Schiit Audio are making good on their promise of the Bifrost and Gungnir DACs being modular and fully upgradable. First up, the Bifrost gets a new Uber analogue board. This apparently lifts the ‘sonic and measured performance’ of the Bifrost by borrowing the discrete, direct-coupled gain stage from the Gungnir. The Uber board can be ordered with any new Bifrost

I wanted to call this article: What’s wrong with USB? The problem? 1. Resolution. Yes, sample rate compatibility has nearly always lagged behind the steadfast 24/192 of most S/PDIF inputs. Even two years ago many a DAC’s USB input would only decode up to 48kHz sample rates. This is slowly improving.  Some examples?  Sure!  The now ubiquitous XMOS chipset has

What must the digital audiophile bat away at source?  Two long-time adversaries: 1) jitter and 2) electrical noise both emanate from your computer transport or streaming device.  2) feeds back into 1).  These insidious twin menaces must be tamed for optimal sound reproduction. Case in point:  the Squeezebox Touch’s jitter measurements are more than respectable so why does it sound relatively

I get a lot of ‘Dear John’ emails. Readers want to know more, more, MORE about what I uncover during review playtime.  Time then to turn it on its head…. Dear John I’ve just bought a Metrum Octave DAC. I’m still very much a beginner at all of this digital audio stuff. Should I connect the Metrum to my Mac

Ready? My interactions with Taiwan’s KingRex UD384 started back in February 2012 with coverage of the UPower battery back. Steady? If you’re interested in the story so far with USB-S/PDIF convertors take a ramble through digital audio transports, which was penned back in March 2012. Go!  KingRex’s UD384 (US$479) is a DAC and USB-S/PDIF convertor in an aluminium shell that easily sits

Think native DSD playback is beyond your budget? The guys at Sonore want you to reconsider that possible misconception. Their new Sonore/exD unit can man-handle PCM and DSD (over PCM). On the rear, there’s a single asynchronous USB Audio Class 2.0 input – capable of up to 24/192 PCM, DSD64 and DSD128 – as well as balanced and single-ended outputs…all

Here’s something unexpected: a USB DAC from cable giant Audioquest. The thumbnail sized Dragonfly DAC offers user-selectable variable and fixed outputs (for headphones and pre-amps respectively) and it handles resolutions of up to 24/96 via a buzzword-compliant asynchronous USB implementation; which is USB Audio class 1. Unusual at this price point is the deployment of TWO internal clocks (presumably for

Italian company M2Tech have announced an update to their popular USB-S/PDIF convertor.  The Hiface TWO will be fully USB Audio 2.0 compliant which means goodbye drivers and hello Linux.  It will be true plug n play.  This refresh also promises better power supply handling and an improved output interface. Retail pricing is expected to remain at AU$199 and the first

My day usually begins with emails and social network catch-ups.  I sit at the dining room table with coffee and my hands work a MacBook Air, during which time I nudge album after album from my main rig that sits five or so metres in front of me: a MacMini pushes the audio binary out to an Audiophilleo2, which is

It’s been a long while in development but Anedio will finally ship their D2 DAC in early February 2012.  Improvements over the D1 DAC include an XMOS receiver chip to enable asynchronous 24/192 over USB, balanced outputs and a redesigned chassis (fewer blue lights!).  The complete revision list can be read here.  Those keen on the measured side of life

All the bigger Brits are now at it. Quad‘s dropping into the budget DAC space with the Link D-1 USB DAC. It’s asynchronous (of course) and can deal up to 32/192. It’s ace-in-the-hole is that it doubles-up as a USB/SPDIF convertor. The boys at IAG sure know how to pull rabbits out of hats. “Link D-1 With the increased popularity

[This review has been a long time in gestation. Why? It takes several months' solid listening to get to grips with a DAC's personality. Even more time is needed to be convinced of changes further up the source chain.] Regular readers will know my first truly revelatory experience with USB convertors arrived with John Kenny’s battery-modded Hiface. So profound were