Emm da2 dac

[Bar81]

At my dealer we compared some Ansuz cables on the different inputs of the DA2, SPDIF and AES are both very good, USB a bit less but that might have to do with the output of his Aurender N10 (AES and SPDIF use a special word clock in the Aurender, USB output does not)

But the best sound is with the dedicated EMMLabs transport with the EMM optilink

That's too bad for the vast majority of users of the DA2 as only 50 TX2 transports were produced thanks to Esoteric refusing to continue to sell the VOSP transports to third parties. But then again, it doubles the cost of the setup and most people seem enamored with servers and the like so I doubt many would purchase the transport even if available.

USB has always been a garbage standard for audio. It's not surprising that it would take more effort to wring performance out of it. As such, I would be interested to know if the USB input is in fact worse performing than AES/EBU and SPDIF versus USB simply requiring more effort to overcome its lack of suitability for the purpose for which it is being used.

[Tony Tsui]

Hi Bar81, I read somewhere that you recommended Aural Symphonics's optical cable and I bought one for use between the EMM transport and DA2. Thanks very much for a great recommendation!

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum, thank you for joining.

[Yuen Andy]

Hi Bar81, I read somewhere that you recommended Aural Symphonics's optical cable and I bought one for use between the EMM transport and DA2. Thanks very much for a great recommendation!

Hi Tony, May I know what differences did you hear and how much? Is it currently available? Thanks.

[Tony Tsui]

Hi Andy, great SQ improvement in almost all areas. If there's no dealer in Singapore you can email Aural Symphonics direct, and price is around US$1,700. A friend of mine is in the optical business and has instruments to test and view optical cables. Apparently not all optical cables are created equal : for example the shape of the contact point which is very important and any scratch will permanently damage the cable. He tested 3 optical cables : the Aural Symphonics, a Jadis and the EMM cable. Technically the best was the Aural Symphonics. Do not buy used, as you don't know if cable has scratches etc

[Yuen Andy]

Hi Andy, great SQ improvement in almost all areas. If there's no dealer in Singapore you can email Aural Symphonics direct, and price is around US$1,700. A friend of mine is in the optical business and has instruments to test and view optical cables. Apparently not all optical cables are created equal : for example the shape of the contact point which is very important and any scratch will permanently damage the cable. He tested 3 optical cables : the Aural Symphonics, a Jadis and the EMM cable. Technically the best was the Aural Symphonics. Do not buy used, as you don't know if cable has scratches etc

Thanks Tony for the valuable tip!

[Bar81]

Hi Bar81, I read somewhere that you recommended Aural Symphonics's optical cable and I bought one for use between the EMM transport and DA2. Thanks very much for a great recommendation!

My pleasure. It's a nice upgrade to the combo for a "reasonable" price.

Whenever you decide to tweak your system again, consider this:

Computer Audio Design GC1 Ground Control
https://www.computeraudiodesign.com/gc1-ground-control/
http://www.computeraudiodesign.com/C...nd_Control.pdf

Not sure I really understand the necessity for a grounding device given that I have a star grounded power setup, but I purchased one recently, connected it to the AES/EBU digital output of the TX2 and an unused SPDIF digital input (PDAI) of the DA2 and my mind was blown. I always thought the guys going on about treating signal ground and AC earth were a little bit crazy but I'm a convert.