Ptss - Apologies for the delay - I emailed him to get the options he had tried
He was running a long S/DIF cable from his computer to the Oppo.
He has a TOTL Denon A/V receiver
From the Oppo he's tried a couple of options...
1. Analogue IC's from Oppo to his A/V receiver
2. HDMI from his Oppo to his A/V receiver
He could not tell any difference
He also tried a Wireless LAN connection to the Oppo which he didn't like - he suspects his wireless router is the problem.
I took a look at the Oppo Manual and it pretty much has every option covered, so it's very versatile.
Personally, I've tried wireless and Ethernet connections to both my iMac and Apple TV and found Ethernet to provide better results - i.e. no dropouts. But many report great success with wireless.
I've tried USB and Optical from my iMac into my Schiit Bifrost DAC and found them to sound identical in my setup. The caveat being the iMac optical cannot transfer 24/192 music files.
The Apple TV was perhaps the most problematic, especially for WAV file streaming from the computer, and the poorest sound quality. But it was still very good using the optical output to the DAC - just not as good as the iMac/USB combination.
FYI: The USB cable I use is a double cable joined at the USB plug that goes into the DAC - one cable for the signal and one for the USB power - I use an Enercell USB Power Adapter to power the USB circuits inside the DAC, a strange, but common practice I believe. It eliminates most of the issues attributed to USB digital transfers - the Bifrost's USB implementation takes care of the rest.
That's about it - considering the source, the sound quality I experience is exceptional for most stations, but you can hear a difference switching to the low-res stations.
Hope that helps
