I'm looking to experiment with a CDT connected via optical/coax in and output via optical out. The reason for this digital connection is my active speaker - devialet phantom 1's only have an optical input otherwise they connect via bluetooth or wifi. Will the A6 output via optical connected this way? If not can the A6 be used to stream via bluetooth and how do I make this work? Thanks
The A6 doesn't currently allow digital in as source followed by digital out. If you go digital in, it will only emerge from the A6 via the analog outputs post DAC stage. As regards Bluetooth assuming you mean BT output from A6, yes it is possible but not official. You can add a BT transmitter dongle to the USB Audio OUT port, or you can sideload a Settings Shortcut apk which will allow BT output. I think Nice Monkey has added notes on this option to his online manual on this forum.
"Currently" is not the proper word. That makes it sound like it could change, which is not the case. We asked this question up and down last summer and the answer we got straight from Zidoo was that its a hardware limitation, not something that can be changed via firmware. So no, the A6 will never have this capability.
Only the A8 model can do this using IIS output: On the Digital side It adds an IIS Digital Output running via XMOS and doubles SPDIF Inputs. This IIS output can be fed from all digital inputs including SPDIF , HDMI (ARC) and USB! All those inputs then take advantage of the Accusilicon Crystals using an IIS connected external DAC!
I have bought a Shanling ET3 (on demo)v which has USB out so I'll have a listen and decide if I'll keep it
I also have the ET3 but have never connected it via USB to A6, connected to Holo Audio Cyan2 DAC is good.
If the devialet phantom 1 only accepts optical input, it would be better to connect the CDT directly to the devialet phantom 1. The A6 does not support DDC type connections and there is no significant gain. If you connect a CD drive to the A6's USB port, it will play through the A6's original player, and it also supports digital out (coaxial, optical, usb out), but it does not support digital out for optical input.
Well I connected the ET3 to the A6 via USB audio out on ET3 and the A6 does not recognise the CDT - it just says "no CD drive" Any ideas how to get this to work?
This was what I said earlier in this thread. Any digital input to the A6 cannot result in anything other than analog out, no digital out possible. As DJpower also said, if you connect an inexpensive CD drive to the USBA top port, then the A6 can play and rip a CD and then you can export that via digital outs if you wish. This is not the same as your more sophisticated ET3 CD Transport, it has many digital outputs including USB Audio Out and I2S. This is like connecting a smartphone or computer to your A6, not a cheap USB peripheral that the A6 will control as regards playback.
Thanks, I'm kinda liking the ET3 as it gives good CD playback, and I can also stream stuff from various devices - in fact I'm thinking of selling my A6 as all I used that for was to playback CD's on my phantoms and stream stuff, which is readily available on my Iphone.
The ET3 is a very nice cd transport. If you connect it to a good DAC over say I2S then you can even upsample to high rate PCM or DSD. It also can playback local files and act like a streamer. As you say, you may not require the A6 at all.
