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MAC to DAC connectivity

I am waiting delivery of my first dedicated DAC. I decided to try a MHDT Orchid (non oversampling R2R dac). It is on its way from the designer in Taiwan.

Here is my question. My MAC is about 20 cable feet away from my integrated amp. That is longer than a single USB cable can run. SO I believe I have two options:
1) use a USB clarifier/re-clocker like the Wyred 4 Sound Recovery unit. With this I think I could run two 10' USB cables from the MAC to the DAC and get a "better" signal to the DAC.
2) Run a short USB cable into a USB/SPDIF converter like the Schiit Eitr, and then run a longer SPDIF RCA cable to the DAC.

Which option seems to be the smartest of the two? The cost is pretty much the same when I look at all the cabling and hardware options.

I am really new at DAC/MAC solutions so starting from scratch. After I get it set up the next round of questions will be around the options interns of players on the MAC.

Thanks for your input.
stuartbmw3

Showing 1 response by audioengr

audioengr
3,282 posts
 
I have both USB and Ethernet interfaces to my DAC, using S/PDIF coax. I can do WIFI as well using an Ethernet-WIFI adapter.

By far, the best SQ is achieved using Ethernet, but the devil is always in the details. If you use a converter for Ethernet to S/PDIF or USB to S/PDIF, the input and output cables must be great quality or the SQ will suffer. These distances are really a non-starter for USB IME.

I would suggest the following:

1) connect an AQVOX switch to your router using a long generic CAT5 or 6 Ethernet cable.
2) Use a high-quality 0.5m Ethernet cable like the Wireworld Platinum from AQVOX to an isolator,
3) Use a EMO EN-70e isolator:

https://www.emosystems.com/?s=en-70e
4) Run a second 1.5m high-quality Ethernet cable (Wireworld Platinum) from the isolator to a low-jitter Ethernet Renderer like the Interchange:

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=156409.0

Then run a high-quality 1.5m BNC-BNC S/PDIF cable from the Interchange to your DAC.

This will deliver optimum SQ using the shortest cables and the best converters.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
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