ESI Gigaport EX USB Multichannel DAC ...is it asynchronous?

[Ongii]

As per title. I am interested in this multichannel DAC, and would generally prefer it against an HDMI DAC (like the Essence Evolve, for instance).
However, I can't find information on the web if the ESI is actually an asynchronous implementation.
Thanks in advance for any hint.
Kind regards from Munich, Bavaria

 

[Ongii]

I found it out: it is adaptive

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

Sorry to interfere @Ongii , but what does that mean and what are the consequences?

 

[Ongii]

Adaptive is a less good solution for the USB transfer. Seems to be more jitter prone.
See : https://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/USB.html#TransferMode

 

[mansr]

Adaptive is a less good solution for the USB transfer. Seems to be more jitter prone.
See : https://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/USB.html#TransferMode

That site is generally good, but their description of USB transfer modes is somewhat incomplete. What they say is correct for the DAC endpoint. However, nothing is said of the host endpoint. This table from the USB spec explains what happens for all the possible pairings of endpoint types:

The best result, and what all but a few $1 dongles use, is async sink (DAC) with adaptive source (PC), case 3 in the table. I'd be quite surprised if the device you're looking at doesn't use this mode. Whoever told you it was adaptive was probably referring to the host endpoint.

 

[Ongii]

Whoever told you it was adaptive was probably referring to the host endpoint.

It was ESI's customer service, answering to a specific question.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

It was ESI's customer service, answering to a specific question.

Still, they could be wrong, or you misunderstood each other. Nobody's perfect.
Given what mansr has just said, I would be surprised too.

 

[mansr]

It was ESI's customer service, answering to a specific question.

What was the question, and what was the exact response?

 

[Ongii]

My question was: "Is the Gigaport EX asynchronous?"
The answer was: "No, it is adaptive"

 

[Aldoszx]

I've just found some measurements and pics of this interface:
https://nathaliebeimler.com/tech/sound_card_esi_gigaport_ex.html

 

[ZolaIII]

The measurements are pined on official (ESI) site.

ESI UGM192 — самый миниатюрный профессиональный звуковой интерфейс | ProSound

prosound.ixbt.com

The performance would be fairly good with SINAD about 100 dB if a clean power source would be used (separate clean power adapter to split power/data USB cable) and not from PC switching PSU. In this case (from the used PSU) it falls to about 75 dB which is bare minimum even with shot cables (and not losing almost anything in transport). Probably not worth a fuss if you aren't desperately in the need of something that would work as portable 8 chenel DAC. It's a shame that there are no such properly made designs (either regarding performance or proper line out level) for not much money present on the market today (to my better knowledge).