How are most audiophiles going from streamers to DACS

@fuzztone

Obvious. But "most" of us do not have a Node > Denefrips with his ears.

Ah, so by your standards, since none of us have *his* ears he shouldn't have even asked the question?

Give me a break. He wanted advice and to learn and voila! Lots of helpful posts and virtually no snark. This is called civilized conversation, by the way.

Use coax. Make sure it's 1.5mtr or longer.

Coax

I2S or AES/EBU. Metrum Acoustics Ambre streamer to Pavane DAC

I had that exact set-up with Pavane and then later with their Adagio. I agree that with those pieces either I2S or AES/EBU sounded best. However, for my tastes, my Mojo server and DAC connected by a short USB cable is sonically equal in every way and better in some ways. I doubt the differences are solely related to the connection method but rather the digital processing implementation, power supply, and other factors. The server uses JCAT’s highly regarded XE USB card and the DAC is also optimized for USB so, at least with this gear, USB sounds very good. This is why IMO there is no one universally superior connection format but rather it depends on how the partnering equipment is designed.

3.5 foot Townshend digital SPDIF coax to Classe SSP-800 DAC.

My Node 2i has the upgraded PD Creative PSU interface and uses an SBooster LPS too.