AES/EBU, Coax, or Optical

[miklorsmith]

I just got a new DAC, a Lessloss 2004.  It has capability to accept AES/EBU, Coaxial, or optical inputs from a digital source.  I only have one optical cable, from Radio Shack, which in the few places I've tried it have been unimpressive.  It sounds tinny.  I don't know if sound quality improves with $$ in optical cables but just wanted to get one to try.

I've heard optical cables can be good to solve grounding problems.  However, the TacT output I'll be using which includes all of the output options will not output a 192 khz signal through the optical port.  The TacT will output whatever sample rate the user needs, but the TacT processes at 24 bits/192 khz.  I figure leaving one downconversion step out of the equation can't be a bad thing and might even provide some benefit.  This is one of the reasons I wound up with the Lessloss.

So, for me the real question is Coax or AES/EBU.  I have a nice Coax digital cable and wouldn't probably be spending too much (say $50) on an AES/EBU cable.  Are there any theoretical or practical benefits between the two?

Thanks for any insight.

[Anthony]

Mike,
TacT gear processes internally at 24/96.
I personally run my gear 24/96 through-out.

[miklorsmith]

Geez, I've been operating on false information then.  I even sent everything back to TacT and talked to Boz with that understanding.  I don't remember specifically talking to him about the output frequency though.  I'll switch to 24/96 and see how that goes.

[Anthony]

Geez, I've been operating on false information then.  I even sent everything back to TacT and talked to Boz with that understanding.  I don't remember specifically talking to him about the output frequency though.  I'll switch to 24/96 and see how that goes.

Mike,

Internal Dsp prossessing in the RCS is done at 24/96.  But, You can control upsalmple at the outputs at the TacT at 44.1, 88.2, 96, 192..

For my setup, If I run 192 in to a TacT amp, it will be down converted to 96 for the dsp processing. It would not make sence for me to run anything higher or lower than 96, from Tact to Tact.

For your application... you can run anything that sounds good to you.