Time to throw away your CD player?
Computer audio has been around for a long time, but until recently there have not been a lot of options for getting a high quality signal out of your computer for use in a respectable stereo system. Generally we were stuck with a cheap internal sound cards that do nothing but pass a low-fi noise laden audio signal out to cheaply made desktop speakers. In the last few years, options for getting music out of your computer and into your stereo are proliferating at a rapid rate. We've covered two popular wireless units here at AudioReview.com - the Squeezebox and Airport Express -but this one's a little different. Aimed more at the high end crowd, the Scott Nixon USB Tube DAC eschews frills and features and focuses on getting the best possible sound from your computer.
Getting good sound out of your PC depends on getting a few things right. First you must have good quality music files – error free ‘rips’ with very low or no compression. Or if you're listening to internet radio, you need a radio stream with the highest available bandwidth - 128k or higher. Bigger hard drives and faster internet connections have conributed greatly to making music from your PC sound great. [check out our PC Audio Guide for more details]
Second, a good sound card is crucial – that is, the hardware that gets your music out of the PC environment and into your stereo. Most computers come with a soundcard of some kind, but of course, as computers are built to meet a certain price point, they are not high performance devices. They are trapped in the noisy, interference infested confines of the pc, powered by the computer’s also noisy power supply, and typically built as cheaply as possible. These are not the ingredients for great audio - just the opposite, in fact, and the reason that those who are serious about sound have shunned the computer for so long.
So the first step to improving the sound out of your computer is to get the sound card OUT of the computer. There are a couple options here: via USB/FireWire cable, or wirelessly, over your "wifi" network. Both have their advantages and disadvantage, and we've reviewed a couple wireless audio products here at AudioReview.com. Wireless devices have the advantage freeing your computer from your stereo, whereas wired products are much simpler to use and configure.
The Goods
Scott Nixon’s USB Tube DAC is a non-oversampling, USB direct to I2s tube DAC. What does that all mean? It's a bunch of words, which used together might not make a whole lot of sense to many people, but I can translate it for you: it means “Awesome Sound”. Let me break down the parts:
A USB cable connects from your pc to the DAC, where the USB signal is converted to an i2s signal, the native communication protocol used in digital to analog converters. This topology excludes the commonly used sp/dif protocol, which has been widely blamed as a culprit for inducing sound wrecking 'jitter' into your digital playback system. It’s tough to find a DAC that does not use the SP/DIF protocol, as it is a standard connector type used on DVD players, CD players, home theater receivers – pretty much all consumer level digital audio equipment. The USB TD leaves out the SP/DIF. As a result of the exclusion of SP/DIF, you can’t hook up any other gear to this unit. It’s USB only. No CDs, DVDs, or mini-disc players (does anyone actually have one of those?), nothing but your Windows PC or Mac.
Now the non-oversampling, that’s all in the DAC chip itself. It involves a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo you don’t understand or really care to read (OK, I don’t understand it. If I did would be an engineer, and not a lousy "reviewer"). Suffice to say, it’s a minimalist approach to signal processing. Seeing a theme here? The design objective is to get the DAC the heck out of the way of the music signal. Take the signal, squeeze every last bit of music out of it, and pass it on. No fancy processing, no unnecessary circuitry, no tricks. As designer Scott Nixon puts it: “It’s not rocket surgery! Just good audio with brain science behind it!” At the end of the chain is one little 12ax7 vacuum tube to take the edge off the sound. It kind of goes against the "minimalist" approach of the rest of the circuit, but it helps to smooth out any digital nastiness that might be left in the signal. Scott Nixon also has a nearly identical model minus the tube buffer, at a lower price.
Setup couldn't be easier. On both Windows and Macintosh computers, it was literally plug and play. No problems what so ever. Contrast this with the nightmarish setup issues I had with the Apple and Squeezebox wireless music servers, and the Scott Nixon scored some points over those devices right off the bat.
Sound
The results of Scott Nixon's approach are superb. This is a lively little music-making beast.
It’s got great dynamics, able to rock out and bump up and down, all the while letting subtle layers of detail sneak out into the room in between the healthy, robust beats. Enormously detailed and dynamic, music jumps out of the speakers and dazzles you.
It is also nearly completely absent of that digital harshness that we are so accustomed to, that drives us to spend ridiculous sums of money on our audio systems, and still others to pursue vinyl more than 20 years after the advent of the Compact Disc, and causes your wife to tell you to turn down the stereo (she has better hearing than you).
We want our systems rock, but we don’t want that grating irritation that so often comes with almost any digital based system. Usually, there’s a tradeoff involved. Your system can be aggressive and detailed and rock the rafters, but it will come at the expense of listenability. After a while, it starts to become irritating, and you want to turn it down or off. The alternative is traditionally a smooth sounding, inoffensive component that is ‘polite’ but lacking in detail and dynamics.
The USBTD is one of the first components I have had in my home that seems to get both right. Granted, I don’t have much experience with megabuck gear, but this is not a megabuck piece, either. At $475, it’s not petty cash, but for the performance you get, it’s pretty spectacular. It's safe to say that it beats all of my digital gear, which includes a number of components ranging anywhere in price from $200 - $1000.
The next comparison is with my old Thorens turntable. Ever my reference, digital components rarely beat it. The USBTD is good, but I can report with certainty that the Thorens remains the champ in the house. Up against this 25 year old record player, the USBTD sounded a bit grainy and irritating by comparison. The Thorens smooth, dynamic, wide open sound with infinite resolution is always a breath of fresh air. Those digital yuckies, however well suppressed in the USBTD, are unfortunately still lurking.
Conclusion
I've purchased the USB Tube DAC, and I'm keeping it. I am absolutely hooked on this little bad boy, and it's quickly taken it's place as my primary listening source. I moved recently and still haven't bothered to hook up my CD player. My vinyl setup still has it beat, but the outstanding sound qaulity of the USBTD and the convenience of computer based listening has left my turntable collecting dust. Performance wise, it has no significant downside. Price seems a bit on the high side considering that it is made of plastic and doesn't even have an off switch, but when you consider that Scott Nixon is a one man show, and that this very cool little unit was hand assembled by the designer here in US of A, it's difficult to fault. It's a great piece, and ultimately worth the cash.
-Eric LoBue
Scott Nixon USB Tube DAC
$475
www.Scott-Nixon.com |
