions?

Martijn

[arvind]

Hi,

You could look at the Empirical Audio Off Ramp 4. Its around $ 1200 but is really good.

Arvind

[Bernie]

Hi,
I have the Audiophilleo 2 for some days now, it is really a big improvement over the Hiface. You don't need a custom driver (only for 176 or 192 khz) and you don't need a digital cable. You also don't need a power supply, I tried with my battery powered USB-cable and there is no improvement over a standard cable.
Sound wise it is one of the biggest improvements I ever had from a digital source. And it is within your price range.

Bernd

[Flecko]

I can suggest the Audio-GD Digital interface. It can be used without external power supply but you can simply buy one from audio-gd that is made for the Digital Interface. They are offering a upgrade of the clock to a TCXO 0.5ppm. I have the external PS and the clock upgarde and can say, both are worth their money. It will be about 220$ and it is a serious step above the hiface. I made a quick check and plugged in my hiface again. The hiface is not bad but the DI provides a bigger well sorted stage, a clearer sound and a lot more low level detail. The bass has more punch and the highs are a little more fresh. The hiface sounds dry and not as involving in comparison. It is recomended to use it with upsampling (upsampler build in, can be turned on an off). You can not use 88.2 or 176.4 khz but 44.1, 48, 96 and 192 khz. no driver needed. If you like to use doubling or don't like to upsample, I would look for something else. The Art Legato seems to be under the best usb-spdif converters up to 500$. I didn't listened to it but I think I read everything that was told in the internet about it. It has two drawbacks. It is 44.1/16 only and you will wait some time to get it.
And of course, I have a Hiface for sale
Greetings
Adrian

[digitalman]

Thanks for your answers. THe Empirical Audio Off Ramp 4 is a little bit too costy for me. I read some reviews of the Audio GD and the Audiophilleo 2 and they are looking promising. But i also looked at the moded Hiface MK2. So i think for now i have to choose between these three.

I read somewhere that the Audiophilleo clearly out preform the Hiface Evo, but is that also true for the hiface MK2? And there is a price difference of 100,- eu. So i think i try to do some futher research and if any one else on the forum have any useful futher info to make my choice easier you are very welcome!

[Bernie]

if you compare the prices don't forget that the Audiophilleo doesn't need a digital cable. It comes with some adapters for BNC and SPDIF and can be directly plugged into a DAC (TACT Millenium in my case). I tried it with my Silent Wire 32 digital cable (400€) and even this is degrading the sound quality. The USB cable does not make a difference, I tried 1 and 5 m and could not hear a difference. As cheap digital cables always degrade the SQ I think the price for a complete solution is not so bad...
And Adrians descriptions of the sound differences of his GD compared to the Hiface is also true for the AP2, you hear new things on most recordings, much more energy, more space and more realism. And they offer a 30 day money back guarantee...

[digitalman]

@Bernie, I'am thinking more and more toward the Audiophilleo 2, but i think it's still a awful lot of money for just a s/pdif adaptor. But if it gives such a enormous boost in sound quality i have to consider this seriously. What you are saying it will safe you the money of a good s/pdif cable and in compare of the modded hiface MK2 a good USB cable. Only think i don't know how needed it is for the MK2 to have a good usb cable or that it also will make not a big difference?

[arvind]

Thanks for your answers. THe Empirical Audio Off Ramp 4 is a little bit too costy for me. I read some reviews of the Audio GD and the Audiophilleo 2 and they are looking promising. But i also looked at the moded Hiface MK2. So i think for now i have to choose between these three.

I read somewhere that the Audiophilleo clearly out preform the Hiface Evo, but is that also true for the hiface MK2? And there is a price difference of 100,- eu. So i think i try to do some futher research and if any one else on the forum have any useful futher info to make my choice easier you are very welcome!

Empirical Audio has reduced the price of the std Off Ramp 3 to $ 499. In my opinion a great buy. They have some pieces left with them still.

Arvind

[Bernie]

correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know the Off Ramp is still limited to 24/96 and is USB 1.1 compatible, so no asynchronous transfers...and still you need a good SPDIF cable. And with USB 1.1 the USB cable really matters...

Regarding USB cable: I'm only using a mid-price Oelbach cable (5 m), compared to the 1 m cable that comes with the AP I can't hear a difference. With asynchronouis transfers this should be uncritical. Also with the Hiface there was no difference between using a 5 m USB cable or directly plugging the Hiface to the PC. However using a 5 m SPDIF cable makes a big difference compared to a short one (much better).

[boleary]

I've been very pleased with the JKenny MK2 modified Hiface. Has anyone compared this to any of the other offerings named in this thread?

[Flecko]

Also with the Hiface there was no difference between using a 5 m USB cable or directly plugging the Hiface to the PC. However using a 5 m SPDIF cable makes a big difference compared to a short one (much better).

I have completly the oposit experience. If you got a high quality SPDIF cable, even 5m are fine and could be better than a short one. Sound differences of usb cables are big with the hiface.

Look here:
http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=1425.0

[digitalman]

My experience with the stock hiface, best without USB cable. With normal USB cable it gets worse. More expensive cable i didn't test. 

[Bernie]

Yes, with the Hiface a 5m digital cable is really a big improvement over a short one, but with the Audiophilleo it is not. Plugging it directly into the DAC gives the best result. I think the Hiface has a problem with too much voltage in the output signal (2,5V instead of 0.5 or so), so this could be the reason.
I have used a modified USB cable with the Hiface, I have used a battery to replace the power line from the PC and this is a big improvement for the Hiface, but it seems not to improve the Audiophilleo. But here I'm still testing all combinations to get the best result. But in the end the Audiophilleo with no SPDIF cable and a standard USB cable is much better than the Hiface with battery powered USB cable and long SPDIF cable.

[arvind]

correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know the Off Ramp is still limited to 24/96 and is USB 1.1 compatible, so no asynchronous transfers...and still you need a good SPDIF cable. And with USB 1.1 the USB cable really matters...



Regarding USB cable: I'm only using a mid-price Oelbach cable (5 m), compared to the 1 m cable that comes with the AP I can't hear a difference. With asynchronouis transfers this should be uncritical. Also with the Hiface there was no difference between using a 5 m USB cable or directly plugging the Hiface to the PC. However using a 5 m SPDIF cable makes a big difference compared to a short one (much better).

Off Ramp 3 is limited to 24/96 but the Off Ramp 4 is asynch & supports upto 24/192. A good USB cable is reqd with the Off Ramp 3 or 4. Both support USB 2.0. USB cable upto 5 m gives no problems at all. S/PDIF cable should be good irrespective of which convertor is used.

[Flecko]

Yes, with the Hiface a 5m digital cable is really a big improvement over a short one, but with the Audiophilleo it is not. Plugging it directly into the DAC gives the best result. I think the Hiface has a problem with too much voltage in the output signal (2,5V instead of 0.5 or so), so this could be the reason.

Then I read your previous post wrong, ok!
The hiface has a 50Ohm bnc plug, (Did Jkeny said that? don't know?) and probable a bad impedance control. I guess this is the reason why you get better results from a long cable. The reflections arrive later. The attenuation of a cable is not enough to explain the better sound. But it should improve with an attenuator about 10-20 db, according to Jkeny and also others who affirmed that.