A bit off the thread but I hope this is helpful. I had been running a G4 with USB out into a Waveterminal, then taking the SPDIF into a modded Music Fidelity TriVista with a Stealth Varidig. Doing everything in Apple Lossless. This is pretty damn amazing - I now have about 200Gbs online
I upgraded to a G5 in part to get the Toslink out - figured one less box, one less cable and complete electrical isolation had to help. Went for the high end Wireworld 5 Supernova. Have not spent a lot of hours with it yet but my impression is that if anything the Toslink is a bit more detailed, albeit drier - don't know if this is a "sound" of the cable or if I am not hearing the "sound" of the Stealth since everything else has remained identical.
Can't imagine that its the USB adding the color.... Or the Toslink is taking something out???
My impression in limited tests with the Waveterminal using the Toslink was that it was also a bit brighter, call it more forward than the SPDIF - this was before I had the Stealth.
What is for sure is that 802.11g is not nearly as good a way to do this as ethernet - I run the Toslink from my keyboard in my office but access the same iTunes library from a SLIM Squeezebox in my living room HT rig
Both SLIM and iTunes are wonderful ways to manage your library
Finally you may find this link helpful, in particular the Stereophile review
In regard to the question about the mini Toslink, you are correct, the review notes that "at the innermost end of the 3.5mm jack is an optical S/PDIF transmitter"
http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]@.ee6cd90
Enjoy the music
I upgraded to a G5 in part to get the Toslink out - figured one less box, one less cable and complete electrical isolation had to help. Went for the high end Wireworld 5 Supernova. Have not spent a lot of hours with it yet but my impression is that if anything the Toslink is a bit more detailed, albeit drier - don't know if this is a "sound" of the cable or if I am not hearing the "sound" of the Stealth since everything else has remained identical.
Can't imagine that its the USB adding the color.... Or the Toslink is taking something out???
My impression in limited tests with the Waveterminal using the Toslink was that it was also a bit brighter, call it more forward than the SPDIF - this was before I had the Stealth.
What is for sure is that 802.11g is not nearly as good a way to do this as ethernet - I run the Toslink from my keyboard in my office but access the same iTunes library from a SLIM Squeezebox in my living room HT rig
Both SLIM and iTunes are wonderful ways to manage your library
Finally you may find this link helpful, in particular the Stereophile review
In regard to the question about the mini Toslink, you are correct, the review notes that "at the innermost end of the 3.5mm jack is an optical S/PDIF transmitter"
http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]@.ee6cd90
Enjoy the music