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

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.

I'm running AES/EBU from my DDC to my Dac.

I like it better than the I2S. More depth.

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.

Max Townshend felt that unbalanced RCA's sounded better than balanced XLR's due to XLR's added circuitry. That RCA's led to more "pure sound".

That XLR's were designed and good for very long cable lengths. 

So all of my Townshend cables(speaker, IC's, digital cables) are RCA. 

@vinylshadow , that's interesting, and makes sense. Now I have to look up who Max Townsend is.