caiman mk2- usb as good as optical/digital input?

[magical_mouse]

hi, i would be interested in users' opinions concerning the usb input compared with the other inputs.

thanks

d

[StanleyB]

Why don't you try it out for yourself instead of taking the word of someone else at face value? I don't charge any restocking fee etc if you do decide that the results are not as good as you were hoping for. So you can safely return the Caiman if it is not better than what you expected it to be. So far only one person has ever mentioned to me that he felt that the USB was not in the same league as the SPDIF output. But complaints against my products are often made by the same person and are part of the landscape by now.

[coolblue]

The results may change according to the source.

For digital music files I use the optical input rather than the coaxial input. When I use my cd player, I prefer the coaxial input. I recently changed my cd player from NAD to Sony. 2 cd players have the optical and coaxial. But I was using optical with NAD and coaxial with Sony. I haven't tried the usb yet. And I use caiman with the battery power.

As Stan said, you should try with your own players.

[mkrzych]

Why don't you try it out for yourself instead of taking the word of someone else at face value? I don't charge any restocking fee etc if you do decide that the results are not as good as you were hoping for. So you can safely return the Caiman if it is not better than what you expected it to be. So far only one person has ever mentioned to me that he felt that the USB was not in the same league as the SPDIF output. But complaints against my products are often made by the same person and are part of the landscape by now.

So, from the landscape may I chime in. USB is not in the same league as SPDIF and you know why probably Stan. SPDIF is less dependant on the source (more done in hardware) - at least from the landscape perspective. Oh, yes, you can elaborate about jitter, but if it's audible, affects 1m of toslink when data are buffered, don't think so. Of course taking into account that statement your miles may vary according to that source - on my set up it is nite and day period. CMII is a very good DAC and sound very good for the price range and with latest firmware update which fixed some issues in my opinion. That's all.

[robtweed]

This isn't intended to be any criticism of Stan's work - just reporting the results of some recent experimentation.

My main music source is an iTunes library of ripped CDs - a mixture of WAV and Apple Lossless files. They're sourced on a Mac Mini and streamed via Airplay to an Apple TV box in my lounge. The Apple TV is connected to my Caiman II via Toslink. The resulting sound is exquisite. BTW the Caiman directly feeds into a Naim NAP 100 power amp to which are connected PMC TB2i speakers.

I recently discovered that the optical feed from the Apple TV is 48/16 rather than the 44/16 format of the files, and also learned that Airplay transmits files in 44/16 format. So it turns out I'm not getting a "bit-perfect" feed from the Apple TV box, and yet despite its upsampling before outputting over the TosLink connection, the sound is, as I've said, astonishingly good.

I then discovered that my old iPad (generation 1), when playing music, sends un-processed digital output via the USB camera connection kit (I already knew it would send digital audio via this USB connector, but not the bit about it being un-processed. So I figured - if I play my iTunes library via the iPad and connect it to the Caiman II via USB, then it should be sending "bit-perfect" 44/16 format audio from iTunes libarary all the way to the Caiman.

I could then do a direct A/B comparison between the same track coming via the Apple TV/Toslink and via the iPad/USB

The results were interesting. Despite that upsampling by the Apple TV, its sound definitely had the edge. Difficult to describe, but particularly at the bottom end, the USB version sounded less clear - slightly muddy I guess is a way to describe it. At the top end, the optical input also had the edge - what I'd describe as a delicacy and fine detail that wasn't there via USB.

Now, one thing I have to add - I wasn't able to plug the iPad directly into the USB port of the Caiman - the iPad complained about power requirements. So I had to use a powered USB hub to make it work. I don't know but the power supply to the USB hub might have been dirtying the signal? Stan, I guess you might have a view on that?

Anyway, long and short of it is that for now, the Apple TV/Optical input is my definite preference. Now don't get me wrong - the iPad/USB input sounded very good, but to my ears at least the Apple TV/optical input had the edge and remains my preferred listening setup.

Next experiments are going to involve the use of a Raspberry Pi acting as an Airplay device to which I can stream my iTunes library - I believe I should be able to get a bit-perfect feed from that, so I'll see what that comes up with!