Sound Quality difference between TV USB and Allo Usbridge

[Yuvaraj_N]

My current setup for playing ripped audio CDs is through TV USB which I connect to pen drive or external hard disk. The inbuilt media player in TV(LG49LH576T) manages to play all my required formats such as .WAV, FLAC, and .MP3. The optical out of TV is fed to stereo amp through Sanskrit SMSL DAC. The audio quality of a ripped lossless WAV file is vast improvement over Bluetooth connection from my mobile(music apps).

Wanted to understand from the fellow members that if I replace the TV USB with a Allo Usbridge, will that bring any improvements to the sound quality?. Looking forward to hear your opinion on this potential upgrade of mine.

 

[Kannan]

Ditch that DAC first. Even Chromecast Audio is better than that.
Ofcourse ALLO USBridge or the ALLO digione or if you can spend more the Digione signature will be a very big upgrade.

 

[Yuvaraj_N]

Ofcourse ALLO USBridge or the ALLO digione or if you can spend more the Digione signature will be a very big upgrade.

Thanks for the quick reply.
Are there any limitations feature wise if I go for Allo USbridge over Digione signature? If you can tell me in layman terms.

Ditch that DAC first

It did bring some improvements to my previous setup, but I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Kannan]

Are there any limitations feature wise if I go for Allo USbridge over Digione signature? If you can tell me in layman terms.

Digione signature is the latest iteration from ALLO menu of transports. There are some raving reviews all over, but I am yet to hear one. Digione and the signature versions have SPDIF outputs while the USBridge is of-course only USB.
So you need to select one depending on your available inputs on the DAC

 

[Yuvaraj_N]

So you need to select one depending on your available inputs on the DAC

Thank you so much for all the info

 

[elangoas]

Wanted to understand from the fellow members that if I replace the TV USB with a Allo Usbridge, will that bring any improvements to the sound quality?.

I doubt if you would benefit, since you are already using digital optical out from TV and assuming you have done RAW output under audio settings of the TV's media player settings..

 

[Yuvaraj_N]

assuming you have done RAW output under audio settings of the TV's media player settings..

The TV has option to output either in PCM format or Auto format through optical. And the DAC can only read PCM format since it doesn't support Dolby.
Didn't find option to choose RAW format anywhere, am I missing anything?

 

[mpasanthosh]

I doubt if you would benefit, since you are already using digital optical out from TV and assuming you have done RAW output under audio settings of the TV's media player settings..

Digital transmission is prone to jitter .
Not all digital outputs sound the same .
Depends on the way the digital transport is implemented . Allo's transport are claimed to have lesser noise floor and jitter reduced to a very minimalistic level .

 

[elangoas]

The TV has option to output either in PCM format or Auto format through optical. And the DAC can only read PCM format since it doesn't support Dolby.
Didn't find option to choose RAW format anywhere, am I missing anything?

Ok.. I was referring to media player output options.. If it doesn't have then fine..

I was hoping you were trying to play only audio files (lossless) using TV's USB port.. So in that case using Auto would work..

But now, i believe you are also playing video files with Dolby and that was the reason you had to set it to PCM..( if you had set it to Auto, the SMSL DAC won't recognize as it doesn't has Dolby decoder)..

Digital transmission is prone to jitter .
Not all digital outputs sound the same .
Depends on the way the digital transport is implemented . Allo's transport are claimed to have lesser noise floor and jitter reduced to a very minimalistic level .

Right..I have fairly read on Jitter.. How much of it is audible to perceive the difference?..

 

[haisaikat]

The TV has option to output either in PCM format or Auto format through optical. And the DAC can only read PCM format since it doesn't support Dolby.
Didn't find option to choose RAW format anywhere, am I missing anything?

Raw is what you see as PCM where TV does the decoding and Auto is also termed as Bitstream where the audio is passed as is by the TV to the next device. its just naming jargon

 

[haisaikat]

Right..I have fairly read on Jitter.. How much of it is audible to perceive the difference?..

I recall the objective dac (odac) related debate that once stormed the audio world where the designer showed by measurement that based on his low cost design the output jitter was actually so low that it was insignificant and proved by actual measurements. So unless it's perceptible jitter it's okay but we end up paying money to keep ourselves "insured" from jitter

 

[Yuvaraj_N]

@Kannan @elangoas @mpasanthosh @haisaikat thank you all for the enlightenment. Cheers!!

 

[Kannan]

Right..I have fairly read on Jitter.. How much of it is audible to perceive the difference?..

A substantial difference.

 

[elangoas]

A substantial difference.

Great.. If you have heard the difference, i would also like to get a first hand experience of the difference..

 

[Kannan]

Great.. If you have heard the difference, i would also like to get a first hand experience of the difference..

Do welcome, I have multiple sources resources to show

 

[elangoas]

Do welcome, I have multiple sources resources to show

Thx.. Will plan for a day & update you..

 

[tuff]

Here is a comparison chart with measurements with various DAC's. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-battle-of-schiit-audio-dacs.5487/

 

[avgeek]

Right..I have fairly read on Jitter.. How much of it is audible to perceive the difference?..

Not much, nobody will actually be able to point you to jitter.

Happy camper using optical output.