Just run optical SPDIF from the Pi or something else, if all you care about is Airplay. No way for that to transmit noise.
It’s generally not a great solution if it’s your primary connection, but for just watching YouTube it’s plenty good enough.
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oh that’s a great idea! pi with an optical hat is probably the cheapest solution with the cleanest sound.
Yeah it’s for youtube and zoom etc (any real listening with roon/spotify/squeeze is routed through the antipodes) so I can use the genelecs for work instead of the speakers built in my mac display.
I wonder if it’s even worth it over just the USB direct connection for youtube though.
Thanks!
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For Internet audio I just use a dopping d10 USB in /spidf out into my lampi amber4 since the USB input is occupied by the ultraRendu. I switch amber4 inputs via remote control. Pretty convenient.
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Maybe an odd option, but has anyone tried the Chord 2Yu as a DDC?
I ended up with one as part of a deal to pickup a 2Go for my Hugo2. It’s an awkward little device (in terms of connectivity), but so far I’ve been impressed with it’s sound quality. Detail retrieval and micro dynamics seem to be a step up from the matrix x-spdif. Elements like cymbal decays and string plucks decay noticably longer.
Small background details are clearer.
Still just early impressions, but so far very positive.
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Finally got around to switching things up. The Roon Core is now in my office, feeding my headphone rig. The X-SPDIF 2 replaced the Monarchy DIP Classic I had been using and that made a huge difference vs. going straight from the Pi2AES into my GDA-600. Straight from the Pi, there was a lot of background noise. The DIP gave a nice, black background.
The X-SPDIF 2 is dead silent. Even with the volume maxed, there is no hiss or any noise whatsoever. It’s shocking.
And the 2-channel system sounds subtly but noticeably better. Bass is tighter and highs are a bit smoother but retain detail.
All in all, it seems like swapping them was a boon to both systems. Now the DIP Classic will join the Model 22A it was original paired with on the Shelf of Backup Gear. 
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Congrats! Sounds like the X-SPDIF 2 accomplished what you wanted.
Interesting. Which connection were you using? I recently got a Pi2AES using AES into my DAC and it is dead silent. Just curious how you had yours connected.
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That’s awesome.
In my experience upgrading the PSU helped elevate the X-SPDIF 2 even further (tighter, more dynamic and better staging).
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Coaxial on both. It’s dead silent in the 2-channel system going directly to the Mystique. It’s weird. Maybe it was picking up interference from my computer and monitor which are right near it? When I was still using the EAR HP4, it would pick up digital noise and even if it wasn’t connected to a DAC or any other source.
I’ve got numerous iFi AC Purifiers on different outlets in both the listening room and my office, as well as one of their PowerStations in the listening room. I’ve got an iFi Elite PSU on both the Pi and the X-SPDIF 2. Doing everything I can to remove noise. I’ve even got an iFi USB purifier going into the X-SPDIF 2 from the NUC.
I have no idea why the Pi was so noisy in my office but I’m glad everything worked out seemingly for the best.
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I know this is a headphone forum first, but if I had to pick the second thing this forum is about that would be digital music. Yeah, you think digital and you think DAC but we’ve dug deep into digital like not many places around. Hell the majority of the people in the hobby think bits are bits and that’s that.
I was fortunate enough to discover the improvements a DDC could make on a $200 to $300 dollar range DAC. Back in the days when I thought spending over $1000 on a DAC was only for insane people, I was talked into a DDC and the more I read about them the more it made sense to try one out. I was fortunate to snag an L.K.S. USB-100 for $112 bucks on eBay. That’s a good deal even today. Plugging that thing in with a half decent power supply was the first time in the hobby that I said “WOW”.
Reading around here, the general comments and seeing the adoption of a proper digital chain as a philosophy is why I say that after headphones, we’re about the digital chain.
Every time someone gets off their computer, an angel gets its wings. 
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SonusApparatus - where bits are bits, but you better make damn sure they all arrive at the correct timing and not bring any power supply noise along with them!
We may be the only forum where setup diagrams get as much commentary on the digital backend as the actual amp and headphone/speakers 
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That’s funny and true regarding DDC’s, IMO.
I was up late last night listening to music and I was looking at DDC/Jitter reducing options for my portable setup wondering how much better it could sound. 
