USB SPDIF interface 2018

alainbil posted:

My music is stored on a Melco N1A/2  connected to a NAIM DAC with an M2Tech           
Hiface 2  interface. The Hiface is plugged into the Melco           
back, and one needs a lot of depth to fit the Melco, the Hiface and           
the stiff cable that goes to the DAC. I do not have much space, and I           
had to put the Melco close to the shelf front edge and squeeze the SPDIF           
cable on the rear wall. This is not satisfactory and I am looking for           
another interface that is not plugged directly into the Melco but           
rather connected with an USB cable.           
           
This forum contains a couple of threads about USB SPDIF interfaces but          
they are closed by now. The outcome of these threads seems to be that           
the Singxer-F1 and Schiit Eitr are quite good and may be the Matrix           
SPDIF 2 better (but more expensive). Has the market evolved ?           
           

I do not believe so. Sonore have introduce an ultraDigital about one year ago, Mutec are still on their MC-3+ USB. I have an Eitr which I am not using at the moment but that worked well for me. In my system I have tried the Mutec, the Eitr and an old M2Tech hiFace Evo. I am now using a DigiOne Signature directly connected to the nDAC through a DC-1 cable. 

Alain - if you are happy with the Hiface then you could just use a USB extender cable between the Hiface and Melco. 

Something like this from Audioquest would do the job. 

I have this Audioquest, and it does degrade the SQ. My dealer told me so and he is right.

Hi Alain,

My opinions:

The Hiface is well behind the curve.
The SingXer-F1 is excellent, especially if independently powered (i.e. NOT using the USB 5v from the streamer, block that).
I very marginally preferred the Schiit Eitr, but not enough to change.
When I initially heard the Matrix 2 I was blown away, and bought it. Over the following weeks I realised I had made a mistake and went back to the SingXer.

Gustard are about to bring out a new converter that may change the landscape, the U16 - which I am tracking.

M

Mr Underhill is right and the Hiface 2 is a bottleneck in your system.

The Melco has both a dedicated USB 2.0 output and a direct Ethernet output. An alternative to using a USB to S/PDIF interface is to use an Ethernet to S/PDIF interface like the dCS Network Bridge or the Allo DigiOne Signature.

I have been running the DigiOne Signature for about one week in my system and I am impressed by the results that I have obtained. With a LPS-1.2 powering its clean side, it outperforms the DigiOne, the Eitr and the M2Tech hiFace Evo.

One advantage of going the DigiOne Signature path would be that, once the chain Melco > Signature > nDAC is up and running, you could easily try running a UPnP server on the RPi that hosts the Signature and replay from a local USB drive.

If this setup does not degrade the sound quality in comparison with using the Melco as a server, you could eventually get rid of the Melco and further simplify your chain. If not, you will know that the Melco is an essential component of your replay chain and that further improvements would require replacing the Signature (or the Naim DAC) with something better.

Thank you for the advice / opinion.

 I understand that you mean the 293 US$ DigiOne Signature as sold in Europe.

(excluding power supply and case). The reason I am asking is that there is no RJ45 input visible on the pictures posted on allo Web site.

alainbil posted:

Thank you for the advice / opinion.

 I understand that you mean the 293 US$ DigiOne Signature as sold in Europe.

(excluding power supply and case). The reason I am asking is that there is no RJ45 input visible on the pictures posted on allo Web site.

 

Yes, the DigiOne and the DigiOne Signature are I2S to S/PDIF interfaces for the Rapsberry Pi platform. They have to be plugged into the GPIO port of a Raspberry Pi in much the same way as an Eitr has to be plugged into a USB port of a Audio 2 class device. Thus, you have to add to the price of the DigiOne or DigiOne Signature about 40$ for the RPi.

The RPi is then connected to the LAN (or to the dedicated output of the Melco) via its RJ45 socket. On the RPi you can install plug and play audio distributions like Volumio or DietPi or, if you are familiar with Linux installations, a minimal Raspbian.

I do not like operating systems that have to be configured via web interfaces or apps (like Volumio and the OSs that run on Naim, Melco, Sonore, etc. devices) and therefore I run a minimal Raspbian installation on all my Raspberry Pi devices.

Allo also offer the DigiOne Signature as an assembled plug-and-play system with DietPi or Volumio preinstalled.

If you do not feel comfortable with managing another system downstream the Melco, just get a Schiit Eitr. It is a very capable plug-and-play interface and will solve your current problem. You can then always try the DigiOne Signature later if you fancy to do so. 

I am currently testing the Eitr between the Melco and the nDAC.

The replacement of the Hiface by the Eitr has a curious side effect:

You can put the Melco in the so called dark mode where the front display is shut off, with the Eitr the dark mode does not stay for long and the Melco switches back to the usual mode. This never occurred before.

alainbil posted:

I am currently testing the Eitr between the Melco and the nDAC.

The replacement of the Hiface by the Eitr has a curious side effect:

You can put the Melco in the so called dark mode where the front display is shut off, with the Eitr the dark mode does not stay for long and the Melco switches back to the usual mode. This never occurred before.

Weird, have you reported the behavior to Melco and/or Schiit?

Yes. No reply from Melco and Schiit has no clue.

I had time to compare the Eitr to the Hiface2 as an interface between the Melco and the nDAC.

In some cases the difference is subtle, in other cases the  sound is transformed :the Eitr gives a much more detailed and leaner presentation. This is quite amazing.

alainbil posted:

I had time to compare the Eitr to the Hiface2 as an interface between the Melco and the nDAC.

In some cases the difference is subtle, in other cases the  sound is transformed :the Eitr gives a much more detailed and leaner presentation. This is quite amazing.

That's to be expected. The Melco is supposed to have a clean USB output and the Hiface 2 was a bottleneck in your system. If you stick to the nDAC, I would also consider, at a certain point, the possibility of replacing the Melco + Eitr with a source with a high quality BNC S/PDIF output.