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Streamers Clock vs DAC's Clock - Much Difference

Witterings

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Feb 19, 2022
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Is there likely to be much diference between using a Coax out of a streamer into a DAC which will use the streamers clock and using USB out so it uses the DAC's clock?

I'm asking as I'm currently using a WiiM Pro with coax out into my Arcam amp, using the amp's onboard DAC and am thinking of getting a better quality standalone DAC but there's no USB out on the Pro so trying to work out if it'll make much difference or not.
 
Measurements are extremely good, I can’t see the benefit of using an external dac unless you want to add distortion?
Toslink looks pretty decent too.

Keith
 
Is this about jitter?

In that case this might be of interest.

 
The DAC uses its own clock generator in both cases. But in the first case it synchronizes to the clock data embedded in the SPDIF signal.
 
Measurements are extremely good, I can’t see the benefit of using an external dac unless you want to add distortion?
Toslink looks pretty decent too.

Keith

That's for the Pro Plu not the Pro ... I do have a Pro Plus as well and tried that but didn't like it as much as my Pro using the Amp's DAC

Is this about jitter?

In that case this might be of interest.


Honest answer I'm not sure .... I've just seen and heard comments that the clock on a budget streamer isn't good to be a good / accurate as teh clock on an expensive ish DAC and if you use Coax or Opt out it uses the steamers clock but if you use USB it'll use the supposedly better clock in the DAC.

The Pro that I have doesn't have USB out so it's not something I can do or try so my question relates to if it's actually worth getting an expensive DAC if I don't have USB out.

One of my options would be to change to say a WiiM Ultra that does have USB out or possibly a Bluesound Nano but they don't play well with Amazon and I use voice commands quite a bit.
 
People spout all sorts of nonsense mainly because they have no technical knowledge, if they compare at all it will be sighted, I am almost certain you wouldn’t be able to tell your pro and por plus apart into the same dac.
Keith
 
People spout all sorts of nonsense mainly because they have no technical knowledge, if they compare at all it will be sighted, I am almost certain you wouldn’t be able to tell your pro and por plus apart into the same dac.
Keith

I'm sure if they're going into teh same DAC you're right ... I was shocked though at the difference between the Pro using my amp's DAC and the Pro Plus using it's own DAC ... the biggest difference was the width of soundstage which as my speakers are further apart than ideal didn't really work.
 
Without wishing to sound like the Grinch, you have to be really careful with sighted comparisons, ideally the two components to be compared should be set up side by side to allow instant switching by someone else and level matched if necessary .
Preconceived notions often disappear under unsighted comparison.
Keith
 
There might be a measured difference in jitter with the USB connection being better. There won't be a sound quality difference perceived by humans. User whichever is more convenient.
 
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