[jronan2]

I'm getting a Yulong D100 Dac and Schiit Lyr and planning to run thru my iMac using optical. I don't know much about cables but i plan on getting some Blue Jeans Cables for my RCA's. I will need an affordable, but performing optical cable and a optical to mini converter to go into my headphone port of my iMac. Can anyone give me advice on what they use and what products I should consider? Thank you.

 

[jronan2]

Maybe these will be the best for me. What do you guys think?
http://www.sysconcept.ca/product_info.php?products_id=219&osCsid=0681192072f6542f5f55279b80e8ca3b
 
 
 
http://www.lifatec.com/toslink2.html
 

 

[JRG1990]

Just get 1 with glass cores, the glass 1's do sound much better than the plastic core 1's.

 

[Permagrin]

Since you said affordable, is there a reason you don't want to use coaxial? $60 for 16 inches of glass toslink is pretty spendy.

 

[jronan2]

Only using it for my iMac, which is either usb or mini toslink options as far as I know.

The Yulong doesn't have asynch usb so I figured it might be jittery or not the best option. I figured toslink would be my best option. But I am unsure therefore I made this thread to get help. $60 bucks isnt too crazy for me, anything $100 or  over would probably be too much for me.I still don't have a philosophy for myself on whether pricey cables are actually worthwhile.

 

[Permagrin]

I thought you said the output on your Mac was 1/8" mini-stereo headphone out? If it has a toslink out go with that but otherwise you need an adapter or special cable like the one you posted that goes from toslink to mini-stereo. Adapters are cheap and they do have ones for coax to mini-stereo as well (what I'll be using soon).

 

[jronan2]

That's what I was asking is it foolish to use adapters will it affect SQ or just go with a decent cable like the ones I had posted. Getting a decent toslink cable with a cheap adapter seems foolish to me, but then again this is why I'm asking becasue I'm not educated with cables yet. The set I'm going with isn't cheap so I don't want to go with crappy cables that may hinder SQ, but then again I don't want to buy a cable that is half the price of my hardware. I think I'm gonna go with one of the ones I posted above.

 

[Permagrin]

A decent quality adapter should not affect sound quality. That being said I bought a Cardas adaptor once that was either defective or just inferior to an adapter that came with my second-hand HD 650s as it was plain as day the differences.

So why did you cross off digital coaxial as an option for your setup? They do make adapters for those too.

 

[jronan2]

how does digital coaxial work on a mac?

 

[Permagrin]

Your DAC has an input for coaxial so it would be the same thing as using toslink. Blue Jeans Cable has audio coax to 1/8 for $22 for 1 foot plus ~$1/foot (Belden 1505F digital audio cable). Like I said in a previous post, "from what I've read" it is preferred over toslink. I was simply trying to offer a more affordable solution.

 

[jronan2]

I'm not talking about the dac I'm only talking about my iMac. I didn't know macs support coaxial I thought it only supported optical and usb?

 

[Permagrin]

I'm sorry doing a little research it seems that the iMac's audio out is optical only.

 

[jronan2]

No problem bro. So I guess I may just go with one of the toslinks I posted above, I'm going to use a crappy usb cable until i have some disposable income. If anyone has any experience with one of these optical to mini optical cables I would appreciate it if you guys can tell me how you like it. Thanks.

 

[Yoga Flame]

Yup. To get coaxial SPDIF from a Mac, you would need a USB-to-coaxial converter, or an optical-to-coaxial converter. The Yulong D100 already has such converters built in. Those TOSlink input jacks are essentially optical to coaxial converters. They work the same whether mounted on the DAC's rear panel or in a separate box outside. 

 
The D100 uses the Tenor chip for receiving USB, needs no drivers, and supports up to 96K/24bit. There are external USB to coaxial converters that are supposed to work better, but they don't come cheap. And it is often debated whether or not the difference (i.e. jitter specs) is actually audible. The D100 uses ASRC to negate the effects of jitter anyway, so the benefits of fancy reclockers and converters may not be as apparent.
 

 

[WarriorAnt]

Your iMac has this.  Headphone out/ optical digital audio out port.  Headphone out/optical digital audio out port.  Connect headphones, external powered speakers, or digital audio equipment. This port is also a S/PDIF stereo 3.5 mini-phono jack.