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Best way to A/B two different streamers

I just purchased a new dedicated streamer after streaming tidal from my computer. I'm using USB to stream from both. Has anyone ever tried using a USB A/B box to switch between streamers to evaluate the differences? I know it would possibly degrade the signal but I'm only looking to hear the differences. My other problem is I only have one high quality USB cable but could use 2 cheaper cables just to hear differences. My DAC and streamer are both in a rack where the cable is hard to reach.

willywonka

Showing 1 response by calieng

calieng
144 posts
 

Different inputs sound different even with the same sample rate.

SPDIF and Toslink and to some extent AES are similar but USB is a different animal.

The way I have done it is set the equipment on a table and run two identical USB cables. You need to put the DAC on standby and swap the cables and then listen again. If you do it quickly you can remember how each sound well enough.

 

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