Raspberry Pi USB or hifiberry HAT via Coaxial output

Audio Gear Talk
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Which will sound better Raspberry Pi USB or hifiberry HAT via Coaxial output?

2

It is impossible to say without specifying the DAC into which the USB or coax data is fed.

They are both digital transports conveying the same digital data.

However, with USB DACs, the clock used for timing the arrival of the samples onto the digital to analog converter (the device on the board in the DAC - not the DAC appliance itself) is provided by the DAC. When using coax to connect to the DAC, the clock is supplied by the source (in this case the Hifiberry HAT). The relative quality of these two clocks should be the only difference. I would normally (but not always) expect this argument to favor the USB connection.

Having said that, even if there is a technical (and measurable) difference, the audibility of that difference is a different matter entirely.

Start with USB (because that does not require the purchase of the HAT) and see how it goes. I doubt that you will have any reason to go further.

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Thanks my dac is the da1 module in a McIntosh ma7200. I think there is more distortion from my speakers and room. So I will continue playing with the Convolution engine in Roon.