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Compatibility question regarding a Chord 2Qute and a PS Audio Perfectwave Transport

After much deliberation I've decided on a 2Qute DAC and have located a used one in good shape.
My transport is a PS Audio Perfectwave memory player. I didn't think much about the compatibility of these two units until just now, when I'm about to buy the 2Qute.
....Here's the issue:
The PS Audio transport output options are (in order of quality according to the company), I2S, S/PDIF via balanced XLR, Coax via RCA and the optical.
The 2Qute's inputs options are: USB, BNC Coax and TOSLink optical.

Here's my question: From my reading it seems the 2Qute does much better with a USB input (the only input that's galvanically isolated).  Some go so far as to say if they had to use only the coax input on the 2Qute, they wouldn't want this DAC.
While separately the PS Audio transport and 2Qute are great, combining them forces you to use the coax connections which, on both units, are sub optimal.
....So you have two units that are pretty decent on their own and them combine them and have to use the least SQ optimal output/input.
Am I looking at this correctly?
Is this combination self defeating?
Kind of bummed as I was getting myself pretty sold on the 2Qute.
Thanks.
--My speakers, amp and preamp are Magnepan 1.7's, Butler TDB 2250 and a Modwright.
andrew-benn
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
3,018 posts
 
I owned a QuteEx and used BNC coax from an ARC CD transport and the DAC sounded damn good; very much like analogue. Finding the right cable was key. Try to audition some BNC to RCA coax cables.

The PS memory player will output a better asynchronous signal than my CDP.

andrew-benn OP
12 posts
 
Is there any option to use some kind of adapter to mate the PS Audio S/PDIF (balanced XLR) output to USB input on the 2Qute?
--I'm completely un-knowledgeable on this subject and don't even know if such a thing is possible and/or exists.
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
3,018 posts
 
The typical digital XLR output is AES standard...110 ohms. Are you sure that the output is XLR/spdif? 
Usually a XLR AES transformer is used to convert AES to spdif coax. But if your output is truly a balanced XLR spdif, then call PS audio or Google XLR to BNC 75 ohm adapters or cables.

The great thing about your setup is that the PS transport samples the CD to an internal buffer and then outputs it. The Chord DAC also samples the incoming data to a buffer and then reclocks it. That's why I think  coax will work just fine.
andrew-benn OP
12 posts
 
I guess I’m caught up on all the mentions I’ve seen of the 2Qute doing so much better with utilizing its USB input that ...it gave me cause for concern. I wanted to see if what others thought as up to now it’s just been CDP’s and 2 channel audio.
Moving into DAC’s and a separate transport is all new territory for me.
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