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HagUSB vs Other USB Interfaces/Devices

Hi all. I have three quick questions regarding the HagUSB:
1. how does it compare to other USB interfaces, in particular those with true ASIO support (Edirol, M-Audio etc.)
2. does it provide bit perfect output (i.e. does ASIO4ALL provide bit-perfect output even though it still uses the OS)?
3. I currently have an Edirol UA-1EX which I used as both an interface and DAC (used it analog outs). I now got myself a DAC which has both optical and coax input. The Edirol is going to another PC so I want to get either one of those interfaces like the M-Audio Audiophile USB, but have read that the HagUSB is superior (even though it does not use true ASIO and only supports 16-bit). Is it a good "upgrade" to the UA-1EX?

Cheers,
X
xenithon
herman
1,974 posts
 
You are mistaken.

Asio is a software protocol to handle the digital data BEFORE it is sent out the USB port to the DAC. It is capable of doing various things but the one we are interested in is its ability to bypass Windows kmixer. The kmixer is an embedded software routine in windows that re-samples the data (in other words it corrupts it) prior to sending it to the USB port. Any program that outputs audio via the USB port will suffer this corruption unless they use an asio driver.

It is completely a function of software and completely independent of the hardware. Any USB DAC can handle the data from windows whether or not it has been processed by kmixer or bypassed by ASIO.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
It is the USB device driver that supports ASIO.
herman
1,974 posts
 
Steve, every USB DAC I've tried or read about was detected automaticaly by Windows or my mac and you could use whatever program you prefered (iTunes, foobar, etc) to play your music.

Do some of them require specific drivers that are not part of Windows?
xenithon OP
130 posts
 
Audioengr - true indeed. It must have an ASIO-supporting driver. Many (read most) use generic drivers meaning that, even with programs like ASIO4ALL or ASIO2KS - the windows kernel / audio stack are involved. True ASIO drivers are specific to the DAC/underlying hardware and thus allow the program to chat directly, bypassing any OS involvement.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Herman - Yes, even my USB DAC and converters will be detected by Windows and it will try to load the native Windows driver, but I recommend against this. The Windows driver is a bad sounding driver. Better to use the custom driver provided for that hardware (as for my Off-Ramps), use the drivers from http://www.usb-audio.com/ or at least use ASIO4ALL if the existing driver will not support ASIO.

The driver is the most important software part of getting a world-class sound, followed by ASIO and upsampler.
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