USB Ext Sound Card Vs. Squeebox

Of course in the interests of science you could run an Ethernet cable to the SB and see if any of what you are hearing is related to the wireless transmission...

As Onhwy61 points out, this is all about implementation. And at a certain point price...

One other thing to try is a different SPDIF cable to the DAC. SPDIF implementation is second only to transport jitter....

Guys - no difference between USB and Ethernet in terms of bandwidth - at least not that is relevant to this discussion. Very little data is required for audio - remember USB1.1 works just fine.

Hardwired (ie USB, Ethernet, FireWire etc) is always going to be more reliable then WiFi (wireless). Being nothing more then a small radio, WiFi is subject to interference where wire is not.

Technically a USB DAC that skips SPDIF and works in I2S will trump any USB SPDIF implementation. For instance Gordon Rankin's Wavelength series - Brick, Cosecant and Crimson. Also see the Empirical Audio website for more tech.

In my own rigs I have found that the SPDIF cable makes a big difference in the kind of setup Drubin has. I have been very happy with SBs modded by Bolder running Ethernet, and run them using their own audio out (ie using their internal DAC). Cosecant (and I assume Crimson) are better, as is a USB>adapter implementation with a high end DAC. Have had equally good results with a glass Toslink directly from the Mac to the DAC.

Lots of ways to go.

Lww4k -

Just get a USB cable with the appropriate ends. (I recommend the Belkin Gold USB cable, but any good quality USB cable will work.)

Plug the two devices together. Make sure the DAC is on.
Go to the Audio MIDI SetUp (utility folder) - and select the Paradisea in the pull down menus.(The DAC needs to be on and connected for it to show up in the Setup choices)

Ho to the Wavelength Audio USB DAC site if you need a more detailed blow by blow

http://www.usbdacs dot com/

Push Play in iTunes and off you go.

Be sure you do all of your ripping using Apple Lossless with Error Correction On and the rest of the DSP functions Off. This is all in the Preferences.

Not sure what you mean by "shortcomings". I am not aware of any other Mac compatible music players. iTunes is a Redbook application - if you want to do upsampling it has to take place on your DAC.

If you are sufficiently technical you might take a look at Max which is an Open Source ripping app similar to EAC which is the PC standard and is an alternative to the iTunes ripping software. Do not expect much if any support on this board. There may be some users on the Audio Asylum PC Audio board.

My suggestion is to listen to what you have first. Chances are you will be very pleased once you get all the pieces broken in and dialed up.

Have fun!

If you are using iTunes on a Mac there is no reason to use FLAC. Use Apple Lossless.

FLAC is a preferred solution for PCs because for whatever reason iTunes does not work as consistently in Windows/Vista.

Both Apple Lossless and FLAC do the same thing.

Since you are a Mac guy, you have nothing to gain.

The USB spec is 15' before you need to add a repeater. One reason for this is that USB carries 5v and one can assume that the voltage drops below spec at that distance.

I highly recommend the Opticis Fiber Optic USB cable to anyone who wants to run past 15'. It is easy to route and completely disconnects the PC from the DAC (since fiber does not carry voltage) For sure this eliminates ground loops, and may or may not eliminate radio stations....

You do need a power supply at the receiving end - most of us use a USB 5v battery instead of the provided switching power supply.