What is your reference for comparison when you say that it sounds great? I suspect that many people would think that I2S through my singxer sounds great too. But when I play the CDs via my Oppo (as a transport only), they sound significantly cleaner than they do via the Singxer, and it leaves me hating the sound out of my PC by comparison.
So far only a Toslink connection from the PC has been able to roughly match the sound from my Oppo.
Iāve run fidelizer. But I only have it at the minimal settings because Iām trying to configure this PC to do dual duty as a sound-recorder.
You might be right. It has been a suprisingly painful journey to setup and try to optomize my music PC, and Iām an IT pro.
Unfortunately my only experiences with dedicated streaming hardware (while extremely convenient to setup and get going) so far has sounded worse than USB from my PC. In fact it is after having spent a lot of time trying to get my streamers to sound decent, that I finally gave up and went back to a PC.
But the fact that I can get excellent audio from my toslink output tells me that PCs arenāt inherently bad, just that USB seems to be.
Iām guessing that only a completely decked-out raspberry pi is likely to sound any good as a streamer. But I totally detest the UIs on these units.
When I say it sounds great, I am comparing USB from PC straight to DAC vs USB to Singxer to DAC. I wonāt disagree that USB is not the best implementation for audio. Just look at the number of USB decrapifiers on the market. For my use case scenario where I do the majority of my listening via streaming it is worth it to spend the time and money to try to make it my best link. If I had the majority of my music on cd or ripped onto a NAS I would be less likely to bother with it. I guess one of the other reasons I am attempting to remedy USB is also the bandwidth limitations of Toslink although so far it has not mattered as Toslink has plenty of bandwidth for my application so far. In the future I hope to get most of my music in DSD so USB is also an attempt at āfuture proofing.ā
Iāve also found that even though it really shouldnāt, the USB cable feeding from the PC to the Singxer unit does make a difference. I have access to several cables ranging from cheap to āhigh endā. I ended up using an Uptone USPCB A-B Adapter as this gave the cleanest, most dynamic yes smooth sound out of the whole lot. I guess " no cable really is the best cable" so to speak 
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I just tried Toslink for the first time today, and wow it is way less noise. There may be a bit more jitter, but itās so much clearer. A USB solution that sounds that clean would definitely be worthwhile. If you find something please let us know.
Another alternative might be to use a PS Audio LANRover. This lets you connect to USB using a network connection along with the electrical isolation that provides by separating your computer from your DAC. In my personal experience that made a big difference when I was using a computer directly (originally a Mac and now a Roon Nucleus +) into my DAC using USB. Of course a simpler alternative might be to just use a Bridge 2 in your DAC to connect via network. I find that both methods work better for me than direct connection from my Roon Nucleus + (despite it having a very expensive linear power supply).
Since I sold the DS I had been using with a JCAT (USB) card and Lan Rover out of an i7 Win 10 computer, Iāve been using one of those thin OEM cables from the computerās standard sound port to the top of my desk, and then onto a pair of Quad 12L actives with MG Audio Design silver XLRs. If not the best sound Iāve had - not sure - awfully close and very appealing.
How do the MG Audio XLRs sound? Iām running MG planus3 speaker cables. Best Iāve heard.
Awfully good. Paulās recommendation in a forum thread, as I had never heard of them. I donāt know since the move, but they were used in Listening Room #1 at the old location and he commonly uses them at shows. Letās say they are so good that they turn that OEM computer run into something more. I also use the AG2S2 XLR in my living room system between DS and ATC actives (and will be using the RCA version for subs). They donāt come up often on the used market though. The copper version is also good, but not quite as open.
Hi,
Bit of a newbie to all this so please excuse my questions if they seem to basic but is USB from a PC to an external DAC considered not good?
I have such a setup listening to DSD files and I thought it sounded really good but from this discussion it seems like I could be getting even better sound?
Should I even consider going down this road or just stay oblivious and think I am listening to something good, lol?
Itās all relative and dependent on your system. In a system which is revealing enough it makes a difference but on budget systems which donāt have very clean power themselves it may not be noticeable. That said it might be worth giving a USB conditioner a try (especially if it is not too expensive).
Yes, that is true, things being relative.
I would definitely consider my system budget at the moment.
I am thinking I should not take the Red Pill, haha.