2. digital
  3. 160131-150037

DAC Connections to streamer?

What’s best connection between streamer and dac - usb, coax, optical?  
Usb can handle dsd but optical doesn’t seem too.  Optical seems limited to 192.  Bandwidth for usb seems far superior vs other connects.  But if using a streamer, seems I can only use optical or coaxial (bluesound) to link streamer and dac.

Do streamers allow a connection of a usb between streamer and dac?  Bluesound doesn’t seem to.
If you use a streamer can you connect to a dac with usb?  


emergingsoul
thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
Majority of the good streamers have USB out. Node is not one of them. How much can you afford?
emergingsoul OP
1,217 posts
 
Like idea to use bnc rca female adapter.  Only 1.27 each from mono.  Assume quality not an issue?  Will go nuts and buy 2.

Coaxial bandwidth so much better vs optical.

An Outgoing usb on streamers would be of great value, most like me are so naive about usb connect value between streamer and dac. 

Thanks.
melm
1,084 posts
 
It could very well depend upon the digital input circuits of the DAC.  The best have a USB input that is self powered (not using the 5V from the cable) and have two femto clocks for the families of 44.1K and 48K digital sreams.  Such a circuit should favor a USB input.

That being said, some devices, like the Oppo I use for audio/video, don't have USB outs so spdif or optical is used.  Much to my surprise, I found that an inexpensive Cable Matters Toslink Cable (a Duster recommendation) from Amazon outperformed an expensive all silver spdif cable.  You never know!


melvinjames
416 posts
 
Have a chord tt2 dac and only has optical, usb and bnc. Strange no coax.
BNC is coax with a different connector (75 ohm). Chord has been using them for quite some time, as do other manufacturers.

Coaxial bandwidth so much better vs optical.
Optical can easily handle 24/192 with the right implementation and parts (i.e., Chord) and a proper glass cable. Which sounds better? Well, that’s quite subjective and depends on your taste/preferences and, of course, the implementation.
melvinjames
416 posts
 
BTW, I use a Sonore microRendu which is USB-out only. Fabulous sound quality and it’s their least expensive in the line.
More to discover