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I think the CDC has declared DDC-itis officially a component of
Audiophiliacs Disease!
Recommended treatment is a new vinyl setup. 
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I love this stuff. It gets so interesting to chase down a rogue signal.
The Pi is a pretty noisy little computer, everything is on a tiny board and a lot of the chips are shared. For example up until the Pi 4 the USB and LAN connections were handled by the same lanes and so you would get a lot more interference. The Pi 4 has PCIe lanes added so you can get the USB 3 connections - if you ever connect a dac directly with USB to a Pi 4 use them and you will get much cleaner output.
It will also depend on the housing. A metal case is going to help with shielding it from external noise from all your other electronics - just as you say, the computer and monitor will have had an effect.
Finally you mention you are using coaxial. If you had it near your PC and monitor it could have been the cable that was picking up the noise rather than the Pi itself. Especially if that cable was crossing over any others that were carrying an electrical signal.
I love this aspect of Sonus.
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I’m using an Xspdif-2 on a setup where I run both an Allo DigiOne roon endpoint via coax into a Yggy and also use a PC as a media source via USB to the Xspdif-2 then AES to the Yggy, and using the Yggy input selector to switch between the two sources. This works pretty well for me.
Sometimes I do wish that I had a DDC that had more than USB as an input for this setup so that I could connect both sources to the DDC and then just run AES into the Yggy, but I would need to spend at 2-3 times the $ for a DDC to get multiple inputs and I’m not sure it makes sense considering this is not my primary listening setup and it would be more a convenience/ergonomic move rather than for sound quality enhancement…
I did try the Xspdif-2 with my Spring3 and running i2s from it into the DAC but I did not hear any significant difference, so for ease of operation I opted to continue with the USB input on that DAC, as it is a very good USB implementation, and went with better a USB interconnect instead.
The Xspdif-2 has been a solid unit and if I had another use-case and/or a DAC where I could take advantage of the i2s and my source was USB I’d certainly consider an Xspdif-3.
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Some quick impressions I shared with a friend the other night:
“So I did a lot of listening last night and it’s definitely an upgrade to the 2. I want to say that Sandu (Sound News) was pretty spot on with his review. It’s more refined, presents space and images better, and it’s more neutral/transparent. The 2 could come off slightly brighter sometimes where the 3 is just more neutral.
Also, I’m kind of blown away with how much usb cables affect sound. It’s not night and day, but it’s definitely noticeable. I started off listening with the included cable then switched to my shorter iFi Mercury and it was much better. The cheapy cable sounded bright and thin compared to the more neutral and spacious iFi”
Further listening yesterday confirmed the initial impressions above. Another thing that I’ll add is that the lack of noise/jitter really allows things to sound much more natural. Timbre seems to improve, but in a textural way. It’s difficult to describe but I think it’s the ‘shape’ of images and how it relates to timing and transients. It’s just sounds more lifelike.
Overall I’m extremely pleased with the X-SPDIF 3. It’s a clear improvement over the 2, and I think this is a good endpoint for someone looking for a DDC in what I consider a nice “mid-fi” system.
For reference listening was done as follows:
iPad Pro 12.9 (5th gen) - Matrix Audio X-SPDIF 3 (iFi Elite PSU) - Chord Mojo2 (battery or iFi Elite PSU) - LTA MZ3/Inverting O2 - Lawton Modded Fostex TH-610/Focal Radiance
Cables/Connectors used:
iFi Mercury USB, Lifatec Glass TOSLINK, Kimber GQ Mini Hybrid, Eletech Dante Series Inferno (Radiance), Stock (Fostex), iFi Supanova (MZ3)
@Deleeh some impressions that you asked about.
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Did you try it with the stock PSU?
It doesn’t have a stock PSU. It’ll run off of bus power, or an external psu keeping the signal and bus power from the source separate is my understanding.
okay so I guess my question is similar just replace stock with “cheaper” or simply the USB… wondering how much of the benefits are from the $300 PSU on a $500 DDC just to get a grasp of value since that’s the SU-6 used price range…
Yeah, I don’t any other 12V psu’s so I can’t test that out. I don’t know if the iPad pushes enough power out of the bus, but I’ll try it later and let you know my impressions.
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