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More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 22 for Linux => Topic started by: akira54 on July 09, 2017, 04:13:59 pm

Title: USB or coaxial on Raspberry PI?
Post by: akira54 on July 09, 2017, 04:13:59 pm

I am running MC22 on a Raspberry PI3 using a USB connection to the dac. I am quite impressed with the sound but are there limitations I should be aware of, particularly with respect to playing HD sound? Will a coaxial connection provide better sound (HiFiBerry). Any thoughts on the matter would be much appreciated.

Title: Re: USB or coaxial on Raspberry PI?
Post by: akira54 on July 11, 2017, 02:59:10 pm

No one?

Title: Re: USB or coaxial on Raspberry PI?
Post by: JimH on July 11, 2017, 03:17:26 pm

USB is fine.

Title: Re: USB or coaxial on Raspberry PI?
Post by: mwillems on July 11, 2017, 05:32:43 pm

I've never used coaxial output on a raspberry pi, but, in general, coaxial SPDIF is a less desirable transfer medium than USB.  SPDIF has limited bandwidth (so cannot handle multichannel or hi-res without lossy compression), is more susceptible to jitter, and (unlike toslink) doesn't provide any better electrical isolation.  Unless you already own a particularly nice DAC that only accepts SPDIF inputs, I can think of no technical reasons to prefer SPDIF over well-behaved USB outputs.

Title: Re: USB or coaxial on Raspberry PI?
Post by: akira54 on July 12, 2017, 01:49:29 am

Thanks, that puts my mind at ease.