DAC connection: which type gives highest fidelity?

in theory or in practice?

as usual @twoleftears and @ghdprentice get to the heart of the matter

@bobbydd

a word of caution to you

the dena dacs’ input card has issues receiving a hi res signal (above redbook) from the bluesound node/node 2i (pontus, ares 2, gaia)

it is the ONLY family of dacs that has input compatibility issues with the node digital out... and i have had 40+ dacs in my system since january 2020 (no exaggeration)

alvin says the digital signal output of the node is 'on the low side', and the input receiver of the gen 2 denafrips gear thus won’t recognize it (you get a bunch of subtle pops coming through the system as opposed to music when this happens) - alvin says ’just use the optical connection’

so be warned...

to my understanding the older models actually were ok, it is the newer models that have this problem (by the time i experienced the issue my ares 2 was long gone, so cannot comment there)

for example, my original pontus made in 2019 received the node digital feed fine, yet the newer model with ’ii’ elements (production mid 2020) as well as the gaia (both using the same input receiver) have had this problem - i actually picked up a gaia to try to solve the problem but alas, no dice...