benbenkrAccording to their homepage the Aune X1 Pro supports 24bit/96k USB. This was an added function to the Aune X1 MKII. What do you mean by "USB input remains at 16bit up to 96khz." Am I missing something here?
DanielBNo, this is deceptive. The X1 Pro works only on 16 bit through USB. I can confirm that as I have one now. If you need a screenshot proof, I'll provide it.
benbenkrI have received mine as well and I am not entirely sure how you can confirm this with a screenshot (shared mode operation isn't a confirmation). For me, the X1 Pro registers as a USB Digital Audio device inside Windows and I can play a 24/96 flac file over USB. That being said, it is possible that the program(s) I am using (foobar/vlc) are downsampling behind the scenes, but generally it is difficult to hear the difference between a 24bit recording played back at 16bit and a 24bit recording played back at 24bit; so if your goal is to play 24/96 flac over the USB interface on a Windows PC, the X1 Pro should let you achieve that.
XertigoObviously you can play 24 bit/96khz files. The Windows stack is basically telling all audio info to be padded or downsampled into whatever setting which is set in Windows.
DanielBI've tested it on 6 different computers of different sources, never got USB to playback at 24/96.
It's not a major problem, because padding a 16bit file to 24bit basically does... nothing, quality wise. Unless one is going to mix a DSP in for say watching movies or playing games (of which by then using optical would make more sense), not an issue.
benbenkrFor those who are wondering, no one has ever demonstrated to be able to tell the difference between 16 vs 24/96 in a lab controlled, double blind setting. IMO, 24/96 flac is just a waste of time.