Optical, digital coax or RCA....can of worms ?

[DSJR]

The speakers you have will exaggerate any small differences too and as I remember, weren't really geared for 'digital' sources unless they're perfectly behaved, so proceed with caution here to prevent lost fillings and/or bleeding ears Some amps with built in DACs (some Yamaha's I recall) have pretty dire sounding digital inputs and a sub £100 headphone/DAC type recommended here and there can 'sound' better fed to the analogue inputs. Only thing is for you to make some kind of plan and procedure for experiment and see if you can hear anything if you change things.

These days, I believe the differences between SPDIF, USB and optical digital inputs may well be more due to any shit coming down the electrical connections and whether the DAC can deal with this. Connecting a PC it has been recommended to use the optical connection to offer electrical isolation. My own shit here, I can't tell any meaningful difference between SPDIF and optical and my workroom PC is fed to the DAC via a USB cable and a USB-SPDIF converter that used to be available for twenty quid - sounds amazing to me, but your mileage may vary on this..

Good luck - try to be as methodical as possible but don't get anal about it. It's the music and NOT the sound when all's said and done

[Werner Berghofer]

David,

I can't tell any meaningful difference between SPDIF and optical […]

you have excellent ears, because actually there’s no difference between S/PDIF and optical ;-)

S/PDIF is the parent term for the software interface, the logical protocol. The physical data transfer can be done via an electric, asymmetric 75 Ω coaxial as well as optical form. The optical connection is also known as ”Toslink“.

Personally I think the best way to connect a computer to a DAC is via the optical connection.

Werner

[wee tee cee]

I would go with a glass optical-fisual do reasonably priced glass cables.

[mikmas]

fisual do reasonably priced glass cables.

Were they actually glass?
Tried a few of their models (including Hollywood) but have never found anything confirming the core material on the Avopro website.
Also seem to have cut down the range quite a bit - what is available is still great VFM though, particularly as they have quite a few on offer at the moment.

[wee tee cee]

Fisual stuff is bang for buck spot on.

Mark Grant used to sell an ALL GLASS CABLE- took on all comers in bake offs this neck of the woods-YMMV