What is better USB OR TOSLINK

stumpy6

stumpy6

stumpy6

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I have since release had a set of Logitech Z5500, which I only used the Toslink, but today I bought a Rega DAC-R and on the back it has multiple Toslink inputs as well as a USB Input.
Which is the better connection to use the USB or Toslink? A mate says DAC only works properly via USB. But my answer to that is that they are both digital so shouldn't be a difference
Thanks
 
In an ideal world there should be nothing in it but optical removes any possibility of noise getting in on the USB power line.
 
Thanks for the quick reply.
i have always used the toslink. and that what I'm using now. But my mate sais, "You ain't done it properly" whatever that means
 
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I've my arcam I-rdac connected to pc with usb ... although on saying that my mobo doesn't have toslink lol . But I need the usb for the drivers anyway
 
stumpy6 said:
Thanks for the quick reply.
i have always used the toslink. and that what I'm using now. But my mate sais, "You ain't done it properly" whatever that means
Click to expand...

Can your friend tell you why using USB is better? or is it one of those things he heard once but doesn't really know why, only that someone once said "USB is better".
 
Optical can always get vastly more data than USB.

This means of course vastly higher quality can be had, plus more channels etc

I have a number of devices that I have tried to get the best possible quality out of all my PCs and in truth, there really isnt THAT much in it unless you are a serious music buff.

I have even bought some really cheap junk from that famous auction site and I have been mightiliy impressed, and yet at teh same time, I have paid through the nose for stuff, that I can only describe as unflushed solids.

Similarly, Firewire is another way to use Audio, and, like a typical ignorant fool, I assumed that just because I bought Firewire audio, that I would get a high quality device... Oh how wrong I was.

The only real way, is if you use the very same speaker setup, and the very same device that has multiple inputs.

If your device has both Optical and USB, then thats one way to compare the quality, however, what you will find, is that with USB, the actual sound device will be at the end of the USB cable, and that with Optical, you will be using the Computer / Source and so they wont be a good way to compare I would have thought?
 
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