[Builder Brad]

Hi,

I have a Red Wine Audio modded Squeezebox2 and a Paradesea DAC from MHdt labs.

info on the DAC can be found here:

http://www.geocities.com/mhdtlab/

do I use the optical or co-axial digital connections?

and once I have decided on the above, who manufactures the "best" cable or interconnect?

[zybar]

Oh man, what a can of worms you are opening up...

Why not try it both ways and decide for yourself?

Personally I like co-axial, but there are many out there who feel that Toslink is superior.

George

[Loftprojection]

So funny, I have the same as you RWA SB2 and Paradisea!   

When I received both, I tried a cheap optical vs a cheap coax (about $20 each) that I had at home and it sounded better with the coax.  So I bought a "more expensive" coax, the Stereovox HDXV and I am very satisfied.

Hope this helps.

[Paul_Bui]

I've been using a BNC data cable between the RWA SB2 and AS NOS DAC with good results.  But a choice between coax and Toslink as I know is:  coax is preferred unless you use a highly jittered transport (an ordinary DVD player for instance) AND your DAC's Toslink is designed to work best in this situation (Altmann DAC for example).

I didn't mean to "hi-jack" the thread, but there's a burning question in me I hope you guys may be able to answer.  Is the SB capable of outputting 48Khz data in addition to Redbook 16/44.1?

Cheers.

[Bwanagreg]

I'm using a Blue Jeans coax digital cable into my Paradisea with great results. You can get BNC's or RCA's on either end, and the cables are inexpensive but very well made. 

[JoshK]

I didn't mean to "hi-jack" the thread, but there's a burning question in me I hope you guys may be able to answer.  Is the SB capable of outputting 48Khz data in addition to Redbook 16/44.1?

Cheers.

yes. 

[F-100]

I'm using a Blue Jeans coax digital cable into my Paradisea with great results. You can get BNC's or RCA's on either end, and the cables are inexpensive but very well made. 

My vote is for this cable also... Cheap price and excellent result.

[Zero]

I've found that in most instances, the optical connection can provide excellent results for those that prefer low noise floors along with very clean and balanced sound from top to bottom. Coax is inherently analog by nature, and tends to sound like it; fuller sound with palpable texture that gives the music "body".

Whenever I am left with those two means - I've always been a coax man. I've yet to find a reason to change stripes.

[ipy]

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue14/spdif.htm
Slightly off topic but if you are settling for coax digital cable route, this article may be of interest to you.

[bpape]

The only time I recommend optical is when you're connecting to a video system where the audio and video may have different ground potentials. In an audio only system, IMO, I'd prefer to stay coax so you're not going through the transition from electrical to optical and back.  As good as those are routinely, it's still another pair of unecessary conversions.

Bryan