drgb
Active Member
@magma: by a "pro audio SC" do you mean a internal sound card attached to the mobo via PCI or PCIe?
Generally speaking of all the buses we're talking about (i2s, USB and PCI); i2s is the best performing. I2s is designed for audio data shuttling and because it facilitates direct contact of the processor and the data output interface, it is technically most proficient way to deliver a data stream for your DAC to convert.
Having said that, the keyword here is "implementation". A well implemented PCI may be better than a USB and so forth. The way the electronics are matched, placed, positioned, isolated, insulated, powered etc will play a huge role in determining the end result. In this regard; more often then not, the PCIe bus loses to USB and i2s. Don't get me wrong: a good PCIe SC may sound very good but still it has a bad noise floor (mostly due to improper placement and lack of insolation on a mobo) and thus hasn't earned it's respect among audiophiles.
The USB is the most successful and widely used audio interface and that's because of its flexibility. There are literally a gazillion devises which use the USB bus standard and thus it has seen the most R&D. The USB is also more coding friendly as thousands of libraries and repos are available at the devs disposal and hence software implementation becomes easier.
Now coming to your original question: I can safely say that the Pi USB sounds nearly 97%, if not 100% as good as my archphile linux PC with the RME HDSPe AIO SC (over spidf). The RME sound card I'm using is the older model without the DA converter. 3% is really not that bad considering the price difference.
My point is that if you have a good asynchronous external DAC, the audio performance won't differ much over USB, i2s or PCIe (given the PCIe is configured correctly. I took some tips from here: Solving Computer Audio Problems)
I'm still to try the hifiberry digi+, but since OSMC doesn't use the i2s profile without resampling, I'll stick to the USB for now.
Generally speaking of all the buses we're talking about (i2s, USB and PCI); i2s is the best performing. I2s is designed for audio data shuttling and because it facilitates direct contact of the processor and the data output interface, it is technically most proficient way to deliver a data stream for your DAC to convert.
Having said that, the keyword here is "implementation". A well implemented PCI may be better than a USB and so forth. The way the electronics are matched, placed, positioned, isolated, insulated, powered etc will play a huge role in determining the end result. In this regard; more often then not, the PCIe bus loses to USB and i2s. Don't get me wrong: a good PCIe SC may sound very good but still it has a bad noise floor (mostly due to improper placement and lack of insolation on a mobo) and thus hasn't earned it's respect among audiophiles.
The USB is the most successful and widely used audio interface and that's because of its flexibility. There are literally a gazillion devises which use the USB bus standard and thus it has seen the most R&D. The USB is also more coding friendly as thousands of libraries and repos are available at the devs disposal and hence software implementation becomes easier.
Now coming to your original question: I can safely say that the Pi USB sounds nearly 97%, if not 100% as good as my archphile linux PC with the RME HDSPe AIO SC (over spidf). The RME sound card I'm using is the older model without the DA converter. 3% is really not that bad considering the price difference.
My point is that if you have a good asynchronous external DAC, the audio performance won't differ much over USB, i2s or PCIe (given the PCIe is configured correctly. I took some tips from here: Solving Computer Audio Problems)
I'm still to try the hifiberry digi+, but since OSMC doesn't use the i2s profile without resampling, I'll stick to the USB for now.
