Hello!
The output from the master to the companion is always on the RCA (S/PDIF) connector. The companion can be configured to accept this input on either the RCA (S/PDIF) connector, in which case the supplied cable can be used, or on the AES/EBU connector, in which case you can use an RCA-to-AES/EBU adapter/cable. Unfortunately there is no way to use a fully-balanced connection between master and companion, which (I suppose) is because the AES/EBU connector is input-only.
As far as your second question is concerned: when you ask "does the Ethernet connection work better than USB" I'm not sure whether you're talking about reliability or sound quality?
If you read around the forum, you'll see that there are problems with Devialet's network-based streaming protocol, which is confusingly called AIR whether it runs over wired Ethernet or wi-fi. Whether or not it works well in a given system seems to be very unpredictable: some people have no problems, some have minor problems, and some find it completely unusable. USB seems to work reliably for everyone (I apologise in advance if I've overlooked someone's post noting problems!).
You are in the best position to judge about sound quality: it's subjective and opinions naturally differ. You might be interested in the results of this poll, though.
I hope that helps somewhat.
Ian
The output from the master to the companion is always on the RCA (S/PDIF) connector. The companion can be configured to accept this input on either the RCA (S/PDIF) connector, in which case the supplied cable can be used, or on the AES/EBU connector, in which case you can use an RCA-to-AES/EBU adapter/cable. Unfortunately there is no way to use a fully-balanced connection between master and companion, which (I suppose) is because the AES/EBU connector is input-only.
As far as your second question is concerned: when you ask "does the Ethernet connection work better than USB" I'm not sure whether you're talking about reliability or sound quality?
If you read around the forum, you'll see that there are problems with Devialet's network-based streaming protocol, which is confusingly called AIR whether it runs over wired Ethernet or wi-fi. Whether or not it works well in a given system seems to be very unpredictable: some people have no problems, some have minor problems, and some find it completely unusable. USB seems to work reliably for everyone (I apologise in advance if I've overlooked someone's post noting problems!).
You are in the best position to judge about sound quality: it's subjective and opinions naturally differ. You might be interested in the results of this poll, though.
I hope that helps somewhat.
Ian
Roon (Mac Mini), Wilson Benesch Full Circle, Expert 1000 Pro CI, Kaiser Chiara
Warwickshire, UK
