So what component do you use to switch the SPIDIF or AES out of your Berkeley Alpha USB? I see switches but what if you want splitters so you can have multiple DACs connected and fed simultaneously as I assume you do.
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I have an ati dda212-xlr that handles reclocking, impedance differences, and cleanly amplifies and distributes the aes to the other dacs
does AES here mean something other than a type of encryption?
if it is referring to encryption…what’s the why for?
AES/ebu or AES3 is a digital audio standard, basically spdif over XLR for the most part to sum it up
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Yes, i am curios on the best cleanest way to split USB, have given up on al options under $100 and simply swap a single very high quality cable at this point… i don’t think there is anything audiophile quality, at least that i could find, there is studio quality stuff though but it seems tone a different type of connection. Good question!
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If you want to use multiple dacs at once I wouldn’t suggest using multiple USB devices, I would just get a nice DDC and split off spdif to your dacs you want
Also well rip this original topic lol
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I am sorry, my google search is off today, what does DDC stand for?
Basically a digital to digital converter, basically something that would take in like USB and output spdif or i2s. You could also do this with a streamer or network bridge if you wanted to. Something like the matrix x spdif is a good example of a somewhat affordable and good one, I know @ValentineLuke got one recently and is enjoying it (I think lol). From that you would just split off either coax spdif or aes with some appropriate splitters and you can feed multiple dacs at once without switching stuff or having multiple devices showing on the computer
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So i thought my innuos Streamer sourced via roon would relieve Me of my multiple DAC issues but i was mistaken. My source material IS of much better quality now, and i am able to get 2 DAC’s direct off the streamer but alas i have acquired yet More DAC’s that require inputs in different locations in the house which means i still need to split source signals and not defeat the purpose of upgrading the source to begin with. I remember looking up your DDC From your chart and realizing if i want to go the proper route it would again cost big dollars and lead to further upgrades of the DAC’s themselves afterwards too to make the investment worthwhile. 
. 
If you have multi room setups and already use roon and streamers, your best choice would be multiple roon endpoints I would think for your dacs not next to each other, if I’m understanding you correctly
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That was what i thought but misunderstood the concept. Each endpoint still requires a dac and my office has 5 DAC’s whith the main room having 3, so i still split the signal albeit a much cleaner signal
So, in the office, i use my laptop as the endpoint for roon but i stll want to feed 5 DAC’s to seven or 8 pre-amps and amps. I only have one USB out of the laptop though and that has become a bit of a bottleneck. I can only plug in one DAC at a time if i want the cleanest source path out. I believe something lke you mentioned, a DDC would allow a USB split
I am! It’s an awesome little DDC.
I’m running an Airist r2r off of COAXIAL and to my ear it sounds better than directly from devise’s (iPad Pro/iPhone) usb straight to the DAC.
It basically acts as a re-clocker as well, outputting bit-perfect data via I2S, AES (digital 3-pin XLR), COAXIAL, and TOSLINK.
Everything sounds a little better, be it staging, imaging, tonality, etc. Anything that jitter might introduce.
For $379 I highly recommend it.
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It’s always something way beyond mere mortals when you get down and dirty. LOL That ATI DDA212 price is what I would spend on an end game DAC.
I guess the only way for the enthusiast would be to specifically look for DACs that have SPDIF in/out or just do the cable change thing.
I’m with you on the USB thing. It’s why I just used the Toslink on my MB because this way I just feed all audio to the Toslink audio device and then do whatever I want with it externally. It’s far easier and cheaper to split Toslink than the other digital cable options. But I hear what you’re saying. If my goal is to clean up further then I have to make the switch. Sounds like I may be leaving detail on the table using optical vs. spdif.
Dm me and we can work out a solution without clogging this thread anymore lol
From the short time I’ve demoed one it was quite good for the price, glad it’s working out well for you 
It depends on the dac at hand, also the quality of your motherboard toslink as well (and the toslink cable quality), so it’s really hard to judge how much/if you are leaving on the table
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hehehe…I wonder if there’s anyone that’s bought high end power gear, USB gear and only has entry level DAC’s n Amps. LoL!
makes me wonder how much of an effect they’d have on the low cost equipment.
now I’m curious as to just how much of our audio gear is really placebo. I bet audio is the same as taking a placebo med. a study just released has found that people taking a placebo and even knew they were taking the placebo, still did better than without.
Placebo Audio would be a good brand name.
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This idea has no effect on me 
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Why would the network streamer not be able to play those files? Hence i am able to play FLAC files from any computer to my preamp and if would have multiple stream support amps, play to those also.
I would totally go for network based solution.
Just realized, i do not have any USB-cables in audio related use.
Moving into the wonderful world of USB audio and ditching my M/B Toslink.
I had bought an AudioQuest Dragonfly Red earlier this year from a guy and it was a bundled deal with an AudioQuest Jitterbug and I’ve had it sitting around unused. Are they worth while using? Can they help more than hurt?
This will be the chain: M/B USB > AQ Jitterbug > Decent Quality USB cable > DDC