My source is an Aurender A20 music server feeding it's usb only output to a Berkeley Alpha USB DDC. From there, I can output AES/EBU or RCA S/PDIF coax into my Weiss DAC202 (no usb input on the Weiss DAC202). The Aurender A20 has it's own internal dac, but I find that to be bettered by the external Weiss dac.
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.
Showing 5 responses by heymikey
Thanks Danager. Yes, I also want to think that AES/EBU digital input must be better, but that may just be prejudicial thinking. I will have to try an AES/EBU cable to see. To make a fair comparison tho, the AES/EBU cable should be the same manufacturer/model as the RCA s/pdif digital cable. Of course this means that if you have an expensive RCA coax s/pdif digital cable, you'd have to buy it's even more expensive AES/EBU stablemate from the same manufacturer. As an audiofool, I'm up for that. Just don't tell my wife! |
@vinylshadow , that's interesting, and makes sense. Now I have to look up who Max Townsend is. |
@ghdprentice, please note that there is only one dac being used in my system. I am not using the built in dac in the Aurender A20, I am sending the A20's digital signal via USB to the Berkeley Alpha USB digital to digital converter which outputs the digital signal via AES/EBU or S/PDIF to the external Weiss DAC202. The Weiss DAC202 is doing the digital to analog processing. Thanks for your impressions about AES and single ended sound quality. |
@ghdprentice yes, my goal is to purchase an end game dac when possible. As the cost of such a dac would be north of 10K, my plan for the time being is to optimize my current gear. While my Weiss DAC202 is an older model, it is still no slouch. Dac recommendations (under 8k) welcome. |