McCormack :)
brings back good memories. Had several of their amps. Great sounding stuff.
Do I need an expensive digital cable?
I have been using a fairly inexpensive optical cable to connect my CD transport to my Moon 280D streamer. I was told that an SPDIFcoax cable would sound better. For an experiment I purchased an inexpensive Pangea coax cable. It didn't sound at all because its terminator ends did not fit snugly in my equipment. I consulted chatgbt who often gives me audio advice. It advised that for the short run of 1 meter, an RCA interconnect would work. It did. And sounded much better than the optical. Chatgbt said that RCA interconnect was good enough.
Now, there is a twist to this story that might make those doubters think twice. A digital cable carries packets of information that are rechecked to assure that the streamer is recieving correct information. There is the timing concern, though. But my Moon 280D has an asynchronous DAC with a clock as part of the DAC. Any information sent by my transport, whether it is clocked by the transport or not, will go through the Moon's asynchronous DAC's clock. So ;there shouldn't be a timing problem. Should there?
Can anyone make a case that I should buy a "better" coax cable?
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@audio-b-dog Ok, I now understand what’s happening here. This description language is a product of its time, referring to this older, low-power ESS (portable DAC) chip as the first generation ESS DAC chip being able to operate USB asynchronously (ASRC), meaning with a separate USB interface chip and its own clock. This is nothing new in 2026, but was a novel development years ago because earlier chips used the jittery source USB bus frame clock as the audio clock. The digital inputs in your unit almost certainly function as any other DAC, and when using coax, you are using the CD transport’s clock, whereas with streaming, you are using the DAC’s internal clock. Here is an old article (2013) with a good description of the source (e.g. computer) providing synchronous USB transfer. |
You are right. It uses an older ESS DAC chip, although I don't know if that makes you right about whether the transport's clock is used. I will tell you one thing, I think the Moon 280 D was a deal. At least for me. It doesn't have a screen. The streaming interface is on an iPad or phone. It does not have a preamp or headphone amp. Just simple lights on the front telling the user the input in play and the quality (44.1, 48, 96, etc.) It does use, however, the same software as the more expensive Moon streamers. When I auditioned it I could not tell the difference between the 280D and streams costing more than twice its price. I didn't think I'd stream much, but I am doing more than I thought. I have heard better streamers, but this one errs in a musical way, kind of like tube gear. So, I'll keep it.
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@audio-b-dog let us know what people from the Moon say. |
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