Which DAC is better?

[Mr Ee]

Well, my initial question was about cabling from the WiiM but the responses didn’t address the question.

Well, you wrote this
"Guess I just answered my own question"
and the first reply stated "Yes".

 

[Kirpo]

Ahaaa,

I understand now, my question was misleading but that’s a great answer.

Here’s what I attempted to ask…
Can I run a coax cable from the WiiM to the downstream DAC and run an optical cable from the CD player to the WiiM?
Apologies for the mix up

 

[harkpabst]

Ahaaa,

I understand now, my question was misleading but that’s a great answer.

Here’s what I attempted to ask…
Can I run a coax cable from the WiiM to the downstream DAC and run an optical cable from the CD player to the WiiM?
Apologies for the mix up

The answer to the first part of your initial question ...

... implies a "No" to the second part:

Or would I need to run the optical cable from the CD player directly to the downstream DAC?

So, one more time: Yes you can run an optical cable from your CD player to your WiiM and a coaxial cable from your WiiM to your external DAC and everything is going to work just fine.

Why would you want to connect the CD player to your WiiM instead of your external DAC directly?
RC, GEQ, PEQ, volume control.

 

[Kirpo]

Your answers are now clear as a bell, a big thanks for your patience Hark.
Have yourself a great day.