Ways to improve DAC performance???

One issue with USB is that it sends regular bursts of info like the start of frame packet - "The SOF packet consisting of an 11-bit frame number is sent by the host every 1ms ± 500ns on a full speed bus or every 125 µs ± 0.0625 µs on a high speed bus". If the timing of this shifts or is variable, this could elicit a different & variable reaction from the USB receiver & translate into a different & varying jitter or noise spectrum.

We audiophiles who spend thousands to squeeze out every last bit of performance out of a component are trying to squeeze music out of an USB rock. The interface is grossly flawed for music.

Cerrot - you still didn't answer my question. If you tried one of mine, which one? And what player software and platform did you use? All of this matters.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

""The SOF packet consisting of an 11-bit frame number is sent by the host every 1ms ± 500ns on a full speed bus or every 125 µs ± 0.0625 µs on a high speed bus". If the timing of this shifts or is variable, this could elicit a different & variable reaction from the USB receiver & translate into a different & varying jitter or noise spectrum."

Certainly possible, but this does not matter. The data is reclocked externally with a free-running clock, eliminating all of the jitter from the USB receiver.

USB and networked interfaces can be virtually identical in performance. They both have buffered packetized data that is slaved from the source computer. They both have a free-running clock that retimes the data. Either one is the optimum way to do audio interfaces.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Doesn't matter? Seriously? That's the whole issue.

Heard your rig at a show - didn't impress me. I find USB just poor. Even yours. Makes no matter. And soon the hoax is over. Like I said, all these guys spending thousands on USB converters when USB will be phased out within a few years.

Cerrot - you still don't get it. The data is reclocked, so it does not matter.

I don't know what show you heard my gear in but it must have been 5 years ago or more and not representative of my current products. The last 3 or 4 shows I have gotten best of shows:

2010:
http://www.avguide.com/blog/tas-rmaf-steven-stone-digital-and-new-technologies?page=2

2011:
http://www.avguide.com/blog/rmaf-2011-report-digital?page=2

2012:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/empirical-audio

2013:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/another-opening-another-show

There is no hoax. USB done right is simply better, as is networked audio. I would have never gotten the awards and best of shows if this was not the case. This is not a single recognition, it is a series of them from different reviewers over a long period of time.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio