PingKueh

First up, DAC = Digital Analog Converter.
These days USB is preferred over Optical as you can get a higher bitrate and bitdepth. Please do not mention the timing problems both USB and Optical have.
Ultimately it's up to you whether you use USB or Optical as they both deliver enough (for lack of better term) quality for most audiophiles.
Go for which ever fits best with your setup.

Short answer: the two can't be compared.
One is digital and one is analogue.
It depends on the hardware driving it and what you're listening to (what headphones/speakers) as to whether it's high quality or not.
The USB signal will have to be converted to analogue at some point to drive your speakers/headphones.
Once it's converted, it's "the same" as the audio jack output.
The difference really is where in the chain it's converted from digital to analogue.
USB is converted to analogue in the device which is connected.
Your audio jack output is from a DAC within the device you're connecting to (phone/PC/etc.)
Why are you asking? We'll be able to give you some more helpful advice if we have this information.
Sorry if this is a poor explanation, but like I said, let us know what this is regarding and we can give more helpful advice.
Hope this helps

I agree to that. To add on, you only use USB when you have a better external DAC than the built in one in your PC. other than that it's hard to compare and depends on what you using with.

Yeah wenn it comes to those 10 000 rpm and up storage drives, those are realy expensive.
Some 7200 rpm 2.5inch drives can still be found for a reasonable price.
But indeed for a desktop pc, i wouldnt even bother with 2.5inch drive anyway, unless you got a case without a hard drive cage.
But then i would just spend a bit more for an SSD.
Since SSD's are also starting to be become more affordable nowdays.

5400RPM isn't necessarily a bad thing for 2.5". The way hard drives work a smaller area to cover offsets a slower rotation speed, depending on where the data lives. There were tests done on 3.5" drives to firmware level prevent the drive from using the outer edges and found that they had better performance. Also the last of the Raptor drives were technically a 2.5" drive, but fitted in a 3.5" enclosure and had more platters than a typical 2.5" drive.
 
But say you have a 7200RPM 2.5" and 3.5" drive of the same capacity. The 2.5" drive is going to perform better because it's also denser.

Thanks!
 

There are 2 different SE215, and both sounds pretty different.
 
For the normal SE215 (clear/smoke), sounds warm with rich bass.
For the Special Ed. SE215 (blue), sounds balance with good amount of details and tight bass.

At first, I do think was a rumor too, till I tried it myself. But 1 thing to take note. The cable length for both are different as well, the blue one has a short cable with around 1.16m, while the clear/smoke one has a longer 1.6m cable.
 
I would prefer the blue one as has better vocals presentation than the clear/smoke
Hope this helps

I am now contacting Vmoda to get this sorted out. Thanks for the help!

Their support is great so, that would work.

Solid build!