![]() The Transient MkII uses an XMOS based USB solution, high precision clocks, and a Wolfson chip. Topping that off is a built in volume control, with volume level attenuated via arrow shaped buttons on the front panel. A pair of RCA analog outputs completes the picture so it can be used as a stand alone USB DAC with no conversion. It also features two I2S outputs for connection to compatible gear, like those made by Wyred4Sound and PS Audio. The Transient MkII is an interesting take on USB to S/PDIF interfaces. Essentially it takes the USB audio from your Mac or Windows PC, and converts it to 75 Ohm BNC (supplied with an RCA adaptor), S/PDIF for use with legacy DACs without a suitable USB input. In for review is one of CIAudio’s newest products, the $699 Transient MkII USB to S/PDIF converter and DAC. The company sells direct and through hand chosen catalogers and retailers. CIAudio provides quality products at sane prices, and they are built in the U.S.A. The CIAudio VDA-2 DAC is a staff favorite. The company is known to many as early purveyors of Class D amplifiers, upgradeable DACs, headphone amps, add on outboard power supplies, and passive linestages. Audio Capabilities: FLAC, Vorbis, AIFF, + more with additional components.Channels Islands Audio, headed by industry veteran Dusty Vawter, has been making cutting edge products since 1997. ASIO and WASAPI, plus other plugins available.įile Management: Built-in, easy to organize and personalize. Overall, great file management!įoobar2000 is my ( Cliff here, not Ryan) favorite audiophile playback software. First off, it’s free, which is hard to beat. Second, they offer up an SDK (software development kit), which allows others to build components to expand the functionality of foobar. By opening up development to the online community, the possibilities are basically endless. ![]() Some of the available components are ASIO and WASAPI support, a really cool ABX comparator that “Performs a double-blind listening test between two tracks”, and a DSDIFF decoder. In short, you can totally geek out with foobar and customize nearly everything, including the GUI and backend.Īt the same time, all that customization and community support comes with a downside. You may have to do some digging and experimentation to get things setup the way you want. That means a lot of time poking around forums and support pages, which luckily, there are a lot of. Another downside, depending on how you look at it, is that new versions of foobar are constantly being released. Trial Offered: NA Pure Music / Pure VinylĪudio Capabilities: FLAC, DSD, DSD-PCM, Digitize Vinyl, Audio Units DSP, active crossoversįile Management: Utilizes iTunes file managementīy default it supports most every file format you will come across, and the built-in file management system is top notch.Īt the very least, this software is worth a download because it is completely free, and in my opinion has a much better user interface than many of the pieces of software that you have to pay for.Ĭustomer Support: 7.5 (have to rely on friendly forum folks) That means you will be continually updating foobar and any components you use, but update functionality is built-in to the software, so it’s not a big drag.Įven without doing any customization, the software is powerful and easy to use right out of the gate. ![]() Pure Vinyl and its little brother Pure Music are the most versatile pieces of software in the OSX arsenal. This can be good or bad depending on how you look at it.
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