What best output to to use between coax and Spdif?

[Wiimer]

Two things about optical and coax that I noticed. I have an ifi zen one signature dac. Sounds way better than built-in dac. But when connected via optical it can only accept up to 24/96. Plus sounded like a bunch of hi frequencies were missing. Tried different optical cables with no difference. Thought my LRS+ were just weak in the highs. Hooked up via coax and noticed it can work up to 24/192 with no noise from ifi dac. Plus I could hear much more high frequencies. Not my imagination but fact. Even when I reduced the coax output to 24/48 high frequencies remained. Overall very pleased with the unit.

Zen one is likely not to accept 24/192 in optical. Multiple users have already reported it.

https://wiim.community.forum/threads/optical-output-issues-again-at-24-192-khz-to-external-ifi-dac.527/

 

[HatOfTheCat]

There is absolutely no difference between an optical and a coax transmission carrying the same SPDIF signal. Also generating an electrical digital data stream for coax is no different to generating an optical one by exciting an LED, the results are the identical digital data, no nuances... identical. It is a digital data, just ones and noughts ("ons" and "offs"), you cannot lose ANY specific range of frequencies in the delivered data as a high frequency in the encoded sound is no different than a low frequency, each part of it is just a series of numbers (represented by the 1's and 0's) that is processed as "all or nothing" i.e. its received complete and accurate or not and rejected leaving an actual drop out/jitter which you'd hear as its not subtle. When received at the other end the SPDIF digital data from either optical or coax is directly mapped into the i2s digital format and then sent on down the same path to the DAC chip in your DAC (or AMP), so still no difference between optical and coax data. Any perceived sound difference is down to volume levels which affect your ease of hearing high frequencies. Unfortunately there persists a lot of anecdotal guff and snake oil about optical/coax somehow being "better" Buying a different cable of either type will not make your music sound better, though may resolve a poor connection that is causing drop outs and/or restricting use of the higher data rates altogether, but in the vast majority of cases just making sure connections are properly seated and that cables are not tightly wound or have kinks in them will fix. Then sit back and enjoy the sounds

 

[canard]

amazing..
to read you should there be no differences between toslink coax ... and usb then?
1-0...
however even such approaches on asr etc point to differences in dac outputs .. on even just a 12k etc ...
so imagine on complex signals..
often usb vs toslink-coax
somes times coax vs toslink etc



there can be no difference
""binaire""
the 1-0
the idiots-the knowing ones...
really.....?
;-)

 

[HatOfTheCat]

amazing..
to read you should there be no differences between toslink coax ... and usb then?
1-0...
however even such approaches on asr etc point to differences in dac outputs .. on even just a 12k etc ...
so imagine on complex signals..
often usb vs toslink-coax
somes times coax vs toslink etc



there can be no difference
really.....?
;-)

Yes, "no difference" that's the point of a digital interconnect in the first place - unlike an analogue interconnect where a distortion or loss cannot be detected/resolved by the interconnect. Also at even the higher rates a music stream is not exactly a "complex signal", its more "the slowest kid in the room" compared to other digital signal rates, so not a challenge to handle. What a DAC unit actually pumps out is its analogue interpretation (literally "connecting the dots" and "colouring in") of that digital data and wholly dependent upon the internal logic & internal devices of its DAC chip and the further devices in the signal path from the chip to the actual external outputs of the DAC unit.

 

[canard]

hihi
just if the point is to say that there are no differences in the use of the different protocols for our use..,
it's just wrong and measured...
even by pure and hard antisnake oil etc.
That was the question we were interested in your case, wasn't it?
"the result" in many case
just a factual observation for me...
;-))

 

[HatOfTheCat]

hihi
just if the point is to say that there are no differences in the use of the different protocols for our use..,
it's just wrong and measured...
even by pure and hard antisnake oil etc.
That was the question we were interested in your case, wasn't it?
"the result" in many case
just a factual observation for me...
;-))
ps....
about "dpll" of many dac in input...what do you think?

Sorry, not getting a thing from that... I don't speak total gibberish

 

[DjNotNot]

Coax will have less jitter, Toslink has no grounding issues. Both have pros and cons but will be bit perfect. You probably won’t notice the 1% difference.

 

[d6jg]

Coax will have less jitter, Toslink has no grounding issues. Both have pros and cons but will be bit perfect. You probably won’t notice the 1% difference.

It’s way less than 1%

 

[bradavon]

Hello,
I have a dac that can be used with coax cable and spdif cable , which one is the best in terms of performance WiiM PRO the spdif or the coax cable?

Quality is the same.

The answer to which you should use depends on which works best for you.

I'm already using my receiver's Optical connection so am using Coxial. It's too rare this is included these days so great to see the Pro has it.