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Post by audiocr381ve on May 29, 2011 21:05:03 GMT -5
I've been using my PS3 as my music server and using the optical out to connect to my XDA-1 (via dayton glass toslink). I thought the results were pretty good.
Today I decided to take my NAD T534 and use it to play some CD's via the coaxial output. I don't know if it is a cable thing or a transport thing, but the NAD via coaxial was a definite improvement. Things sounded sweeter, open, and their was more bass. It was subtle, but it was SURE.
I'd like your thoughts on this.
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hemster
Global Moderator 
Particle Manufacturer
...still listening... still watching
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Post by hemster on May 30, 2011 0:07:28 GMT -5
Optical is susceptible to noise interference but other than that the results from coax and Toslink should be very very similar. Mind you, what matters is that you perceive a difference and that being the case, by all means, go with coax.
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Post by audiocr381ve on May 30, 2011 1:33:41 GMT -5
No one likes hearing that they might be crazy  Am I imagining this? Seriously, I'm open to that idea  |
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hemster
Global Moderator
Particle Manufacturer
...still listening... still watching
Posts: 51,952
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Post by hemster on May 30, 2011 4:26:59 GMT -5
No one likes hearing that they might be crazy Am I imagining this? Seriously, I'm open to that idea No no... I wasn't suggesting that. Well ok, maybe just.. nooo! Really I meant that if you can sense a difference, you may be crazy right and that's all that matters... Oh wait... the men in white lab coats are here so I need to go back with them now... bye bye... ;D |
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Post by briank on May 30, 2011 7:21:59 GMT -5
I had a similar experience when comparing my Sony Blu-Ray using toslink versus my previous ERC-1 using coaxial. The ERC-1 sounded better which surprised me as I didn't expect a difference. Later when I sold the ERC-1, I compared them again using the same brand coaxial on both and could not tell a difference between the two as transports. I almost didn't buy the ERC-2 after that but after a few days I missed the ease of use the ERC offered, as compared to the Blu-Ray player, plus I wanted to try the AES/EBU connection and go all balanced.
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Post by roadrunner on May 31, 2011 17:26:48 GMT -5
I think at least part of the explanation for the difference in sound you are experiencing comparing separate components with one using optical digital and the other using coax digital is due to volume levels being different. Even small differences in volume will make the louder one sound superior to the other. Over the years, I have found components that offer both optical and coax digital connections usually have higher volume from the coax path.
To do an unbiased comparison you need to ensure that each digital connector is producing the same volume as the other. I have also found that there tends to be less attention paid to the optical digital circuit design than the coax circuit, especially on lower cost equipment. Using higher quality gear, I have found very little difference between the sound quality when comparing the optical and coax digital outputs.
The optical digital even has some advantageous over coax digital circuits in some cases. Optical is not susceptible to EMI or RFI distortion and there is no ground loop hum over optical. Optical is also superior for long cable runs. Unfortunately, there can be a great deal of variability in the quality of the circuit designs with consumer level gear and you really need to try both the optical and coax to see which sounds better in your system. Usually, with better quality components you will find no differences between the sound from the optical and digital connections.
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Post by briank on May 31, 2011 19:29:43 GMT -5
I think at least part of the explanation for the difference in sound you are experiencing comparing separate components with one using optical digital and the other using coax digital is due to volume levels being different. Even small differences in volume will make the louder one sound superior to the other. Over the years, I have found components that offer both optical and coax digital connections usually have higher volume from the coax path. To do an unbiased comparison you need to ensure that each digital connector is producing the same volume as the other. I have also found that there tends to be less attention paid to the optical digital circuit design than the coax circuit, especially on lower cost equipment. Using higher quality gear, I have found very little difference between the sound quality when comparing the optical and coax digital outputs. The optical digital even has some advantageous over coax digital circuits in some cases. Optical is not susceptible to EMI or RFI distortion and there is no ground loop hum over optical. Optical is also superior for long cable runs. Unfortunately, there can be a great deal of variability in the quality of the circuit designs with consumer level gear and you really need to try both the optical and coax to see which sounds better in your system. Usually, with better quality components you will find no differences between the sound from the optical and digital connections. I've always read that coaxial is better than toslink for digital. With toslink the signal has to be transformed to light and then transformed from light back to electrical at the other end. |
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Post by socialxray on Jun 6, 2011 16:57:06 GMT -5
I have heard some people preferring coaxial over toslink too but I myself cannot hear a difference between the two when using the same source. Also converting from an electrical impulse to a light impulse should be trivial. The caveat here is implementation and design and not all implementations and designs are equal. The most likely explanation is that the NAD is a superior transport when compared to the PS3.
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Post by socialxray on Jun 6, 2011 17:03:24 GMT -5
Food for thought:
Even though the PS3 is streaming data from a computer (or at least that was implied with the words "music server") and the NAD is streaming data from a disc, the implementation of the toslink versus coaxial output may be superior in the NAD.
What was not specifically mentioned what what type of files the OP is streaming.
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Post by audiocr381ve on Jun 7, 2011 19:30:38 GMT -5
I have heard some people preferring coaxial over toslink too but I myself cannot hear a difference between the two when using the same source. Also converting from an electrical impulse to a light impulse should be trivial. The caveat here is implementation and design and not all implementations and designs are equal. The most likely explanation is that the NAD is a superior transport when compared to the PS3. 100% agree with this! |
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