Coax to Optical Converters Anygood?

Yes, Kbark, based on the claimed insensitivity to jitter I'd assume that the D/A conversion process is performed by this unit asynchronously to the clock on the incoming signal. Which will greatly reduce the importance of the quality of the converter. However, respecting Steve's experience in these matters, I would not necessarily conclude that the resulting sonics will be COMPLETELY insensitive to jitter on the incoming signal.

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that there could be some subtle effects that occur in the circuitry, or that are inherent in the processing algorithms, that would result in a theoretically complete insensitivity to jitter being less than perfect.

In any event, I think we're both agreed that the choice of a converter is less critical than what the OP appears to have been envisioning. And that reports of experiences with particular converters need to be considered in the context of the jitter rejection capability, if any, of the particular DAC that was being used.

Regards,
-- Al

In any event, I think we're both agreed that the choice of a converter is less critical than what the OP appears to have been envisioning. And that reports of experiences with particular converters need to be considered in the context of the jitter rejection capability, if any, of the particular DAC that was being used.

Al,
I wasn't all that concerned with jitter as such, more with the quality of the signal not being compromised. Understanding that the more in the signal path the better the possibility for the signal quality to go awry.

What I was hoping to find, was if someone has used a converter(s) and could shed a little light on the experience, and perfomance to note.

The techs at DSPeaker are a pretty smart group. The Anti-Mode 8033s did a world of good for my subs, and to now be able to clean up any nodes to 500HZ, is very intriguing to me. I'm sure that they considered a coaxial input, but possibly due to cost and building constrictions felt that optical was the way to go? Dunno?....They are right about the ground issue.

Perhaps I'll purchase a converter and report back on the quality.

Thanks for your input,

Rodge

I wasn't all that concerned with jitter as such, more with the quality of the signal not being compromised. Understanding that the more in the signal path the better the possibility for the signal quality to go awry.

Assuming that bit errors do not occur, and I would expect that they would not occur with any decent converter, the only way I can envision that signal quality could be degraded (that would have sonic consequences) would be via the introduction of jitter. My comments were based on that assumption, which I believe is correct.

In any event, good luck with the upgrade, however you decide to proceed.

Regards,
-- Al

Al,

Your assumption is correct on the addition of jitter with a converter, no argument there. I was going to rely on the Dual Core to handle the jitter.

Assuming that bit errors do not occur, and I would expect that they would not occur with any decent converter

That is where my concern is. To find the best converter to do the job, so that all the 1's and 0's make it to the dac.

Best Regards,

Rodge

Just saw this and even though a bit late in the piece I thought I'd add my 2 bobs worth. I recently bought a dual core anti-mode. I love it and find it to be a very significant improvement as a DAC over a Musical Fidelity M1 and even my beloved CAL system 1. It is a very good DAC and the DSP room correction is brilliant (at least in my room). I overcame the limited digital input (single toslink) issue by using a Behringer SRC 2496 ultramatch pro (a real audio bargain although a bit ugly). It has three digital inputs (optical, RCA and aes/ebu). This works very well as an upsampler and I run my Teac VRDS 10 via an active digital RCA cable into it. In my opinion the upsampling improves the sound and the behringer allows me to plug my USB interface into the system via the optical input for HiRes computer audio (i don't use the usb input on the dspeaker). The dual core (with latest firmware) handles the 24 bit 96khz signal its optical input without any issues. One surprising thing (to me at least) is the quality of the ADC of the dual core. I am, at least for now, running my turntable via PS audio phono stage into the dual core too and it appears the benefit of the room correction outweighs the limited downside of the Analogue to digital conversion (I need to further evaluate this to see if this holds up in the long term). I wasn't expecting this when I bought the dual core as I was using the ps phono stage direct into my power amp (Leak St20) and loved the brilliant transparency this gave me.

Anyhow, after all this, my advice is use a behringer with the dual core and enjoy the improved sound from CD as well as providing extra inputs.