ANALOG vs DIGITAL - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine
ANALOG vs DIGITAL - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine
ANALOG vs DIGITAL - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine
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I enjoyed reading your review on the<br />
Simaudio 100D and 300D converters. I<br />
am planning on following your advice<br />
and getting a 100D, especially after I<br />
was made aware of Simaudio’s current<br />
exchange program.<br />
In review of the 300D, you mentioned<br />
that USB may not be the best input<br />
source for it. I wonder if you have looked<br />
further into this subject. After checking<br />
in other sites, I find that the Moon uses<br />
adaptive USB while some companies<br />
like the Wavelength uses asynchronous<br />
type. I just wonder if you have a chance<br />
to check the Wavelength Brick, which is<br />
similar in price to the 300D, as well as<br />
the Proton which is around $900. There<br />
are also product like the Musical <strong>Fidelity</strong><br />
V-Link that provides a asynchronous<br />
connector to SPDIF.<br />
My CD player just died and I have<br />
decided not to replace it. The way things<br />
are going, the computer is a lot more efficient<br />
in producing good and convenient<br />
music reproduction. I wonder if you can<br />
devote a bit more time and sections to<br />
develop more in this area.<br />
Its been a pleasure reading your<br />
magazine in the last number of years.<br />
Robert Choi<br />
EDMONTON, AB<br />
Several companies are now adopting<br />
asynchronous USB connection, Robert,<br />
and oddly that includes Simaudio itself.<br />
The low-cost 100D has an asynchronous<br />
USB circuit, thus presumably sidestepping<br />
a major source of jitter. The more<br />
expensive 300D does not, simply because<br />
it is of slightly older design. However it<br />
is still limited to 16 bits, as are the USB<br />
circuits in a number of other converters.<br />
To the best of our knowledge, opening<br />
USB to higher definition would<br />
require developing drivers for the many<br />
computer platforms in circulation, with<br />
8 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Free Advice<br />
270 rue Victoria<br />
Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4H 2J6<br />
uhfmail@uhfmag.com<br />
of course ongoing support. There are<br />
actually third-party drivers available, but<br />
they don’t always do what is claimed.<br />
We now consider USB to be a mere<br />
convenience, to be used when no other<br />
interface is available, rather than as a<br />
first choice. We will, however, be doing<br />
further testing, and in any case we expect<br />
to review more converters in the issues<br />
ahead.<br />
Years ago, pre children, when I had<br />
more time and seemingly more budget,<br />
I used to read your fine publication with<br />
the hopes of building a great sound<br />
system within my snack bracket. In fact,<br />
I purchased a pair of 3a MM’s back then,<br />
based upon your stellar review, and I’ve<br />
enjoyed them every day!<br />
I’m looking to purchase speakers<br />
that would form the beginnings of a<br />
home theatre system. In my search I was<br />
exposed to a brand that was unfamiliar<br />
to me — ELAC, specifically, the 207A<br />
model. I was impressed enough to race<br />
home and try to find out more about this<br />
German company. I was disappointed<br />
to discover there isn’t a lot on line other<br />
than a few (very positive) reviews and<br />
their spec sheets.<br />
While I realize that “beauty is in the<br />
ear of the beholder,” I was wondering if<br />
you could share any perspective that you<br />
or your team may have on these speakers.<br />
Mark Augustin<br />
RICHMOND HILL, ON<br />
Mark, we’re also impressed with<br />
ELAC speakers, and in fact an ELAC<br />
speaker was featured on the cover of<br />
UHF No. 89. ELAC is one of a very few<br />
companies to use a variation on the Heil<br />
tweeter, whose superiority over the usual<br />
dome tweeter has long seemed evident to<br />
us. Though early Heil loudspeakers had<br />
bottom ends that couldn’t match the top,<br />
ELAC has nicely balanced the spectrum.<br />
The speakers may be difficult to find,<br />
because ELAC has since dropped its<br />
Canadian distributor, Tri-Cell. It had<br />
announced plans to distribute directly<br />
from its headquarters in Kiel, Germany,<br />
but wiser heads prevailed, and a new<br />
North American distributor has since<br />
been named.<br />
I have a question I hope you can help<br />
me with. It refers to something I vaguely<br />
remember (I think) you commented on a<br />
long time ago, possibly in the Free Advice<br />
column.<br />
I have a five-channel amp (ATI<br />
1505), where the LED on the power<br />
switch, when turned on, randomly and<br />
constantly flickers. It drives me nuts! I’ve<br />
searched through back issues but can’t<br />
find it. I’m (almost) certain I read about<br />
this somewhere in UHF. Do you recall?<br />
Jim Chiga<br />
NEW WESTMINSTER, BC<br />
We do recall talking about flickering<br />
pilot lights, Jim, though we don’t remember<br />
in which issue (it would indeed have<br />
been in the Free Advice section). These<br />
problematic lights are neon bulbs, not<br />
LED’s, and we have never seen one that<br />
didn’t start to flicker within six months<br />
of going into service.<br />
If you want to try a little experiment,<br />
train a flashlight beam on the flickering<br />
neon…and it will cease flickering! Turn<br />
the flashlight off, however, and it will<br />
flicker again. We’ve seen attempts to<br />
explain this odd phenomenon scientifically,<br />
but we can’t say we found them<br />
convincing.<br />
We are told that a radioactive source<br />
can also keep a neon bulb from flickering,<br />
but judiciously-applied black electrical<br />
tape is both cheaper and safer!<br />
An audiophile friend of mine was<br />
kind enough to give me a 1 TB drive with<br />
a nice collection of high-quality music<br />
files that he ripped himself. To access his<br />
music conveniently, he utilizes an oldermodel<br />
Squeezebox (pre-Logitech-era)<br />
that he sent away to be modified to “up”<br />
the sound quality.<br />
I’m looking at configuring a similar<br />
setup. I’ve been trying to determine<br />
whether to go Squeezebox or SONOS. It<br />
looks like the Touch’s DAC is superior to