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Optical or coaxial in ultra micro dac?

post #1 of 7
6/1/09 at 9:35am
Thread Starter 
Hi. I am not asking about the general differences between optical and coaxial, and i preffered asking this here, as i do with all headroom related products.

my question is (it probably have been asked before): the ultra micro has a mini coaxial input, and that means that i need to use (am using) an rca to mini adapter. isn't it reducing the quality of the signal in some extent?....even the minimal? i am also not so sure what quality adapter i have.
wouldn't be better to use the optical cable that won't require an added adapter? and by that not adding any additional parts to the sound/signal chain?

thanks!...and sorry if this is the wrong forum for that.
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post #2 of 7
6/1/09 at 9:50am
The input into the DAC is a standard-sized optical port, so you won't need an adapter. I just use an ordinary optical cable to connect a DVD player I use as a transport to my UM Dac.
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post #3 of 7
6/1/09 at 10:00am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by moogoob View Post
The input into the DAC is a standard-sized optical port, so you won't need an adapter. I just use an ordinary optical cable to connect a DVD player I use as a transport to my UM Dac.
so you suggest using an optical instead of the coaxial? right now i am using a coaxial cable with an adapter.
the reason i ask this is because i want to know if the adapter in the coaxial is reducing the quality of the signal a little bit. if not,i don't have a problem keep using it, but i want the best signal transfer for my dac.
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post #4 of 7
6/1/09 at 11:04am
Oh, sorry. I misread your question. Ignore me.
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post #5 of 7
6/1/09 at 2:38pm
I also use the optical input on my ultra micro dac. I would use optical unless your computer system only has the coax output. There is some benefit to be had by not having your DAC ground connected to your computer. Plus there is the benefit that the optical cable does not pick up the EM radiation from your gear that it might pass under/over/behind.

I cannot give you specific trials of optical vs. coax though, as all my gear only has optical. I did use to use the mini coax digital out from an XFi though with good results. If your soundcard/computer has only coax out, I would go with it.
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post #6 of 7
6/1/09 at 2:53pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bones13 View Post
I also use the optical input on my ultra micro dac. I would use optical unless your computer system only has the coax output. There is some benefit to be had by not having your DAC ground connected to your computer. Plus there is the benefit that the optical cable does not pick up the EM radiation from your gear that it might pass under/over/behind.

I cannot give you specific trials of optical vs. coax though, as all my gear only has optical. I did use to use the mini coax digital out from an XFi though with good results. If your soundcard/computer has only coax out, I would go with it.
thanks. i use a dvd player as a transport and it has both optical and coaxial outputs so it's my choose. i will go for the optical i guess for all the reasons meantioned above.
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post #7 of 7
6/1/09 at 4:31pm
it sounds like you are asking about the 'physical layer' in digital audio.

the short answer is, it either gets the signal there or not. there is no 'quality' about it.

you could have a noisy connection, though. phys noise. like a round metal barrel twisting and bouncing (electrically) as it turns.

I hate twisty metal things when you need *continuity*. that's why pro standards like an xlr have an anti-twist design (3 pins and non-round). there's no twist and in fact, they even lock-in on full insert).

toslink is close to that. there's no twist, no bounce, and a small bit of 'lock' as you connect.

spdif over 'good' rca is not bad. on full size connectors, it can be done well.

but spdif over 1/8" or other kinds of connectors - while technically it will send data ok, it can twist and cause physical connection noise. in the real world, that may matter.

I prefer physically sound (heh - that was a joke) connections. other than that, bits are bits. they really are.
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