Quote:
Originally Posted by Crion
Yes, C15 - 808.5 source difference is that you are still using your C15 clock with all it's imperfections that your DAC needs to buffer and clean up and reclock to the best of its ability. When using the 808.5 as a source it will have much lower noise and better clocks than a computer to begin with thus making the DAC job much easier which results in the usual audiophilia improvements. 
I would say there are no source clock immune DAC's, every DAC will benefit from having the S/PDIF or AES/EBU dinner served from the 808.5 which is not a noisy computer.
And the 808.5 pushes this even lower as the switched powersupply is left behind and a real heavy-duty linear transformer takes its place. Also the jitter and phase noise is vastly (40%) improved upon in the new .5 design.
Going balanced digital or speakerlink usually means the cable becomes less important than with s/pdif RCA connections which are prone to impedance mismatches and the fact of being single ended. In other words, one less thing to worry about by going balanced digital |
Got it. It does make quite an expensive clock though!!
Howie