Bill,
As far as I know Lynx does not make PC card interface version, so if you want to use arguably the best sound card with lowest jitter you are stuck with Lynx, meaning standard PC and PCI bus interface (avoid PCI Express).
I am not sure if you are confusing interfaces, by PC card I am referring to what is formerly known as PCMCIA (those credit card size cards you slide into laptop). That is not an option for me for reasons described.
And using ASIO is absolute must, so that eliminates Vista OS (Lynx offers drivers for XP only AFAIK) and all the cards that do not support ASIO.
So I cannot say what PC card that can interface with laptops would be a good choice, for me it was not an option.
Keep in mind that Lynx cards are not inexpensive, and to get best out of it you really need to address to the most possible extent all the nastiness of PC environment (dirty power, lots of RFI/EMI), which again translates into big $.
Just the Lynx card and Zalman case will set you back close to 1.7K if I remember correctly, add motherboard, memory, appropriate hard drives, etc., and you are closing on 3K.
There is no way around it, if you want top performing PC transport.
Price tag goes down as you start making compromises, but so does the performance.
It really depends on what you want to accomplish.
Let’s say you have dilemma between a standard optical transport in 3K range and PC based transport. To keep performance and gain usability of PC, you need to spend the same amount if not more.
USB is out of question for inherent limitations. I want to have a system ready for high resolution material (up to 24/192), standard 16/44.1 is limited and significant leap in performance can be achieved only with higher resolution.
In regard to SB3 digital out performance I can say that Rotel 1072 digital out outperformed SB3 coax into the same DAC by a large margin, very easily distinguished. There was nothing I could do to improve SB3, replacement of walwart did not result in significant improvement.
Why others do not hear differences I cannot say. Ability to distinguish digital source depends on DAC quality, implementation of receiver, clocking, etc., as well as the rest of the system and its resolution.
Point and case, I thought my PC transport was better than any optical transport or single box player as far as 16/44.1 goes, till I compared its performance to Wadia player (PC transport into Wadia digital input versa same material spinning on Wadia).
If I want to take my PC transport a step further, I would most likely need to do reclocking of its digital signal prior to going into DAC.
It all depends on how far you want to go, and what you consider a good performance.
If you are happy with X, disregard anything anyone tells you, it is all ultimately for your listening pleasure and preferences.
Considering that James has some top gear at home to play with, it would be good for him to explore PC transport options that are in line with performance of his toys, so I suggested the Lynx / dedicated PC thing.
How else would someone judge what BDA-1 is capable of if not fed by signal of the lowest possible jitter.
