Naim USB DAC

Posted by: man man on 06 February 2009

More and more hi-end manufacturers launch their USB DAC products recently (or other computer connection’s product).

I really wish that there were a Naim USB DAC so I can play my 96/24 high-resolution music files in Naim’s sound.

I prefer a separate Naim USB DAC rather than the HDX for flexible option of storage (SSD is better than traditional HDD for music usage)

Hope that this wish will come true ~
Posted on: 11 February 2009 by Frank Abela
On the subject of USB, my understanding that it introduces large amounts of jitter, and this is one reason why it's not as good a connection as S/PDIF. By contrast, HDMI introduces HUGE amounts of jitter.

The problem with jitter remains a major issue with all these connections, hence Denon's Link4 (for HDMI) and previously iLink in order to get around the problem. Fact is, there's no reason for jitter to exist in the first place other than cost - the design of these connection standards doesn't allow for a decent clocking mechanism and it all goes to pot.
Posted on: 11 February 2009 by james n
quote:
On the subject of USB, my understanding that it introduces large amounts of jitter, and this is one reason why it's not as good a connection as S/PDIF.


Depends if the USB implementation is asynchronus or synchronus - async is better as the receiving device holds the master clock and can buffer the incoming data rather than having to derive the clock (via a PLL) from the USB frame rate.

James
Posted on: 11 February 2009 by ferenc
Minimal jitter is not guarantee of the good sound and listenability. At different places in the trasmission chain there are different jitter issues with a little bit different spectrum for each of them.