DAC: recommended connections ?

Posted by: nbpf on 19 May 2014

I have the opportunity to home demo a s/h Naim DAC. My source is a fit-pc3 low-power (similar to a mac mini but with an electrical SPDIF output) running MPD (music player deamon) under Debian.

The fit-pc3 has a Realtek ALC888-VC2 HD sound card with Digital 7.1+2 channels S/PDIF output (3.5mm, electric, up to 24/192). I am comparing the setup

0) fit-pc3 USB --- M2Tech Hiface DAC --- WW Eclipse 7 --- SuperNait 2

with

1) USB drive --- DAC --- DIN --- SuperNait 2

2) fit-pc3 SPDIF --- (3.5mm to RCA) --- DAC --- DIN --- SuperNait 2

The 3.5mm to RCA coax cable in 2) is a cheapo one delivered with the fit-pc3. I would be grateful if you could answer / comment two questions:

- Is there a recommended way of connecting to the Naim DAC ?

- Would it be meaningful to add something like

3) fit-pc3 USB --- M2Tech HiFace 2 ---  (RCA to RCA) --- DAC --- DIN --- SuperNait 2

to the testing setups 1) and 2) ?