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Thread: Optical or USB

  1. #11
    Join Date: Apr 2008

    Location: Warrington

    Posts: 3,451
    I'm Neil.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimbo View Post
    The DAC I will be using will have fully galvanically isolated USB but reading more about it from the designer either USB or optical are fine and there is not much in it. Probably best try both and see which works best from MacBook laptop?

    I was more concerned about using a 5 meter length and how this would affect a USB cables performance ?
    No issues at all with a 5M length of USB cable. Lindy do properly specced ones for not much money.
    Mana Acoustics Racks / Bright Star IsoNodes Decoupling >> Allo DigiOne Player >> Pedja Rogic's Audial Model S DAC + Pioneer PL-71 turntable / Vista Audio phono-1 mk II / Denon PCL-5 headshell / Reson Reca >> LFD DLS >> LFD PA2M (SE) >> Royd RR3s.

  2. #12
    Join Date: Dec 2014

    Location: UK, inactive

    Posts: 1,570
    I'm inactive.

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    I've always found USB much better than optical from my Mac Mini, not tried either over such a long run though.

    In the absence of USB I also prefer coax to optical (even using Fisual glass cable, which tends to be raved about...)

  3. #13
    Join Date: Apr 2008

    Location: Warrington

    Posts: 3,451
    I'm Neil.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mikmas View Post
    I've always found USB much better than optical from my Mac Mini, not tried either over such a long run though.

    In the absence of USB I also prefer coax to optical (even using Fisual glass cable, which tends to be raved about...)
    What DAC / USB front end are you using?
    Mana Acoustics Racks / Bright Star IsoNodes Decoupling >> Allo DigiOne Player >> Pedja Rogic's Audial Model S DAC + Pioneer PL-71 turntable / Vista Audio phono-1 mk II / Denon PCL-5 headshell / Reson Reca >> LFD DLS >> LFD PA2M (SE) >> Royd RR3s.

  4. #14
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Birmingham

    Posts: 6,772
    I'm James.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Yomanze View Post
    What DAC / USB front end are you using?
    Chord Qutest. I would like DAVE!

  5. #15
    Join Date: Oct 2012

    Location: The Black Country

    Posts: 6,089
    I'm Alan.

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    We'll have to do a bake off with my Bel Canto James, if nothing just for interest.

  6. #16
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Birmingham

    Posts: 6,772
    I'm James.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Firebottle View Post
    We'll have to do a bake off with my Bel Canto James, if nothing just for interest.
    Haha yes indeed. The Qutest will,have to be evaluated fully before I part with the cash.

  7. #17
    Join Date: Apr 2018

    Location: London

    Posts: 30
    I'm Steve.

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    Surely optical, no?
    2TB Brennan fed through a Yamaha RN-803D network amp via toslink. The speakers are floor-standing Q Acoustics Concept 40s on spikes. Next up, CD player, turntable, possible sub.

  8. #18
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Birmingham

    Posts: 6,772
    I'm James.

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Rogue View Post
    Surely optical, no?
    Its a bit of a fine line I think. Chords Qutest DAC is probably happy with either with only a marginal difference in sound but it does depend on the output from my MacBook Pro. Optical maybe be better?

  9. #19
    Join Date: Apr 2008

    Location: Warrington

    Posts: 3,451
    I'm Neil.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimbo View Post
    Its a bit of a fine line I think. Chords Qutest DAC is probably happy with either with only a marginal difference in sound but it does depend on the output from my MacBook Pro. Optical maybe be better?
    With optical, the incoming clock signal needs to be extracted from the datastream, of which things like cleaning up jitter is DAC dependent, and the amount of jitter coming in is source dependent. With USB, the DAC clocks the data, making jitter issues moot.
    Mana Acoustics Racks / Bright Star IsoNodes Decoupling >> Allo DigiOne Player >> Pedja Rogic's Audial Model S DAC + Pioneer PL-71 turntable / Vista Audio phono-1 mk II / Denon PCL-5 headshell / Reson Reca >> LFD DLS >> LFD PA2M (SE) >> Royd RR3s.

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