Is USB overrated as decent digital source?

USB is simply a method to get data from point A to point B. It has little to do with audio quality if the conversion circuitry is designed correctly. There are probably lots of poor designs out there, but this is true of almost every type of design, not just USB converters. USB has the advantage that the bandwidth is not limited as much as 802.11G (WIFI), so you can do 24/96 over USB and not WIFI. Also WIFI is limited in compatibility with player software. If you do AirPort Express, then you MUST use iTunes. If you do Squeezebox, then you MUST use Slimserver. There may be plug-ins that allow you to get around this though....

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer/Modder

MikeChai - the difference in cost of USB converters is mostly due to four factors:

1) the inclusion of a low-jitter clock, such as Superclock4.
2) external power supply
3) custom software driver (not using the stock Windows driver)
4) optimum design and parts selection, regardless of cost

These four factors drive the cost up orders of magnitude, but also result in sound quality that matches or beats the best transports. It's like the difference between a Samsung $60 DVD player as a transport or an Esoteric.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer

Mikechai - No. 1 is the most costly, but well worth it, particularly the Superclock4.

BTW - I demonstrated my new I2S reclocker, the Pace Car at THE Show two weeks ago in Las Vegas. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes when the jitter is so low to be inaudible. Most audiophiles have no idea how much jitter they are listening to and how audible it is until its gone. This is the real flaw in real-time CD playback IMO.

Steve N.

The Konnekt24D is powered from the firewire cable, which is the computers power. Have you changed this to battery or external power?

I have no experience with firewire converters, but the others in this industry say that the firewire chips are very jittery compared to the USB chips. Have you opened it up to see what firewire chip they are using?

mikechai@gmail.com - anywhere near 1 nsec is high jitter in my book. For instance, the stock Squeezebox and AirPort Express have 300-400 psec, which is half what you are saying and I can easily hear the jitter.

Until you have heard really low jitter, you dont know what you have been listening to all these years...

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer

Firewire and USB are similar in performance. The advantage of USB is there are more drivers and better chips available that support it.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer

Unclejeff - It's a shame to spend $2K and just use the S/PDIF output. You would be better off to drive your DAC with I2S IMO. It's inherently superior and lower jitter.