Who needs 24/96KHz USB

[StanleyB]

I get asked for 24/96KHz USB input, but I don't see the point of such heavy investment when clearly TOSLINK and SPDIF is superior in terms of flexibility. The latter are not operating system or PC specific for one. They don't need device drivers.
So why the infatuation with 24/96KHz USB?

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Laziness ... I only use the USB port when it's the easiest option... Ie before I had a computer with a spdif out...

[Batty]

I use Coax digital out from my PC, so not me.

[John]

A lot of computers/laptops do not have SPDIF out. I think people want to do without hassle of worrying about new PC would be my guess

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I everyone else is making thier dacs 24/96 via USB it might be good to not be left behind the crowd I suppose...

[StanleyB]

There are less than a handful of such DACs, and they all need special drivers on top of the extra cost of the DAC themselves.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

the only type of person this might bother is the type of person who uses a net book to play thier music from ... i have never seen a netbook with optical or coax ... but as they are so small and quiet they do make quite good option for a source in a louge

[Butuz]

Many PC's do not come with built in optical outputs, thus requiring an internal add on sound card (which could colour the sound) and the PC's that do have them built in generallty use the built in sound card on the motherboard which are even more likely to colour the sound than an add on card?

USB data bypasses the PC's sound card and is just sent straight into to the DAC as pure binary data i.e is just a transport?

I think that's a benefit.

Butuz

[Krisbee]

So why the infatuation with 24/96KHz USB?

Apart from the practical issue of getting decent spdif out from a computer, it seems to me that in the world of computer audio the arguments over which is the best interface (spdif electrical, spdif optical, firewire or USB) between PC and DAC are far from settled.

Some believe that "asynchoronus" USB mode, as opposed to the more common "adaptive" mode, has the potential to significantly reduce jitter and produce better SQ while also overcoming the 16bit/48kHz limitation. Hence a product like the Ayre Acoustics QB-9 USB DAC , which I think works natively in Windows and Mac OS thanks to using Gordon Rankin's ideas. The designers of the M2tech HiFace dongle also have an "asynchoronus" USB mode solution but choose to convert the final output to spdif.

I've not heard any DAC/device that works this way and I'm probably not likely to in the near future so who knows if it really does offer superior SQ. But USB audio does seem to be the area in which development is fast moving, e.g. use of xilinx chips, VIA produces a USB 2.0 Audio Controller, XtremeUSB and XMOS Audio 2.0 Reference Design. You can find a round up here http://www.audiodesignguide.com/HiResolution/index.html

[purite audio]

The new M2Tech dacs will be async USB and capable of playing everything up to and including 24/192.
Keith.