[bcretty]

Since the Mac Mini has and optical out can it be connected directly to a pace-car with toslink? Would this surpass the usb offramp as is the case of the AE to pace-car? If so, I might just skip the usb off ramp and get a pace-car. I believe the mac mini is not limited to 44.1 kHz via the optical out. I could be wrong. This seems to be a more viable solution to my needs.

Thanks.
Brian

[audioengr]

Since the Mac Mini has an optical out can it be connected directly to a pace-car with toslink?

Yes.

Would this surpass the usb offramp as is the case of the AE to pace-car?

44.1 through the Pace-Car to DAC will be slightly better than Off-Ramp direct to DAC.  Anything through Pace-Car is effectively identical whether it started out S/PDIF, AE or USB.

If so, I might just skip the usb off ramp and get a pace-car. I believe the mac mini is not limited to 44.1 kHz via the optical out. I could be wrong. This seems to be a more viable solution to my needs.

The Off-Ramp performance is almost as good as the Pace-Car, and at much lower cost it will support all sample rates up to 24/96.  To do the same with a Pace-Car requires tuning and two superclocks.  Gets expensive.  I recommend using the Pace-Car primarily for WiFi servers and transports.

Steve N.

[bcretty]

Thank you for the clarification. Looks like the off-ramp is definitely the way to go.

Cheers!
Brian