Has anyone compared the different inputs on the AM? USB vs AES or Coax?
I have compared USB vs. I2S. It scales with the source. The better source always wins. I've had the I2S sounding better than the USB. And I've had the USB sounding better than the I2S. But that's with sources that are much more expensive than the Audio Mirror DAC.
It's interesting that because of its price, the Audio Mirror DAC is not considered as some of the high end class DACs. And as such, it has a different target. Most people who get the Audio Mirror DAC would not buy a streamer like the Innuos Statement, or PinkFaun 2.16x, or Grimm Audio MU1, or Taiko Extreme. And the people who have spent that much on a streamer would never even for a second consider using an AM DAC. Typically at those people's systems, even the cheapest cable is more expensive than the Audio Mirror DAC.
This is somewhat sad, because you have no idea what the AM DAC is capable of until you connect a really really good source. It scales really well even with the best sources out there.
People here are so obsessed about DAC comparisons. And especially the Orchid fans are all over this thread for some reason, besides the multiple other Orchid threads out there. It reminds me of the massive attacks and total defenses of some of our popular US news channels. But that's not the point. I have compared quite a few pretty well designed DACs in my system. And with all of them the difference that an improved source provided was more significant that the difference between the DACs. And I am talking about radically different DACs - let's say the AM DAC vs. Terminator - two quite different DAC designs and implementations.
There is a difference between using CD players and streamers. CD players typically use the SPDIF / AES/EBU interface. And a good CD player with SPDIF sounds a lot better than many low-end and mid-fi streamers (which is what I guess a lot of the AM users use). If you have settled on a CD player and digital cable, and you are not into streaming, then it makes sense to try different DACs and fine tune it by discovering what sounds best in your system. There is no "best" for everyone, only what works "best" for you in your system.
Every chip used to process digital signal has its own sound signature. When it comes to SPDIF, both DACs (Audio Mirror and the Orchid) use the same CS8416 chip to process the digital signal. They would have a similar sound signature in that regard. But then they use different DAC chips. One is using the AD1865N and the other is using the TDA1541A chip. Both of these chips have their own sound signature. And then they have a slightly different power supply section and different analog sections. Different tubes would make those DACs sound different. The coupling caps have their own sound signature. The Mundorf caps
@grannyring is installing in the power supply will also change the sound. Fuses, cables, resistors... everything has an influence on the sound. Even the vibration treatment.
I hope you get it - it's an endless comparisons game. Vlad is working non-stop on improving his DAC. By the time you are done with this test, there will be better upgrades by AM. In fact there are already some new things he came up with.
But going back to sources and inputs. If you using a CD player, and you are an owner of a top CD transport, I almost envy you. For those streaming digital music, it takes a lot of effort to make a digital streamer sound better than a top class CD player. But once you get to that point, you are at another level. Adding a really good streamer (read: a lot more expensive than the AM DAC) is a game changer. At that point, and only at that point the USB and the I2S inputs on the AM DAC sound a lot better than SPDIF / AES/EBU. A LOT BETTER! I mean, all of these changes of tubes, cables, fuses, caps, resistors, and so on combined together are not even close to the difference a world class streamer would make with this DAC.
This was a pretty long answer trying to explain that at that level and beyond the source makes a bigger difference than the DAC. But also, it's not easy to compare two inputs with an identical source.
Here is why - the better sources, even if they have multiple outputs, use different chips for each output type. At that point, since every chip has its own sound signature, you don't know if you are comparing the DAC inputs or the source outputs.
But I was able to do one input comparison that might be worth mentioning. There are some sources that use the same chip for more than one output type - for example, the PinkFaun streamers have a PCIe card using the CMedia CM8888 chip which has a SPDIF and I2S output.
This was probably the highest end SPDIF and I2S source I've had in my system. They were also clocked with the PinkFaun €1250 Ultra OCXO clock. And I did compare the SPDIF and the the I2S inputs on the Audio Mirror DAC with that PinkFaun source.
There was however one gotcha. One used a SPDIF cable, and the other used a HDMI cable. So, again - have I heard the difference between inputs or a difference between cables?!? Probably both... Which one did I like more? Definitely the I2S.
BTW, I was a big fan of 44.1kHz digital files and did not necessarily like high resolution files. With that PinkFaun source (I2S output) and the Audio Mirror DAC I heard for the first time hires digital recordings that sounded significantly better than 44.1kHz.
