I was sick today so gave me all day to play with stereo. My server got all glitchy so back to my MB pro. I DL the trial of Audirvana and really like it though it gives me fits trying to stream MOG to my Apple TV and through my dac. But after hours of reading the net, doing searches on every forum my listening tests today contradict everything on the net so far. That is people seem to think that the DacMagic USB is non asynchronous and does not manage jitter well and the toslink is the clear advantage. My toslink cable is a Monster cable, not fancy and possibly plastic.
I was running the MB pro on battery power. Every listening test showed a clearer, less muddy mid range- brighter, fuller (in a good way), bells ringing clearer, vocals more realistic, cymbals more sparkle using the USB. And this is running high definition downloads (aiff, FLAC converted to Apple lossless). I would be okay with this except the MB pro is set at 16bit, 44.1/48 sampling rate regardless of source on the USB. My USB is the one that came with the DacMagic so nothing fancy either. The DacMagic is set at 24bit and sampling rates up to 96 only.
If I am to invest in the occasional HD tracks download, it makes no sense to me that the USB sounds better considering the restriction in USB. The DacMagic can go as high as 96 sampling rate.
One thing that came up several times in reading was using a toslink to coax converter or better glass toslink. But if you ddint know I have no expendable income so $60 cables aren't a great option. And yes I will struggle to pay for Audirvana when the trail ends. Maybe use Decibel?
What is going on or what is your take?
TIA ,
Ray
