USB, SPDIF, AES/EBU - which sounds best? | HiFi DAC & HiFi Audio

* * * I know it is AES and NOT XLR. I'm still completely out of it with the meds and realized my mistake after shooting. I just didn't have the energy to shoot it again and went with it as-is. * * *

It's rather simple. The aes and coax connection is a straight signal with no buffering or isolation. The usb clocks the signal with its own buffer and is galvanic isolated. So in theory usb is better than those two. Unless it's implemented wrong. And that happens a lot in hifi. Like more than 75% of every dac I've seen has been crappy implemented usb

Inputs do matter more, 25% the gain in sound quality switching out of USB to I2s, 10% gain using xlr instead of rca. I have magnepan and planar headphones, as detail or clear as i ever need to hear difference.

Do you do blind tests? Do you use hardware to actually measure the sound to verify that there's real differences?

I think AES/EBU cable is 110 ohm balanced,
XLR is typically 66-75ohm cable. Not 100% sure 😊

You are doing it wrong.

What you are describing about the advantages of USB cable seems a reduction in jitter and time-smear. I would suggest tring just RCA bullets on extremely thin wire (30 gauge I believe in US) and the shortest length as possible. In the review and your information please check where the clocks are running of - is it the internal clock (also for word) - or is it the clock of the bridge? The manufacturer has the option to (re)clock in the DAC (standard format on coax/optical is keeping the provided clock signal). Furrthermore, overshoot in reconstruction filters is an issue, which easily can be tackled with an attenuance of -3db of the stream so is the method of clocking (PLL or different, variations can happen on input formats). On less expensive gear I mentioned that USB and DSD sounded much better, yet on really good gear that is not the case. Just 44.1 / 16 is more than enough on the input.....if not, the bridge/DAC is not that great....

Personally, I wouldn't spend a grand on a usb cable cause I can't get my head around how it could make much difference but I do want to try usb so I can hear the clock in my Doge 7 tube dac vs. the one in my iFi Neo Streamer. My higher end system with Forte IVs is finally sounding decent by using a class A hybrid amp with tone controls and the before-mentioned. Lately, I'd been focusing on my vintage Marantz separates and JBL l100 classics and it struck me how much easier it was to get this system sounding perfect for classic rock using dare I say a loudness button along with more elaborate tone controls. Just boost the bass slightly, cut the mids slighly and cut highs ever so slightly more. On certain sources like cd also use loudness for added boost of richness. Dramatic improvements in bass weight and body. I also have a button to defeat tone controls but it sounds much better tweaked. Haven't tried any fancy dacs or streaming yet but am enjoying good old reel to reel, phono, and ps1 for cd and they sound amazing and dramatically different with right combo of tweaks. Makes me wonder if they didn't have it just right in the 70s with the addition tone controls like midrange control. All that said if anyone can recommend a good usb that wont break the bank I'd appreciate it cause Forte's are very transparent and I want at least blue jeans like equivalent quality in my main system.

I burned in my wires on country music.
Mistake!!!
Now my system only plays country music well !!! 😢

1 thing I don't think you mentioned using USB, is the fact it will then use the clock in the DAC. Using Spdif/XLR you use the clock in the streamer then passed to the DAC. With USB its the DAC clock that is in control which will always be a better way to do it in my opinion.

I2S ?

What about how well the input side of the DAC rejects noise and if it's correctly grounded or not?

Love your channel! Thank you for what you do!

It’s all about the implementation on the streamer and the DAC.

I did more than 40years testing cables people dont believe i can hear its better or worse but i test until i am happy and do another system its a lot of work but in the end its worth it greetings

If you look at ASR you will some devices excel in USB while other excel SPDIF. Offcourse, there is the whole clock discussion. Do. We want the clock in the dac or the streamer to run the show.

part of the reason that USB is going to give a better sound quality is and it's name universal serial bus. it's a communication between the two devices, which means it unlike spitif or XLR. there's no predetermination in what can be sent so both devices can jack up to 960000 kilobit 32 bit audio happily as long as both devices support it which does allow for a better sound. quality is both devices are in communication. something that spidf and XLR don't have on top of that with some standards like USBC that is built in noise monitoring and the reason for that is because of well maintaining signal integrity which usbc has to do not just for audio but also for video and for other standards too. digital signals are always going to sound better because they are processed at the last possible point, meaning the further down the chain. you can move that processing the less chance you have for noise to be amplified whereas if you process the signal early on the signal when it goes through multiple amplifications and processing steps, has the noise processed with it

A single digital cable is not xlr. Its aes ebu. Sorry im being picky.
A thumbs up to your channel 👍

The XLR cable is 3 steps higher than the Spidf

Greetings from Toronto ❄️☕️💊
Hi ..just trying into this ..but you’re running at a level I can’t imagine.
Unfortunately, I can’t get my other 1/2 to allow me to run cables all over the house to hardwire the streamer ..so wifi it is ..as for DAC connection..I’m running optical ..but maybe i2S in the future 😊
Great video 👍👍