Its not often that I absolutely love a product, but this is one of those cases. I will say that unless you have the specific need for a USB to SP/DIF digital audio converter, then don’t bother to read on. This product solves a very specific problem.
I had been using a Mac Mini for many years as the hub of our home theatre. The optical output of the Mac went straight into the DAC, and the sound was very good to excellent with that setup. The Mac died, and i decided to build a new HTPC from scratch. This computer is running Linux, so there can be some issues with interface. In this case the DAC was old enough that the USB audio out from the computer wouldn’t talk to the DAC. I didn’t want to go spend a lot of money on a new one, so I went looking for a new solution.
I had heard about Schiit Audio for some time, as a company that builds outstanding audio products that fill specific niches in the market. As it turns out they built this little box that did just one thing. It takes the USB audio feed and converts it to a coaxial SP/DIF signal to feed to a DAC. My assumption was that it would do just that. I was not expecting the WOW improvement to the sound of the system.
After putting it in the system and configuring some settings in the Ubuntu audio system, I started listening. From the very first recording I knew this was special. Everything sounded cleaner with more definition and coherence. The image tightened up to the point that every instrument or voice was in the right place and the right spacial size. Now understand, the system imaged well before, but now it was just flat amazing. I had been mostly listing to high def FLAC files because they seemed to sound so much better than CD rebook issues. With this gadget, even standard 44.1/16 FLAC files sound wonderful (if its a well recorded.).
So whats going on inside? Just connect your USB source to Eitr’s USB input, and connect Eitr’s coaxial SPDIF output to any DAC that accepts coaxial input. Now, you have complete isolation from source to DAC, together with a superb, low-jitter coaxial SPDIF interface for bit depths and sample rates up to 24/192. The Eitr features the same unique Gen 5 USB input technology as in our upgradable DACs. It’s simply the highest-performance USB input available today, with complete electrostatic and electromagnetic isolation (via transformers), self-power of all critical low-noise and reclocking sections, and separate, precision clock sources for both 44.1 and 48kHz multiples. (And if you don’t understand the technobabble, here’s the point: it works great and sounds great, too.)
If you need this, buy it cause its the best, and a bargain at 99 bucks. I would suggest you do it soon, as the product is on there list to be discontinued. Thank you Schiit Audio for a superb product.