The streamers are feeding the DAC on USB. Switchboxes come in configurations with 2 inputs (from each streaming source) and one output to the DAC. The switchbox changes the input between the two USB sources. Am I misunderstanding something? I'm guessing there could be some delays for the USB handshake to happen between devices when its switched. I'm just not sure how well this would work.
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.
Showing 3 responses by willywonka
One streamer is my computer with USB out (No DAC) and the new streamer has no DAC. I have an external DAC. I just want to verify improvements in the new streamer versus the streaming using my computer. I think the new streamer sounds amazing, but I want better proof to make sure I'm avoiding expectation bias. I have a 60-day window to return the streamer. The reason for this is it's a very expensive streamer so I want to verify the improvements are real. |
@audphile1 I had to move my system and haven't had a chance to compare the two yet. I'm absolutely positive it's an improvement. One immediate thing I noticed is its less fatiguing to listen to over longer periods of listening. This was a problem and I'm glad this is resolved. I'll report back when I get more time to compare the two. Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestions! |