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Wavelength WaveLink Asynchronous USB to S/PDIF converter.


Hopstretch

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Explain thyself :)

I bought a pre-production version of the Legato, which also uses Wavelength's Streamlength firmware. Differences between Legato and Wavelink:

- cost is $500 for production version, I got my preproduction version for $400. Difference is the preproduction version has a generic Hammond case... its pretty big... about 1.5 times the size of Wavelink.

- restricted to 44/16 (I guess GR did this to segment the market)

- Legato uses its own power supply, Wavelink uses battery power

references:

Computer Audio Asylum - I bet Mr. Rankin could make a real nice usb-spdif converter - Dynaudio_Rules - September 06, 2009 at 15:06:47

Legato USB-SPDIF converter is ready

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Hmm, here is a cheaper contender featuring I2S output even (never seen that before, and I don't have anything that takes that anyway, but cool I guess):

http://www.aprilmusic.com/main/sub02_03_02.html

Choices choices...

It's very clever how they put the PCB upside down, so they can show an "internal" picture without actually showing anything

02_03_02_pop_07_b.jpg

02_03_02_pop_07_b.jpg

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:)

I noticed that too.

That (woefully-named) hiFace thing K3cT pointed out actually looks like it might be interesting, though. They've written the custom drivers necessary to get 24/192 sample rates (including on Atom-based platforms) and seem to have thought seriously about the (potential) jitter issue. Although, of course, I don't actually have the technical competence to tell if their claims are gibberish or not. :palm:

hiFace uses, in place of a PLL, two highest stability, very low phase noise crystal oscillators. In standard environmental conditions, the precision is around 2,5ppm: this means that they derive no more than 2,5Hz for every MHz of their output frequency. The maximum error at 192kHz will thus be 0,5Hz! On the contrary, a PLL
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:)

I don't actually have the technical competence to tell if their claims are gibberish or not. :palm:

Me neither, but I think the 192khz part can be misleading. Each of the 192,000 samples is made up of 16 to 24 bits. That's 3 to 4.6 million bits per second. Whether they are samples, packets or whatever I would prolly want as many of them to make it through as possible.:)

No I don't understand what Jitter is either.:(

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The ppm portion of their spec is meaningless in the context of digital audio (as long as it is withing 100ppm you are fine), but the mention of phase noise is correct, as this directly translates to jitter. Measuring at 10Hz is a plus as well. I don't really understand all of this myself, but most will only publish down to 100Hz. The lower the frequency, the higher the jitter/phase noise (at least according to Jocko and gmarsh).

Of course that is just the crystal spec... I think what you do with it has more of a determining factor.

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:)

I noticed that too.

That (woefully-named) hiFace thing K3cT pointed out actually looks like it might be interesting, though. They've written the custom drivers necessary to get 24/192 sample rates (including on Atom-based platforms) and seem to have thought seriously about the (potential) jitter issue. Although, of course, I don't actually have the technical competence to tell if their claims are gibberish or not. :palm:

There is an impression thread here but as of right now, it's not very informative. A user has all three converters (Musiland, hiFace and VALAB's Teralink-X) but I noticed that everytime he got a new converter, he would always favor the newer toy which raises a question on his credibility.

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Nope, I sent it back as I never really bought it. It was a free loan as I let them use my balanced amp (GSX) during CanJam. I probably would have bought it for a more extended listening session but I succumbed to the sirens call of the buffalo32. Now I actually have to finish building it :palm:

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In the past most products have used a RJ45, though I don't think there's any particular standard on the pinout of the RJ45 outside of each maker. The PS Audio uses a hdmi jack, which would be convenient if others used it, but I have yet to see any other companies use the hdmi.

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