[BeeBop]

I am interested in knowing whether the TOSLink->Coax converter (there seems to be only one player in the market) that is being offered by a number of vendors (including Radio Shack) is any good. I don't have the equipment or experience to evaluate it myself but I will send one of these free of charge to one of you audio sophisticates if you will agree to give us your opinion on the Critics Circle. I know it's not worth a lot (about $25) but I am retired and living on a fixed income so I don't have a lot of money.

Any takers?

[sjd]

BeeBop, I may be able to do you one better.  I have a friend who might be able to use this thing.  

What I can do in exchange is burn two Mitsui gold archival grade CDR's on a pioneer professional CD recorder using 1) a bolder digital bullet coax cable. and 2) running a Kimber surgical optical toslink to the converter, then same bolder cable to same CD recorder.  In both cases, I'd be using a Sony DVP-S7000 as the transport, or if you prefer a denon 1600.  I'd have to think about what CD to choose.  

I'll send you the CDR's for your own test.  Blind of course.    Then if you hear a difference I'll tell you which is which...

[BeeBop]

Sold! No need to send me the CDRs. Just let us know what you think. Can you PM me your personal conact info so I can have it sent to you?

Thanks!

[Rocket]

Hi Guys,

I presume what you are talking about is a cable to convert a toslink output jack to accept a digital cable?

If this is correct then i'd be interested where i can buy one from and whether it is any good.  I have a really nice modded (clock upgrade) pioneer pds 507 which i'd love to use with my perpetual technologies dac but it only has toslink out.

regards

rocket

[sjd]

Ok Beebop, will pm you.  BTW, I typoed, I will be using a marantz cd recorder.  Not that anyone may care too much.  And if you really don't want the cdr's to compare yourself, well I may use something cheaper than Mitsui Golds.   I looked at the thing at the Shack online, and I too am dubious.  But I will get someone else to pull the second cdr from the recorder and label them both so that I am doing the blind listening.  Then I'll report here what I hear.

[bubba966]

Pioneer has OEM'd Marantz gear for quite some time. So the Marantz CDR deck proabably IS a Pioneer...

[lonewolfny42]

Not to change the subject but does anyone know where I might pick up some Mitsui cdr's at a good price ? Thanks !

[bubba966]

Need 400? http://store.yahoo.com/cdrsavings/mit80munsilc7.html

[lonewolfny42]

Thanks  B !!

[BeeBop]

Hi Guys,

I presume what you are talking about is a cable to convert a toslink output jack to accept a digital cable?

If this is correct then i'd be interested where i can buy one from and whether it is any good.  I have a really nice modded (clock upgrade) pioneer pds 507 which i'd love to use with my perpetual technologies dac but it only has toslink out.

Here's a link to the one I am interested in - this is what Radio Shack is selling up here in Canada (made by a company named Calrad), although it seems RS is selling something different down in the US. This one uses a 9 volt power supply and comes with a converter. Costs about $US 25.

http://www.american-digital.com/prodsite/product.asp?p=886

In any case, the PerpTech P3-A DAC accepts TOSLink in.

[sjd]

The unit arrived today Bob.  First impression: Ugh! Veiled is the best term.  It is like my system took a step back to the early years of digital.  Oh man...

Right, so I will now turn to the requisite burn-in period, then I shall perform the cdr burning to discern any differences, as well as the A-B-A testing I just did here on the quick.

Then I shall post a more thorough evaluation with more than one cd.

Good thing my buddy isn't a hardcore audiophile.

[BeeBop]

Thanks for being so thorough Steven. I guess now the question is whether there is actually anything else that might do the job. Anybody have any ideas?

[sjd]

Sorry for the delay BeeBop...  I burned the SOund Professionals Unit in for about 150 hours, then did another A/B.  It was better to my memory than at first, but still veiled and more compressed sounding than without the conversion.  I have done a coax to toslink comparison before, and this was more significant by about half.  So maybe half the degradation is running toslink, and the rest is the converter itself.  But this is real subjective.

After this, I don't think it is worth further evaluation.  

My opinion is these things are good utility converters, but not for audiophile use.

[TIC]

If you want to convert toslink to coax and potentially get an incremetal improvement is jitter control/sound quality, you can use a Monarchy DIP between your transport and DAC. Not only will it convert toslink to coax, but it will re-clock and remove jitter. I used one years ago with good result.

Of couse, it cost more than $30, but it works.........

Enjoy,

TIC

[byteme]

I ran into a similar dillema but needed to go the other direction - TOS to Coax.  I ended up using an Audio Alchemy DTI, older model.  Like TIC, I've had good results using it.  I use it between my CD Changer and Nixon Tubedac.  It's much better than the internal DAC in the CD changer.  I was able to find one for $50 on audiogon.  Many of the older DTI / anti-jitter devices have many input/output options and can be had very cheaply on audiogon.