[PhillipC]

I have a Mac Mini currently going optical out into a CI Audio VDA2 DAC.  I'm looking to explore options to convert to coax so I can use my Luminous Audio Allegro Sig. digital cable.  Normally everyone has suggesedd USB converters like the HagUSB or Trends.  Has anyone used the Firewire solo to convert from firewire to coax?

[musicman06]

I have a Mac Mini currently going optical out into a CI Audio VDA2 DAC.  I'm looking to explore options to convert to coax so I can use my Luminous Audio Allegro Sig. digital cable.  Normally everyone has suggesedd USB converters like the HagUSB or Trends.  Has anyone used the Firewire solo to convert from firewire to coax?

Haven't used the Solo, but I can heartily recommend a similar product... the Focusrite Saffire LE. It does cost somewhat more however.

[JoshK]

I bought a Firewire solo, but I haven't used it yet.  I got it for entirely different purposes.  Mine is to use for speaker measurements given its built in mic pre.  The firewire cards were supposedly much more robust than usb when working with measurement packages. 

I did read a lot of great comments about how robust and gliche free they were compared to USB cards.  I have no idea how it would work in your application but you have a pretty good chance it will.  Buy from newegg, try it out and if it doesn't work you can always send it back.

[PhillipC]

Originally I had a Denon DVD-2900 going coaxial out to my VD2 DAC.  I then bought a Wadia 170i transport and the sound was actually on par with the Denon.  For convenience I decided to get a Mac Mini as my transport and trying to get the sound on par again. 

I'm not sure if the optical out of the Mac is very good compared to getting the sound out via USB/Firewire.  I've heard the jitter is very high on the optical output.  I'm been thinking of getting a DIP Classic to reclock the optical output as well as convert to coax output.  Is it better to convert out of the USB/Firewire than to convert the optical on a Mac Mini?

[PhillipC]

I did end up trying a Firewire Solo for trial purposes.  I did prefer it slightly better than the optical out connection.  It was smoother in the high frequencies.  It might be because of the digital cable I was using as well.  I returned it however as it had a problem when the Mac mini went into sleep mode.  There was a continuous popping sound in sleep mode.