Yes, there are now two DACs with built-in NAA (that I’m aware of). The new T+A and totaldac.
@jussi_laako Does the totaldac NAA input still have USB in the chain like the new T+A?
Or can it do ethernet to DSD without USB intermediate stage?
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I don’t know how their hardware is set up, but you could ask them…
Will do. Having USB inside seems no different to just having a microRendu (or similar) running NAA inside the DAC case. I guess it’s a little more convenient - one less external PSU in the chain I guess?
It is quite common, because there are not many SoC’s that could do DSD output from their audio interface. I know only two options, of which the other is very recent. On-board USB is also quite common for many other things, like Raspberry Pi has it’s Ethernet interface on USB (argh), and laptops typically have for example touchpad on USB. And for example audio interface of Intel’s SoCs is useless for HiFi applications because it always derives it’s clock from the CPU clock and cannot have externally provided audio clock.
Yes, the difference is that inside the same box it is easier to make sure there are no ground currents or such with PSU design, and in some cases it allows avoiding cables too. And also things are much more convenient and reliable because both are powered up/down at the same time, and the DAC cannot suddenly disappear from the NAA.
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Like the NU EVGA Audio Card is an Internal USB interface?
You mean the EVGA? (not related to Nvidia though) Yes, that is one example. Although they could have implemented PCIe and DSD audio interfaces in FPGA for example. But the way they did it is cheaper and faster.
Still waiting for mine…
Thanks, yes, EVGA. Lack of Coffee earlier. It does sound very good and love having native DSD. Coming from an old Asus Xonar Essence STX, which was a very good audio card.
Having interesting issues with Roon and the Nu’s ASIO driver, but, I don’t want to derail this thread anymore.