Wiim Ultra to Klipsch The Three II RCA vs USB

[cottonchipper]

My very non-audiophile setup will use a Wiim Ultra with a Klipsch The Three ii speaker for low-volume listening. I’m just wondering if anyone has an opinion about whether I should connect to the Klipsch using RCA jacks or USB. Do I understand that using USB would bypass the Wiim’s DAC and rely on the Klipsch’s own DAC?

 

[hgo58]

Yes. The WiiM Ultra DAC is used for RCA out only.

I would probably use the optical output from Ultra to the speaker.

 

[Burnside]

I’d try anll methods and see which you’d prefer.

 

[pieterv1]

Technically speaking, to have the least amount of noise in your setup, covering the distance from the Ultra to your speakers, the preferred connections would be in the following order:
USB > Optical > RCA out (analog)

Using either USB or optical, you allow the signal to be transferred digitally to your speakers (without interference) and use the speakers' built-in DAC (which is probably finetuned and nicely implemented into to your speakers' amplifier circuit)

However, it might as well be the case that the Ultra's DAC is superior to the built-in DAC of the speakers or simply that you prefer the overall sound & character of the Ultra's DAC, connected over RCA.

This raises another question though: how do the Klipsch handle the line-input? Is it digitised or sent directly to the amplification circuit?

 

[cottonchipper]

Technically speaking, to have the least amount of noise in your setup, covering the distance from the Ultra to your speakers, the preferred connections would be in the following order:
USB > Optical > RCA out (analog)

Using either USB or optical, you allow the signal to be transferred digitally to your speakers (without interference) and use the speakers' built-in DAC (which is probably finetuned and nicely implemented into to your speakers' amplifier circuit)

However, it might as well be the case that the Ultra's DAC is superior to the built-in DAC of the speakers or simply that you prefer the overall sound & character of the Ultra's DAC, connected over RCA.

This raises another question though: how do the Klipsch handle the line-input? Is it digitised or sent directly to the amplification circuit?

Regarding how the Klipsch handles the line-input I haven’t a clue. I do know it has a switch between “Phono” and “Line” next to the RCA sockets. No optical input on this particular model of Klipsch.