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AES/EBU vs RCA s/pdif into dac, RCA analog out

Hi, this seems like it may be a dumb question, but here goes. If you feed the digital signal into the dac via AES/EBU and then use the dac's analog RCA outputs to your preamp (preamp only has RCA input), would this result in a better sound than using the dac's RCA s/pdif digital inputs? Or would the results be exactly the same? I hope I'm making this clear: AES/EBU vs RCA s/pdif coax input in while  using analog RCA out.  I don't currently have an AES/EBU digital cable, or I would just try this out.  I am considering purchasing one just to see if there's any difference. Thanks for any advice.

heymikey

Showing 3 responses by ghdprentice

ghdprentice
7,661 posts
 

Thanks @heymikey. That is my point. One really great DAC will sound better than one run of mill one. The higher quality the DAC, assuming it supports the sound quality you really like is much better than owning several. Put all your money in one great DAC and you are likely to enjoy the music much more.

ghdprentice
7,661 posts
 

OP, sounds like you have a lot of DACs. You might consider consolidating down to a N20 and a single DAC. I had a Berkeley Alpha Reverence 3 for a while. My Aurrender streamer only  —> DAC (Audio Research Reference CD9SE) sounds best with AES… but not by much. From DAC to preamp XLR… but single ended high quality interconnects of the same brand and level sounded pretty much the same (Transparent Ultra - current iteration).

ghdprentice
7,661 posts
 

Typically AES will be better as an input than coax. But it depends (like virtually everything in high end audio). What is your source? This makes a big difference. For that matter, what DAC? If you have a $10K or $20K DAC AES is likely to sound better. If you have a $600 DAC it is unlikely to make a difference. The “ifs” go on.


There is a place under your UserID to place some photos of your system and components. This would give use a big help in answering your question. And you would not have to keep repeating the components in every question.

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