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S/PDIF quality audible with decent DAC?

seyl3r

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I'm wondering if there is an audible difference with different digital interfaces for raspberry pi such as
  1. Hifiberry Digi+ Standard
  2. Audiophonics Digipi+ Pro
  3. Hifiberry Digi2 Pro
  4. Allo DigiOne
I watched amirs Video "Is Digital Audio Transmission Really Analog?" which shows clearly explains that there can be transmission differences since the digital interface acts as a host and clocks the signal. With worse clocks, jitter goes up which makes life harder for the DAC side. However, as I understood, with a decent DAC, there shouldn't be a problem and if so, it will return in stuttering, cracks and stuff rather than sound being degraded.

My situation is the following - I currently have the following chain:
Android TV --> S/PDIF optically --> miniDSP openDRC DI --> S/PDIF optically --> Genelec F Two (acts as DAC and volume control) --> XLR --> Genelec G Three

I want to extend my chain such that I don't have to turn on the TV every time for listening to music since it takes minutes for Spotify to launch after power loss. Since I already own a raspberry pi with moode OS, I thought about the interfaces above.

The Genelec subwoofer has multiple inputs, so I could still use its own remote control and my TV remote to switch inputs and connect the pi like this:
Raspberry Pi with interface running moode and camilla DSP --> S/PDIF coaxially --> Genelec F Two (acts as DAC and volume control) --> XLR --> Genelec G Three

To summarize: Will there be any audible difference with any of the interfaces listed above since they just act digitally as S/PDIF output?

P.S.: I already asked this question here, but it seems like it's lost in this thread: I'll link my question there to this post if anybody has a similar question later and hits the other thread first. If there are threads providing answers to my question, please just share the link :).
 
I went for the Hifiberry Digi+ Standard and I am very happy with it. Sounds great as expected. Genelec is doing the DA conversion.

I modified my Nes3Pi case for the additional outputs.

IMG_20220923_103853.jpg

For the features and sound you get, I think this case is actually quite funny :).

As long as nobody can explain why a more expensive digital interface would improve sound, I have no reason to change this system in the near future.
 
The HifiBerry is more than half the price of the Allo DigiOne….I wonder what the difference is.
 
I made some measurements of the output of a MOTU Ultralite Mk5 DAC with USB input and with TOSLINK input from a Hifiberry digi+ I/O and did not see any differences -> https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-and-digi-pro-digi2.30999/page-6#post-1105791.

I’ve used a bunch of different digital output HATs including the digione and digi2 pro and have not noticed any differences. I’d personally lean towards one with dual oscillators for 44.1/48 families but that is based on audiophile nervosa and not objective measurements.

Michael
 
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