Music server/streamer with best optical toslink output

[Gavin1977]

That is almost 100% the major difference, since optical is completely electrically isolated from the source. 

 

They can offer optical - but I tried it and it sounded identical to coax spidif, so no point in them offering an optical version to be honest.

[phusis]

11 minutes ago, Gavin1977 said:

That is almost 100% the major difference, since optical is completely electrically isolated from the source. 

 

They can offer optical - but I tried it and it sounded identical to coax spidif, so no point in them offering an optical version to be honest.

 

Interesting. Don't know the particulars of your music source and to which degree it's a "polluted" environment compared to my PC source, which is an important aspect I gather in judging a coax S/PDIF signal against optical.  

[Gavin1977]

Look through some of my posts.  The Pink Faun does a good job on isolation, obviously more important than if it were just optical.

[phusis]

7 hours ago, Gavin1977 said:

Look through some of my posts.  The Pink Faun does a good job on isolation, obviously more important than if it were just optical.

 

That's the main reason for my being interested in optical: isolation. Quite a few regard optical the lesser option compared to other S/PDIF output modes (and perhaps not least USB), but I take it that's dependent on several factors - like the prevalence of noise from the PC-source, and also incl. the specific implementation of the optical input on the DAC side of things, which vary somewhat. 

 

I may try out the ASUS Xonar AE and see how that fares with optical out, it's certainly not that expensive. 

[Gavin1977]

12 minutes ago, phusis said:

 

That's the main reason for my being interested in optical: isolation. Quite a few regard optical the lesser option compared to other S/PDIF output modes (and perhaps not least USB), but I take it that's dependent on several factors - like the prevalence of noise from the PC-source, and also incl. the specific implementation of the optical input on the DAC side of things, which vary somewhat. 

 

I may try out the ASUS Xonar AE and see how that fares with optical out, it's certainly not that expensive. 

I wouldn’t bother with the ASUS Xonar AE to be honest, you’d be much better off with an external DDC if Optical is the only input to your DAC.

 

Topping D10S is a vastly superior spdif converter and very cheap if you would like to try it.

[phusis]

22 minutes ago, Gavin1977 said:

I wouldn’t bother with the ASUS Xonar AE to be honest, you’d be much better off with an external DDC if Optical is the only input to your DAC.

 

Topping D10S is a vastly superior spdif converter and very cheap if you would like to try it.

 

Thanks for that recommendation - didn't know of the Topping D10S. 

 

Going by the last comment at the bottom of this review page it would seem though the D10S provides no improvement to speak of as a digital bridge..

https://www.headphonesty.com/2020/08/review-topping-d10s/

EDIT: my DAC/preamp has every input desired (I currently use AES/EBU), except I²S..

[davide256]

Opticals problem is an old spec that’s not as good as later wired options. An updated spec, a “toslink 3.0” would be nice vs relying on the good will of audiophile manufacturers

[phusis]

4 minutes ago, davide256 said:

Opticals problem is an old spec that’s not as good as later wired options. An updated spec, a “toslink 3.0” would be nice vs relying on the good will of audiophile manufacturers

 

I presume "old spec" relates mostly to limited sampling rate and overall bandwidth?

[phusis]

The Wadax über-server seems to have made good use of its (new spec?) optical output, but certainly at an astronomical price and a likely crazy level of dedication..

 

Quote

... the transformation happens when listening through the Akasa optical interface. My comments about the Server’s ability to make digital files sound almost like high-quality remasterings, and my description below, are based on listening to the Akasa interface driving the Reference DAC.

 

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/wadax-atlantis-reference-music-server

[davide256]

7 minutes ago, phusis said:

 

I presume "old spec" relates mostly to limited sampling rate and overall bandwidth?

And latency. It’s silly for an optical spec to have more latency than wired specs.. just a reflection of the old consumer tech that was cost effective when toslink was put into use 

[phusis]

2 minutes ago, davide256 said:

And latency. It’s silly for an optical spec to have more latency than wired specs.. just a reflection of the old consumer tech that was cost effective when toslink was put into use 

 

Spec talk aside, some see optical output as their preferred output mode sonically speaking, so I guess specs alone aren't always the whole story, but rather context as mentioned above? Not to diminish the need for "new spec" with optical..

[phusis]

Well, received my ASUS Xonar AE card July 1st, and have now used its optical output for a few weeks and compared it to the balanced AES/EBU output from the Marian card.

 

Initially the sonic difference between the two output paths was relatively distinct; balanced subjectively focused the stage more towards center and into the room, whereas optical felt slightly more "balanced" and using both stage width and depth more predominantly, if feeling a wee bit less transparent. Then I upgraded the drivers to the ASUS card (and shifted from Kernel to WASAPI output mode), and this - in junction with more playback hours under the hood - alleviated the sense of slight lack in transparency while largely maintaining the overall difference in characteristics compared to balanced output via the Marian card, to the point even where optical now appears to have a very slight upper hand in transparency/clarity. 

 

Further observations: spatial information appears a bit more precise via optical and voices are ever so slightly more clearly outlined, whereas balanced has a bit more emphasis on central to upper bass and still a smidgen more forward-sounding. I like the overall energy via balanced, but optical appears slightly more balanced and spatially informative. 

 

The optical input on my DAC/preamp accepts 24/192 files, btw., confirmed by my JRiver playback software with the input/output info and "no changes are made" message. No hiccups with 24/192 files, runs smoothly.