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Thread: Helix DSP Mini - optical vs line in

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    Helix DSP Mini - optical vs line in

    Will be using my iPhone as the source with a Topping D10 usb DAC.

    This means I can use either the optical or line in on the Helix.

    Catch is that the optical only does up to 96kHz so I either have to set the bit rate in a player app or just store lower bit rate music.

    Or I can use the line out of the D10 at full bit rate.

    Will there be any noticeable difference in the two input options?

    Unfortunately I cannot test as it’s all in storage.

    Source material is hi res audio from HDTracks and Amazon Music HD (although not seen much over 48KHz on there!)


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    Re: Helix DSP Mini - optical vs line in

    Optical is way better than analogue into a helix... more detail, higher soundstage and better low end vs the analogue in the exact same setup with my iPhone XR, plug both in and back to back it level matched by switching between the two... in my setup the difference was obvious... tonny came to the same conclusion, as did dan Kirton the Emma judge if you know him, I didn’t tell him which was which or what was different, I just swapped back and forth and let him tell me the differences between two settings

    im just about to build an iPad mini 5 into my dash in the next week or two

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    Re: Helix DSP Mini - optical vs line in

    That is what I suspected

    Even at the limited bit rate via optical it should be better due to the DAC in the Helix.

    When I get around to installing it I’ll check as well


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    Re: Helix DSP Mini - optical vs line in

    Quote Originally Posted by SiW80 View Post
    That is what I suspected

    Even at the limited bit rate via optical it should be better due to the DAC in the Helix.

    When I get around to installing it I’ll check as well


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    nige (team dls nige) actually has just put one in, and says optical actually outperforms coax into his dsp pro 2...

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    Re: Helix DSP Mini - optical vs line in

    most of the high-res music you can buy/stream is 96k/24bit, so optical's fine for this. i've used the onkyo app on ios, just set upsampling to on or off. i've had 48k cause clicks. depends on the material.

    d10 does dsd only analog-output, so you'll need to pre-transcode dsd to pcm or transcode it on the fly to pcm. (but dsd is largely a waste of space/time imo)

    high-res stuff is a mess of incompatible standards the complexity wasn't worth it for me.

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    Re: Helix DSP Mini - optical vs line in

    blew the dust off my d10, plugged toslink into the ps8pro dsp. iphone -> ck usb3 -> d10 -> toslink -> dsp. volume control in the psc/dsp.

    the onkyo app did just fine for 96k content. some of the 192k content, silence. the various upsampling modes wouldn't change anything, but you gotta force-close the app for these setting changes to get picked up. there's no downsampling modes.

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    Re: Helix DSP Mini - optical vs line in

    Quote Originally Posted by nadams5755 View Post
    blew the dust off my d10, plugged toslink into the ps8pro dsp. iphone -> ck usb3 -> d10 -> toslink -> dsp. volume control in the psc/dsp.

    the onkyo app did just fine for 96k content. some of the 192k content, silence. the various upsampling modes wouldn't change anything, but you gotta force-close the app for these setting changes to get picked up. there's no downsampling modes.
    I had the same with the Helix Mini.

    Shame more apps won’t let you choose the output. Everplay and Vox are the only apps on iOS I have found to do this.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    Noob TechUser's Avatar
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    Re: Helix DSP Mini - optical vs line in

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    I'm integrating some Alpine amplifiers and subwoofer box into my 2014 Ford F150 with a Sony amplified system, and will be using a PAC AmpPRO interface to get low-level (and optical) outputs that will go to my HELIX DSP Mini. I'd like to use BOTH the Optical AND the RCA inputs for the HELIX DSP Mini.
    My question is: Will the HELIX DSP Mini allow me to use both the Optical and RCA signals at the same time?
    I have an amp rack that I want to wire up, but need to know this before moving forward.

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    Senior Member Haakono's Avatar
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    Re: Helix DSP Mini - optical vs line in

    Yes it does I believe it can be set to auto switch between inputs (signal sensing) in the pc-tool software, but the most convenient method is to use one of the wired remote controllers (urc.3/director/conductor) to manually switch between inputs.

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    Re: Helix DSP Mini - optical vs line in

    Quote Originally Posted by Haakono View Post
    Yes it does I believe it can be set to auto switch between inputs (signal sensing) in the pc-tool software, but the most convenient method is to use one of the wired remote controllers (urc.3/director/conductor) to manually switch between inputs.
    As the pac amp pro will output both at the same time auto switching won’t work, so it would need a urc.3 at least to be able to switch between the two inputs

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