Nice photos!The Optical/Coax input that comes with the Clarinet is SO useful.
New life has been given to some of my beloved old equipments and music. Sound is full and deep with the Coax, very satisfying!
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Dethonray Clarinet - Portable DAC/Amp Discussion + Impression thread
- Thread starter pradiptacr7
- Start date
Btw, are you using a digital camera or a mobile phone for those beautiful photosThe Optical/Coax input that comes with the Clarinet is SO useful.
New life has been given to some of my beloved old equipments and music. Sound is full and deep with the Coax, very satisfying!
Mimouille
Headphoneus Supremus
This little beast is a pleasure to listen to with my Spiral Ear SE6 Edge attached to it balanced.

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F700
Headphoneus Supremus
Got it today. Ootb, I prefer the Serenade FW as the standard Rhapsody. Subtle difference, but the mellower tone of the Serenade pairs wonderfully with the 300Max.

pradiptacr7
500+ Head-Fier
Lovely to see that you got your unit already.Got it today. Ootb, I prefer the Serenade FW as the standard Rhapsody. Subtle difference, but the mellower tone of the Serenade pairs wonderfully with the 300Max.
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F700
Headphoneus Supremus
You have it too, not?Lovely to see that you got your unit already.
F700
Headphoneus Supremus
iPad Pro transformed in a great sounding source based on your recommendation :Everybody,including me, said coaxial or optical input to Clarinet sounds much better than USB C input, so I asked myself why not try it more seriously by using an USB interface to pair with my iPAD mini 7 and my Andriod phone to see how good the performance gain will be
As I have this thought suddenly so I didn't bring the 2 USB interfaces (one of them is Singxer SU-2)from office to home. However, I remember I have an old and small one which was put aside long time ago after upgrade and I found it finally after searching for a while at home.
The said USB interface employed XMOS XU208 and I assume it is an entry level interface as it costs only USD20. It comes with an USB B as input so I have no choice but add an USB C to A female adaptor (and an ordinary USB A to B cable)to my Android phone and iPAD mini 7 for the testing.
At the beginning I tried this USB interface with my VIVO xFold 3 Pro , Hiby music apps and a silver-plated copper coaxial cable, the sound was better than using a USB C input to my Samsung zFold 2 before(Samsung zFold 2 USB out sounds better than VIVO xFold 3 Pro). Then I changed the VIVO mobile phone to my iPAD mini 7.......WOW!
I can hardly believe that the sounds produced by Clarinet in this way was much much better than my previous result of using the Iifatec optical cable. The sound was more open with better sense of 3D, much transparent, much better transient dynamic (but not harsh)and harder slam. Pairing the USB interface with Clarinet and using Coaxial input makes the sound just like output from a good desktop system of values USD 2000 or a DAP of USD2500. Be noted that, during the test, I was listening to Apple Music only and the USB A to B cable used was taken from my computer (also 2 adaptors were used for the connection). I wonder how the sound further improves if I use a better USB interface , a better USB C to B cable and get rid of those adaptors.
If you don't mind adding one more cable and even an USB Interface(preferable coaxial cable but optical cable is also good)to the chain, this Clarinet is another MUST have item from Dethonray as it breaks out the competition by her secret weapon (coacial/ optical IN).

