The QA401 analysis software is close to AP quality including SNR in the presence of a test tone that is not even available on the older Audio Precision Analyzer that Secrets owns. It is on the latest Audio Precision units. The QA401 is smart enough to identify harmonics from the test tone and does not use those FFT bins in the SNR computation. SNR can drop when a signal is present which is why this readout is so important. So – how do you know if your DAC will benefit from a USB-S/PDIF converter or not? First up: ‘asynchronous USB’ gets touted by marketing departments as a fix-all solution. It isn’t. I’ve heard numerous DACs that use an async USB implementation but slap an Audiophilleo or Concero on them and presto (!), an altogether more vivid and propulsive presentation. We need to dig deeper into what the manufacturer has done with USB to find clues as to how good it might sound. An XMOS chipset is no magic bullet either. Ditto galvanic isolation. They all help, yes, but they still might not surpass the tonal colour and bass energy that you hear from many an off-board box. The Topping D10 talks directly to Windows 10 computers with the latest updates, hence my computer upgrade. It is simple to change the sample rate to a high-resolution using the Speakers Properties panel in Windows 10.

Using a 192k samples/sec .wav file of an 80kHz signal, at 0dBFS, the Topping produces an 80 kHz tone in figure 11. TREBLE AND BASS ADJUSTMENT】To achieve true HiFi sound quality, set the total volume, treble and bass adjustment knobs on the side of main speaker. Please adjust the most suitable sound according to your preferences, or adjust the best sound effect according to different sound types. This problem is well understood by us because we have gone through the entire USB To SPDIF Converter Audiophile research process ourselves, which is why we have put together a comprehensive list of the best USB To SPDIF Converter Audiophiles available in the market today. Even though some of the converters got equal score, it doesn't mean they sounded exactly the same. Case in point are the ORT 5 and AP1/2 converters. Both scored 95 points, and yet, they sound a bit different. There is no funny reconstruction filter that is said to sound better. The Topping has a high-performance FIR that is flat to 20kHz and has a sharp stopband down 90dB. The output at 0 dBFS comes in at 2VRMS, the industry standard. Channels were remarkably well matched in all tests. It is 0.5dB down at 80kHz!!This is a compact and very easy to use convertor that runs Streamlength USB code from Wavelength Audio to interface with Windows Vista and 7, or Mac OS-X asynchronously. As Wavelength Audio seem to specialise in valve amplifiers, alongside USB products, this is a company with a broad outlook. The Halide runs up to 24/96kHz bit depth/sample rate and is USB powered. It can be used with a USB power supply. In Windows and Mac the device must be selected as usual, to get sound through it, but special drivers do not have to be loaded. This technology we use to assemble our list depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the following:

The S/PDIF Bridge was awarded the coveted "class A" recommended component status from Stereophile magazine. To get this panel, go to the Windows Settings icon then select System, then Sound, select the D10 in the Speakers box (or Output Device box depending on your version of Win 10) and hit Device Properties.

The Musical Fidelity was good, and easily upgradable and can stretch to the heady heights of 24bit 192k, which will be attractive to those seeking maximum resolution at a reasonable price. I was recently asked about merits of S/PDIF versus USB for audio DACs. It has been said that S/PDIF was designed for audio whereas USB is a computer interface. And that makes USB noisier and less desirable interface. Words are one thing, data is another. So let's see measure the performance of S/PDIF and DAC on the same USB and see how they differ. Alas, USB seems to have taken the market by the storm and increasingly DACs have only USB input. I had to dig deep in my stash of DACs to find the ones that still have S/PDIF input. Here is their performance on the venerable J-Test signal at 48 Khz/24-bit.

Alpha USB is based on the the XMOS chip. The little 24M crystal oscillator above it (X101) is there just to make USB work. USP: Asynchronous 24/192 converter with supplied Windows driver software and optional battery/mains power supply. I am in the process of designing and building my own music server and have since learned about an entire segment of hifi where these USB to SPDIF adapters can really make a mid to hifi DAC shine when being fed from a computer. Many of the better companies in fact claim these can elevate a decent DAC to better than vinyl performance.Note only a small 2nd harmonic distortion product at -135dB and no hum components at all. How is that possible? This test is all done on batteries. The Topping D10 is USB powered and so is the Quantasylum QA401. I drove the Topping with a Lenovo E595 and the Quantasylum was on a Lenovo T560. Why am I mentioning Lenovo? Other computers may have noisy USB power outputs and you will not get these results. As you can see from the shorted noise floor the QA401 has at least an 8dB margin below the D10. The noise floor is at least at -117dBV A-weighted if the USB line power is good (spec RMS noise from 20 to 20 kHz is -115dBV). Since the QA401 can accept signal up to 12dBV (4VMS) the total SNR it can measure is 129dB although I lost 6dB of that since the D10 only puts out 2VRMS. Again the QA401 performance would be much better with line power and mono ADCs. Like Godot, I am waiting for Quantasylum to show up with one but it never comes. KLIPSCH MICROTRACTRIX HORN TECHNOLOGY makes a major contribution to the ProMedia’s amazing clarity. Their highly efficient design reproduces more sound from every watt of power, controlling the dispersion of that sound and sending it straight to your ears This oscilloscope screen scrape shows that the D10 reconstruction filter is a linear phase FIR. It has excellent stopband rejection, as we will show below. HDMI Audio Extractor 4K HDMI to Optical 3.5mm AUX Audio Adapter Splitter Converter Supports HDCP...

Essential Connectivity & Control - Get setup and listening in seconds with the included cables plus Bluetooth connectivity for wireless streaming of your favorite music and podcasts.The 'dirty' and 'clean' sides are both isolated by a chip. The lettering on the chip was removed, but I’m pretty sure this is the ADuM* chip, isolating the I2S lines between the XMOS chip and the SPDIF output. After a cursory survey of the different adapters concerned, I was immediately drawn to this unusual audio piece. It is literally a cable, with the electronics built into the cable – the S/PDIF end. It takes it’s power from the USB on the laptop, but can be cleverly upgraded by providing dedicated power. Amalink 3 Port Optical Switcher Splitter 3 in 1 Out , with 1 Way Spdif Toslink Optical Splitter/... Note all these spectra are with a Hann window for the best resolution of noise and distortion. The absolute level of the tones varies slightly with frequency using the Hann window. For flat frequency response, you want a Flat Top window, but you trade resolution. The first spectra should show 20mVRMS or -34dBV but shows 18.9mVRMS instead. I marked the correct values of the amplitude on all the spectra plots correcting for the Hann window. Note the full scale signal (0dBF) is 6dBV (2VRMS). When I use a -40dBFS digital signal, which is 1/100 the voltage level, output drops to 20mVRMS (-34dBV). This is the 6dB difference from the digital signal in dBFS and the voltage output in dBV So what’s in the box? The DAC IC is the ESS ES9018K2M. Unlike the more familiar ES9018 multichannel part, ESS chips with the K2M suffix are low power two-channel parts designed mainly for mobile use. Their measured performance is not as good as the multichannel chip of the same call number. That being said, somehow Topping has achieved much better performance than is typical with the ES9018K2M. When examining the board, nothing looks very different around the DAC when compared to the lesser performers we have tested using the same chip. The D10 has high-quality opamps and power supply components but I do not see any mystery magic parts. Whatever Topping does to achieve the performance I found in the D10 is magic.