Thinkpads Forum

i have a hi-fi techy question...

so, for sound I use a Scott Nixon Tube DAC which is very simple, remarkably inexpensive, and gets good reviews. And I like it. Audio goes from my Thinkpad T60p through it then to a Harmon Kardon receiver and thence to a combo of Snell and Monitor Audio speakers, 5.1.

Now that I have an Advanced Dock with the S/PDIF digital audio out I have been wondering what the sound quality will be like if I bypass the Scott Nixon tube DAC and run the digital audio from the Dock directly into harmon kardon receiver.

Of course, I can just try it and see what it sounds like (I'm going to do this once I have the right cable) but I just wanted to see if anyone has the technical knowledge to know what to expect. On my computer the Scott Nixon registers with 2x 32-48kHz, 16 bits. If I bypass the Scott Nixon then I will be relying on the DAC inside the Harmon Kardon. So, all else being equal it depends how the quality of the HK DAC compares with the Scott Nixon DAC. And possibly on the merits of S/PDIF versus USB for audio, but that seems like it would be very much a secondary issue for CD/MP3 audio.

All else isn't equal, though. I don't know about the particulars of producing digital audio inside a computer. Since it's digital, once might think it will be "bit-perfect" and so there'd be no difference relying on direct digital audio output of the Advanced Dock and all digital outs are the same, it's all in the DAC. But somehow I doubt this - though it's just a hunch. Anyone know?

Well as you say you can try it and see how it sounds. But all digital outs are not at all the same: do some Googling about jitter.

S/PDIF outs from computers generally have terribly high jitter, and thus aren't generally considered appropriate for audiophile setups. (Unless you have a jitter-immune DAC, which your Harman Kardon doesn't.)

But the only thing that matters is whether it sounds good enough, and that only you can determine.