Bryston BDA-1 used V/S Wyred 4 Sound DAC 2

James63 - I found the complete opposite in my system when comparing the optical out of a mac mini and an inexpensive m2tech hiface connected to the coax input on my dac. The usb to spdif converter was a significant improvement. Of course everything is system dependent. I was using a cheap coax cable with the hiface and a well reviewed glass toslink with mini connector for the optical. Maybe the Benchmark has a much better optical input than my dac.

"Maybe the Benchmark has a much better optical input than my dac."

This is possible and I will not argue with what you heard, you heard it not me. I actually have both connections (USB/toslink) hooked up and can switch between the two from my chair using the apples MIDI setup.

On the benchmark the USB is much brighter and forward. I use a cheap $20 IXSO optical cable. I had a Peachtree Audio Nova (returned it) I tried as a DAC that also had both USB and optical input and had the same result. All in all the optical was much more refined. I have not tried a "highend" USB cable though.

Both the Peachtree Nova and the Benchmark do not have exactly what I would consider "good" USB inputs. The Benchmark is better than what Bryston implemented, but still far away from the async USB configurations of the Ayre, Wanvelength, Wyred, or Firewire implementations such as the Weiss DACs (Note: I did own the Benchmark DAC1 USB for 2 years).

Restock,

Fair enough both sort of sucked with USB.

I just don't see why people go though all the effort to use USB. There are a lot more options if you use one of the other digital conections. Not to mention that optical electrically seperates the computer from the DAC.With jitter being a none issue for most DACs, optial is still a good option. But I have not heard the other brands you mentioned.

At the end of the day there are a lot of good cheap DACs out there today.

the usb dac's that you talk about aren't the asynchronous type nor are they the 192/24 type either. there is a big difference in these dac's nd the wyred for sound dac2. i thought all of the prior usb dacs that i have demoed (except the ayre) sucked. using their usb ports. the wyred for sound dac 2 has changed my opinion.