Bel Canto's USB Link 24/96

As more audiophiles start to view their computer systems as another audio source component, finding good sounding ways to bridge from the computer to the preamp becomes paramount.

Bel Canto's $495 USB Link 24/96 was developed to take the first step by grabbing the stream present at the computer's USB port and converting it to SPDIF for connection to the DAC of your choice. It handles up to 24 bits and 96kHz and outputs the data to a 75 ohm BNC connector (the box contains a Stereovox SV2 BNC/BNC cable with RCA adaptor so you can connect it to the DAC).

The company's John Stronczer says that "even web radio and MP3s sound clearer runnng through the USB LInk."

COMMENTS
Stephen Vargs's picture

I have this unit, works fantastic and sounds even better than that. Listening to 24bit 96khz FLAC files, wonderful!

jj's picture

"even web radio and MP3s sound clearer running through the USB LInk."Clearer than what? Since this only converts one form of digital data to another, it's hard to believe this could sound very different from any other usb-soundcard offering digital out.

Stephen Varga's picture

The USB link upsamples, which is part of the claim.I wouldn't listen to lossy mp3s on my main system with this, but the option is there, if you must.FLAC sounds excellent, as does WAV. I use this unit with Linux but it also works well with most all operating systems from my experiments.

TC's picture

I have tried some of the less expensive converters and some of the very expensive ones with results that did not match prices. I am hoping to try this one soon and will report back as to how they compare. As of now I feel all, to some extent, raise the pitch of the music just enough to be annoying.

Alexi Peznakov's picture

So let me get this straight...this converts some sort of digital audio datastream into another digital audio datastream. How does this exactly make the music sound better?

JFL's picture

Alexi, the claim it that it makes the music better by removing some the jitter that plagues USB.

Ton's picture

It's sound better because you get the direct bitstream from your music files, like the spdif ouput on your cd player.(bitperfect)For example: if you play a 16bit 44khz flac, you get 16bit 44khz spdif. When you play a 88.2khz flac you get 88.2 khz spdif.(bitperfect)etc.On most other spdif outputs even the most expenisive soundcards will give resampled spdif.Which means no matter wich file you play there 's always comming 48kHz from the spdif.Another thing is that controlling the volume of the spdif output wil affect the audio resolution too.The belcant disables the volume control of your operating system so you always get the full audio resolution.Hope this will help.

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