[photobillyli]

Which rack is that, the hs400? I tried to find a good one for my stack and this must have not existed yet, so I made my own, but I like this better

Hs300

fits the cyan 2 perfectly

 

[photobillyli]

I have a stupid question.
I have connected both the rca and xlr output of cyan2 to my ferrum oor
most of the time i switch the oor to xlr and i found the xlr sounds better
but occasionally i switch the oor to rca and listen the rca output of the cyan 2

Is it ok to do so? Is it ok to connect both the rca and xlr of the cyan 2 at the same time? does connecting the rca affects the quality of the xlr output or vice versa?

 

[dericchan1]

I have a stupid question.
I have connected both the rca and xlr output of cyan2 to my ferrum oor
most of the time i switch the oor to xlr and i found the xlr sounds better
but occasionally i switch the oor to rca and listen the rca output of the cyan 2

Is it ok to do so? Is it ok to connect both the rca and xlr of the cyan 2 at the same time? does connecting the rca affects the quality of the xlr output or vice versa?

From Jo at Wildism Audio, not recommended to connect both XLR and RCA output, there is a good chance to run into ground loop issue

“另外不建議XLR 及RCA output 一同插。很多機會有ground loop 問題”

 

[haasaaroni]

From Jo at Wildism Audio, not recommended to connect both XLR and RCA output, there is a good chance to run into ground loop issue

“另外不建議XLR 及RCA output 一同插。很多機會有ground loop 問題”

Oh man, this might be a dealbreaker for this DAC with me then. I love how with my Gungnir I can have all outputs connected at once with no degradation of the signal. Admittedly, the RCA isn’t nearly as good as the XLR from the Gumby anyway, but it’s still super convenient.

 

[LXMc]

Oh man, this might be a dealbreaker for this DAC with me then. I love how with my Gungnir I can have all outputs connected at once with no degradation of the signal. Admittedly, the RCA isn’t nearly as good as the XLR from the Gumby anyway, but it’s still super convenient.

Yeah this is the first I'm hearing about any sort of issue related to running both XLR & RCA and that's how I run my current Merason, which is very handy.
*edit - I don't see a purpose in running both to the same amp as noted earlier; I have XLR going to my Cayin and RCA to my V226 so I can swap easily

 

[dericchan1]

Oh man, this might be a dealbreaker for this DAC with me then. I love how with my Gungnir I can have all outputs connected at once with no degradation of the signal. Admittedly, the RCA isn’t nearly as good as the XLR from the Gumby anyway, but it’s still super convenient.

Well I have not tried it myself so I can’t confirm it surely will not work…

 

[LXMc]

fwiw the manual doesn't say anything about not using both - but it's a fairly barebones manual

 

[photobillyli]

From Jo at Wildism Audio, not recommended to connect both XLR and RCA output, there is a good chance to run into ground loop issue

“另外不建議XLR 及RCA output 一同插。很多機會有ground loop 問題”

Thanks, so I will compare the sound of RCA and XLR again by connecting to either RCA or XLR at a time, not both together.

 

[JerseyD]

Yeah this is the first I'm hearing about any sort of issue related to running both XLR & RCA and that's how I run my current Merason, which is very handy.
*edit - I don't see a purpose in running both to the same amp as noted earlier; I have XLR going to my Cayin and RCA to my V226 so I can swap easily

Note - he is talking about having the rca and xlr both hooked up to the SAME amp, which he was advised is not a good idea.

 

[gammi]

It's my understanding that if you have both RCA and XLR hooked up it can put extra strain on the output of DACs even if they are connected to different amps.
I don't know for certain if this is true of all DACs or just some and if it's just some, I don't know which case Cyan 2 falls under.

I always keep only one connected just to be safe.

 

[dericchan1]

Speaking SE vs Bal performance, Atomic Bomb at SBAF has done some measurements on the cyan 2 spdif input and SE out, pretty much flawless!!!

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/holo-audio-cyan-2.14351/#post-428447

 

[Daiyama]

I always use both connections with my DACs, RCA to HA-3A and XLR to gs-x mini. No ground loops or anything. Worked always without issues. It should not cause any strain to the DAC otherwise they would have included an output switch or a warning on the back.

 

[betula]

On quite a few DACs actually there is a serious sound degradation if both RCA and XLR cables are connected even to different amps. This is NOT the case with the Cyan 2. Of course, XLR sounds marginally better like on most DACs, but on the Holo DAC it is OK to connect both outputs at the same time. Ideally not to the same amp though, as that CAN lead to ground loop like with any other equipment.

 

[lauthoerer]

I always use both connections with my DACs, RCA to HA-3A and XLR to gs-x mini. No ground loops or anything. Worked always without issues. It should not cause any strain to the DAC otherwise they would have included an output switch or a warning on the back.

Right. Would also be a deal breaker for me, but in the Cyan2 design with no manual input/output switches it would be totally ridiculous if the connection of both outputs would cause cross-interference…

 

[Daiyama]

On quite a few DACs actually there is a serious sound degradation if both RCA and XLR cables are connected even to different amps. This is NOT the case with the Cyan 2. Of course, XLR sounds marginally better like on most DACs, but on the Holo DAC it is OK to connect both outputs at the same time. Ideally not to the same amp though, as that CAN lead to ground loop like with any other equipment.

I read this somewhere too. Do you have an example for which DAC this would be the case and do you also have a technical explanantion why that is so?
If you like via pm, as it is a bit OT here.
Thx