I'm just learning about this approach. Question: when you set up this way, what DAC are you effectively using? It seems like analog audio is making its way into the Clarinet via coax/optical. Or am I misunderstanding?iPad Pro transformed in a great sounding source based on your recommendation :
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F700
Headphoneus Supremus
I am not a « techy » myself, but I think the Clarinet DAC is at play. Happy to be challenged on that one, though.I'm just learning about this approach. Question: when you set up this way, what DAC are you effectively using? It seems like analog audio is making its way into the Clarinet via coax/optical. Or am I misunderstanding?
Yep that's right. I just looked it up. DIgital signal over optical.I am not a « techy » myself, but I think the Clarinet DAC is at play. Happy to be challenged on that one, though.
ronni2times
New Head-Fier
I believe you would be using the Clarinet's DAC in that arrangement.I am not a « techy » myself, but I think the Clarinet DAC is at play. Happy to be challenged on that one, though.
Yes, the coaxial or optical inputs are digital supplying the DAC in the Clarinet with the digital data from the source that the Clarinets DAC will convert to analog.
Coaxial with portable gear often gets confused with analog line in/out because with small gear the coaxial output and inputs are generally 3.5mm and many coaxial 3.5mm to 3.5mm digital cables can look essentially the same as a 3.5mm to 3.5mm analog line out/in cable. They are, however, in no way interchangeable.
The coaxial cable uses only two wires and the DAC end needs only a TS mono plug but sometimes only two terminals of a TRS stereo plug are used. The source end, assuming a DAP, will be at the whim of the DAP brand and many use either three pole TRS or four pole TRRS plug even though only two of the terminals are actually connected to anything.
Of course on bigger gear or devices like the USB to coaxial above will use a single RCA connection, typically yellow to differentiate it from the red/black of analog line in/out RCA.
Coaxial with portable gear often gets confused with analog line in/out because with small gear the coaxial output and inputs are generally 3.5mm and many coaxial 3.5mm to 3.5mm digital cables can look essentially the same as a 3.5mm to 3.5mm analog line out/in cable. They are, however, in no way interchangeable.
The coaxial cable uses only two wires and the DAC end needs only a TS mono plug but sometimes only two terminals of a TRS stereo plug are used. The source end, assuming a DAP, will be at the whim of the DAP brand and many use either three pole TRS or four pole TRRS plug even though only two of the terminals are actually connected to anything.
Of course on bigger gear or devices like the USB to coaxial above will use a single RCA connection, typically yellow to differentiate it from the red/black of analog line in/out RCA.
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Very helpful explanation thank you!Yes, the coaxial or optical inputs are digital supplying the DAC in the Clarinet with the digital data from the source that the Clarinets DAC will convert to analog.
Coaxial with portable gear often gets confused with analog line in/out because with small gear the coaxial output and inputs are generally 3.5mm and many coaxial 3.5mm to 3.5mm digital cables can look essentially the same as a 3.5mm to 3.5mm analog line out/in cable. They are, however, in no way interchangeable.
The coaxial cable uses only two wires and the DAC end needs only a TS mono plug but sometimes only two terminals of a TRS stereo plug are used. The source end, assuming a DAP, will be at the whim of the DAP brand and many use either three pole TRS or four pole TRRS plug even though only two of the terminals are actually connected to anything.
Of course on bigger gear or devices like the USB to coaxial above will use a single RCA connection, typically yellow to differentiate it from the red/black of analog line in/out RCA.
Learning stuff!
So… why is coax so much better? Less noise?
In general coaxial isn't necessarily better than USB.
Optical is sometimes preferred because being light transmission of data with no electrical connection between the devices it can cut out ground loop hum that can sometimes occur with mains powered devices.
USB from a computer may be noisy depending on the computer and the ability of the receiving DAC to suppress that noise. From a portable battery powered device USB should be pretty clean.
I believe in the case of the Clarinet it is something to do with the implementation that makes coaxial seemingly preferable to USB, way above my pay grade I am sorry and I don't have a Clarinet to know what differences there are. It is on my maybe list hence having a look in this thread.
Another aspect is that coaxial is a "dumb" connection so there is no facility for a "smart" connection as there is over USB where the receiving unit and sending units communicate back and forth or perhaps the receiver can provide playback control of the sending unit for example. Not sure that has any bearing on sonic quality.
I use USB and coaxial between various devices and frankly I don't notice any sonic differences but I seem to be less sensitive to that sort of thing (I like to think of it as more realistic but I can only base that on what I hear since I only have my ears)
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